Mobile Museum of Art

The Mobile Museum of Art (MMofA) includes a permanent collection of more than 6,400 works of fine and decorative arts from America, Asia, and Europe. This collection spans periods from classical antiquity to the present day. MMofA is supported by a unique public/private partnership of city and community support. Its facility is owned by the city of Mobile, and the art collection is privately owned.

Founded in 1964, MMofA has grown from a modest initiative of The Board of Commissioners of the City of Mobile, and two private arts entities, the Allied Arts Council, and the Mobile Arts Association, to the only accredited art museum in southern Alabama.

Exhibits

3 American Artists
Mobile Museum of Art presents 3 American Artists, showcasing the work of three renowned African American artists: Mark Bradford, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Glenn Ligon. This exhibition features artists whose works focus on themes of race, gender, sexual identity, class, and pop culture. The artworks come from the collection of the Art Bridges Foundation, which has graciously loaned them to the museum.

FOR CHILDREN: The Elements of Art & Design
Mobile Museum of Art’s exhibition, FOR CHILDREN: The Elements of Art & Design, is the first exhibition organized by the Mobile Museum of Art specifically designed for kids! The exhibition presents a maze of galleries for children to experience immersive, creative and wacky visual environments. It is designed for fun, yet teaches kids the basic elements of creative art and design (Line, Texture, Color, Scale, and Shape), as well as relationships between science and art. The exhibition includes hands-on experiences and photo opportunities for parents and grandparents!

A Nest of One's Own
Mobile Museum of Art proudly presents a site-specific art installation titled A Nest of One’s Own. Dixon Stetler’s work combines recycled and discarded materials in new and innovative ways to address community and social issues of today. To foster a strong relationship with people and place, she employs everything from Christmas lights, rope, Mardi Gras beads, hoses, and electrical wires, weaving what was once trash into new dreams and fantasies.

Fantastical Forest
The Mobile Museum of Art presents Fantastical Forest, a new site-specific, interactive installation for children commissioned by MMofA and funded by area organizations. Designed by Mobile-based artist Lucy Gafford, this installation is the Museum’s second kid and family-friendly project, and addresses themes of nature, ecology, and art. Gafford designed and conceived the installation, and enlisted the help of fellow artists Ben Kaiser and Vanessa Quintana. Audio design by The Company Retreat and Octopus Prime.

Asian Art
Mobile has a long tradition of connections with Asia. Not only did Asian goods pass through its port, the azaleas and camellias that flourish in the Azalea City (Mobile) originally came from China and Japan. In the late 19th and early 20th century many travelers, particularly Christian missionaries, made their way to and from the Far East from Mobile.

ALL AMERICAN from the Collection
This new installation of American work from the Museum’s permanent collection is organized by medium or theme, in six galleries as follows: Chairs; Paper; Ceramics; Wood; Crazy Quilts; Crystal and Glass. The exhibition is organized by medium or theme to better demonstrate the innovative use of materials and mediums by American artists, designers, and craftsmen throughout history. The installations include works by notable figures in the history of art and design, as well as lesser-known artists.

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.