OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Museum will host open studio drop-in days in July, allowing community members of all ages to create their own artwork.
“We designed the drop-in studios to help audiences of all ages build their own meaning and connection to our collections,” said Steven James Mockler, who works with Americorps VISTA. “We already offer tremendous family programming but saw this as an opportunity to open doors for more mature or unattached visitors.
“The projects are fun and open to all ages, but we’ve also designed them to have deeper layers that we hope will engage and challenge our visitors, too.”
From July 5 to 7, the museum invites families to “Celebrate American Art” with a Fourth of July-themed drop-in day. Families can explore the museum’s Seymour Lawrence Collection of Contemporary American Art and diversity by learning about immigrant background of American artists such as Georgia O’Keefe.
Participants also have an opportunity to view the collection in a new way by helping the museum complete a community diversity map and will draw patriotic self-portraits to celebrate American heritage.
The museum will host “Fitting in at the Museum” drop-in days July 24-28. Families will explore the museum’s newest exhibit of puzzles, “Love=Love” by Kent Rogowski. Participants will have an opportunity to help the museum put together a community project and will assemble their own puzzle piece work of art to take home from the studio.
The museum is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission is free. For more information, visit http://museum.olemiss.edu/.