By Barbara Johnson Ross, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art

Among the permanent exhibitions, George Edgar Ohr: Selections from Gulf Coast Collections highlights work of “The Mad Potter of Biloxi” with pottery from Gulf Coast collectors and from the collection of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art.  The Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center provides a glimpse of how a man born into slavery built his home as a free man in the late 1800s. On display through May 2012 are three exhibitions in other galleries of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum:

Looking Ahead: Portraits from the Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint Michigan   Beau Rivage Resort & Casino Gallery, Gallery of African American Art Curated by Camille Ann Brewer Tour Management by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, Kansas City, Missouri Looking Ahead: Portraits from the Mott-Warsh Collection features the Black face in both representational and conceptual portraiture.  Featured artists directly or indirectly examine the social, political and cultural nuances of the Black face and head in fine art.  This contemporary art exhibition features portraits of African Americans in a variety of media.  Significant artists represented include Chuck Close, Romare Bearden, Robert Mapplethorpe and Elizabeth Catlett.

Earth, Sea & Sky: Southern Ceramics from the Dod Stewart Collection IP Casino Resort Spa Exhibitions Gallery Earth, Sea & Sky features works from the art pottery collection of Dod Stewart, Past President of the American Art Pottery Association and author of Shearwater Pottery. The exhibition includes over 70 pieces of Shearwater, Newcomb and Singing River pottery.  Three distinctly different styles of ceramic art from three potteries established in the north Gulf Coast region are unified in their use of regional clay and their depiction of the elements of the Gulf Coast habitat with its rich seascapes, flora, and wildlife.

Confluence: Ceramics by Alisa Holen Mississippi Sound Welcome Center Ceramic artist Alisa Holen examines the interaction of concave and convex, rough and smooth, and volume and void, and uses these interactions to provide interesting visual associations. Many of her utilitarian vessels only function successfully in association with their counterparts.