James S. Russell

Architecture Critic, Journalist and Consultant

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Let Biloxi’s “Mad Potter” Museum Live

by James Russell on July 29, 2011 - Get free updates on posts here

Word comes via the New York Times that the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum in Biloxi, Miss., is struggling. It displays the impish, gorgeous ceramic work of the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” George Ohr. Frank Gehry has made a fairy-tale assemblage that nicely echoes Ohr’s work and takes full advantage of a swoonable site full of live oaks facing the Gulf of Mexico. This museum has been a labor of love for some very committed locals, and is a bracing emblem of pride for a Mississippi coast that still looks beat-up six years after Hurricane Katrina. (There’s also a handful of grim casinos, if you like that.)

The hurricane smashed a casino barge into the museum, which slowed the opening almost five years. I visited last May. The campus is not yet complete and its airy gift shop and cafe feel too big for the place because a cluster of what should be lovely galleries as well as a ceramics-making center are not yet done.

A destroyed historic home has been rebuilt with displays of African-American life and Gehry has provided beautifully lit, galleries to sensuously embrace vitrines that draw you to Ohr’s gorgeous work. I saw temporary exhibitions befitting a much larger, more sophisticated museum. If you are in that part of the world, please go or please support. This is a landmark that Biloxi would be “mad” to let slip away.

Filed Under: Architecture

Comments

  1. Nav says

    November 22, 2014 at 11:15 am

    I’m impressed! You’ve managed the almost imolesibps.

    Reply

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About James Russell

James S. Russell is an architecture critic, journalist, teacher and consultant. He's the author of the book, The Agile City, and has written for publications like Architectural Record, Bloomberg News, NY Times and more. Continue reading

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