Ohr-O’Keefe
Museum of Art
Marjie Gowdy,
Executive Director
Background
The artist’s magnificent sculpture
stands 12" high in shades of green and blue.
One week before Hurricane Katrina, major
construction was progressing on gallery space for the
Ohr-O’Keefe Museum. Now, a year after the storm, the
museum is readying a transitional space graciously offered by
the mayor of Biloxi. For the past thirteen months, a reduced
museum staff has been operating out of a 28-foot trailer and at
offices at the Jefferson Davis Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast
Community College. The former home of the museum awaits
renovation. The opening of phases of the new Gehry-designed
museum on Beach Boulevard are still at least one or more years
away.
Sales will support the work of local and
regional artists as well as ongoing operational expenses and
needed renovation of the museum.
The core of the Museum’s collection
is the pottery of the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” George Ohr.
Ohr's life was a study in stamina and resilience. Despite his
reputation for eccentricity, he was a hard worker. In the later
part of his life, he produced quality art pottery that would be
appreciated and remembered for centuries.
George cultivated the idea that he was
crazy and said that he was "unrivaled" or
"unequalled" and was, by his own estimation, the
"world’s greatest potter." His antics,
self-promotion, and playful spirit are what people remember,
rather than what was more likely the case, a determined artist
who sought attention for his creative production through his
eccentric character.
