Start your weekend the right way with free Museum fun! At First Thursday on February 7, BMA will be open until 9PM with live music, a wine tasting, a gallery talk, a drop-in and draw class, and a film - all for free! Oscar's Café will also be open late, with specialty cocktails and an On the Border tapas menu. Plan your evening with our full schedule of events!
February's Spotlight on the Collection piece is Power Figure (Nkishi) by the Songye People. Learn more about this fascinating piece at ArtBreak on February 5 or Slow Art Sunday on February 10! Visit our Spotlight on the Collection page for even more information and to see what our Spotlight on the Collection series is all about!
On the weekend of February 1 and 2, BMA welcomes renowned Chicago poet and artist Orron Kenyetta! Kenyetta will give a special performance at BMA Speaks on Friday night, February 1, based on the exhibition Face Jugs: Art and Ritual in 19th-Century South Carolina. Then on Saturday, Kenyetta will lead a class, Poetry and Pottery, based on the Face Jugs exhibition where participants can create an epic poem on paper and then layer their piece in clay. Learn more about BMA Speaks and register for the studio class now!
Join us on Saturday, January 26, for a free, fun, and colorful night of pop art with Teen BMA! All teens are welcome for a night at the Museum, featuring music from DJ Omari Jazz, a food and dessert bar, a graffiti wall, a photo booth, and much more! Come explore the Museum with your friends, the event is from 7:30-10:30PM!
BMA is now recruiting interested individuals for our next docent training class, which begins in the fall! No prior art knowledge is required; the Museum provides training in art history and visitor engagement techniques. Ideal candidates should have a love for learning, flexible and positive personality, and the ability to communicate with a wide variety of people. Click here to learn more and apply online!
Inspired by the unique, Southern art in our newest exhibition, Face Jugs: Art and Ritual in 19th-Century South Carolina? On January 19 and February 9, BMA will be offering studio classes for adults and children to make their own face jugs! The fee for the classes includes all supplies, with a special discount for Museum members. Registration is required for classes, so reserve your spot today! Click here to sign up for the adult class, Face Jugs Frenzy, and click here to sign up for the children's class, Fantastic Face Jugs!
Our newest student exhibition is now open! Birmingham Fashion Week: Rising Design Star challenge showcases designs by 6th through 12th grade students from all across the state. Visitors can see the designs on display and vote for their favorite fashions now through February 9. The student with the most votes will receive a "People's Choice Award" for their design, granting an automatic entry on the runway at Birmingham Fashion Week 2013! To learn more about this exhibition and Birmingham Fashion Week, click here.
Thank you to all of our visitors who came to our fall exhibition, Norman Rockwell's America! As one of the most well-received exhibitions BMA has ever had, we were thrilled with the attendance, feedback, and support from our community. We thank you and look forward to seeing you again soon!
Every month BMA selects a piece from the collection to showcase. Georges Merle's L'envoûteuse (The Sorceress) has been chosen as the first work to highlight in 2013! With an ArtBreak and a Slow Art Sunday dedicated to the piece, BMA invites visitors to engage with art and learn more about this striking painting. Click here to learn more about the spotlight work and to join the conversation!
Looking for a fun way to kick off the new year with your family and friends? Join us for Sunday brunch at Oscar's! With a delicious menu, complete with all your local and seasonal favorites, there is something for everyone to enjoy! When you are finished with brunch, head upstairs and enjoy the final day of Norman Rockwell's America! Click here to see the brunch menu and click here to purchase tickets to the Rockwell exhibit!
Kerry James Marshall is visiting Birmingham in celebration of the Museum's acquisition of his painting School of Beauty, School of Culture. A MacArthur “Genius” Award winning artist, Marshall will present a lecture, IMAGE IS EVERYTHING, at BMA on Wednesday, January 16, at 6PM. Marshall is among the most eloquent chroniclers of African American cultural life and his paintings bring to life a world of African American experience that he believes has been largely invisible to the larger culture. Click here to learn more about the lecture and this exciting opportunity to learn more about BMA's latest acquisition.
Want to visit the Museum on your schedule? Come in for First Thursday! This month we feature an Italian New Year tapas and cocktails menu, music from Charlemagne Records DJs, a free beer tasting, a free drop-in and draw class, and a free screening of the movie Pleasantville. This First Thursday is also the last chance to see Norman Rockwell's America and to hear from our Curator of American Art, Dr. Graham Boettcher, in a gallery talk on Rockwell. Click here for a full schedule of events!
Our Slow Art Sundays program has been highlighted by Slow Art Day, which will take place April 27, 2013. BMA's year-round committment to our visitors' engagement with art is evidenced by our free Slow Art Sundays experience. Haven't come in for Slow Art Sundays yet? Read more about the program in this article and plan your visit to an event soon!
Time is ticking! The final days of our acclaimed exhibition, Norman Rockwell's America, are upon us! Come in and see the show that was ranked the best of London in 2011. We are so lucky to have this collection of works at BMA, the first venue the exhibition has seen in the United States. With 52 original oil paintings and all 323 vintage Saturday Evening Post covers, along with two bonus exhibitions within the gallery, this experience is not to be missed. Make plans to see the charm and nostalgia of Norman Rockwell before it all ends on January 6, 2013! Click here to learn more and purchase tickets.
Join us on Saturday, December 8, for a FREE family fun day, Rockwell's Rockin' Pancake Extravaganza! Fuel up for the day with free pancakes and hot cococa, and get in the holiday spirit with sing-a-longs, art activities, scavenger hunts, and Bart's ArtVenture! You'll also get to meet two very special guests, our new Bart the Art Bat puppet and SANTA! Welcome Bart to the Museum at his premiere and get your picture taken with Santa. Click here for more information!
For even more holiday fun, sign up for our Gingerbread House Workshop! This family studio class lets you create a quaint gingerbread house that even Rockwell would envy. Register now!
On Thursday, December 6, we will be hosting the 28th Annual Chenoweth Lecture. This year's lecture, Ways of Seeing: The Art of Norman Rockwell, will be given by Dr. Wanda M. Corn, the Robery and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita in Art History at the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. Dr. Corn's lecture will look at Norman Rockwell's love of art history and the works of art he saw in museums. He often quoted from masterpieces in his illustrations and explored the different ways people look at and engage a work of art. Click here for more details about the lecture and Dr. Corn!
