©1999-2015
Wisconsin Pottery Association
P.O. Box 705
Madison WI 53701-0705
George Ohr
1857-1918
Biloxi Mississippi
What We Did On Our Spring Vacation
by Jim Tyne
The following article appeared the WPA Press, Vol. 5, June 2000
Inspired in part by the Richard Mohr presentation on George Ohr, which we saw on video courtesy of the WPA video library, and in part by the cool website http://www.georgeohr.org/ of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, Ellen and I decided to check out the George Ohr museum on our annual trip to Florida to visit family. We drove to Biloxi, Mississippi and just off U.S. route 90, right on the Gulf and directly across from the huge, elegant-looking Beau Rivage Casino, was the museum.
Biloxi is better known these days, for its gambling casinos than pottery, unlike nearby Ocean Springs (but that’s a different story). The museum is located in the back half of the public library and has its own entrance at 139 G. E. Ohr Street. Admission is $3 and you can spend all day if you like. On the second floor is a large room filled with hundreds of pieces of Ohr art work in glass cases. There is a grouping of his carnival type work, banks and animals and oddities, a case with examples of his amazing glazes. There are puzzle pitchers and flasks and bowls. But no matter what the theme, in case after case are the most wonderful, bizarre vases and pitchers and what-nots. I had seen photos of his work, but was still amazed by what I saw. The wild spirit of the man permeates the room. I am unable to express the wonderful strangeness of what we saw, the beauty and grace of those thin-walled pots, the intricacy of the design, the humor. I found myself longing to touch them. That was the only thing missing, the chance to feel the potter’s hands on the clay, as someone said in the documentary.
In one corner you can sit on a hard chair, amidst all that “pot-Ohr-ry” and watch a 45-minute video on Biloxi George Ohr and his mud pots. It’s a nicely done documentary, very informative, history told with a sense of humor.
There is more to the museum, though it pales in comparison to what has just been seen. But you must stop by the gift shop for Ohr books, souvenirs and great t-shirts.
The George Ohr museum is a must see. It should be a shrine for any serious lover of American Art, American Pottery, or Eccentric American heroes. Stop by. It’s fun. I know I will be going again.
Editor’s Note: Richard Mohr spoke on George Ohr Pottery at the April 1999 WPA meeting. You can check out the club’s videotape of this presentation at monthly WPA meetings.
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