Last updated: 3/2/2012
201 South Second StreetAlbany, TX 76430
Tuesday- Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
The Old Jail Art Center (OJAC) is based in a rural community with a population of 2,000. Our exhibitions and education programs serve a 25-county area which surrounds Albany. The OJAC's overall aim is to serve as an educational and cultural center focused on the visual arts through collections, exhibitions, interpretation, programs and regional history resources to enhance the education of our audience. The OJAC's yearly schedule includes four or five temporary exhibitions, rotation selections from the permanent collection, guided tours, public lectures, special events, a developed and active docent program, and ongoing art education programs for children, teenagers, and adults. Today, as an accredited museum with a national membership of more than 700 and around 12,000 visitors per year, the OJAC is a thriving museum and plays an important role in the cultural activities of central West Texas.
The mission of the Old Jail Art Center is to be the primary cultural resource for the region, providing visual art, performing art, and local history resources for residents and visitors alike, and fostering memorable experiences for all.
The Old Jail Art Center in Albany, Texas, has grown considerably since its humble beginnings in 1980. Starting with the donation of four private collections, the permanent collection has expanded to include over 2,100 works that span important periods in Asian, European, American, and pre-Columbian art. Successful capital campaigns in 1984, 1996 and 2009 have added an important education space, as well as additional exhibition and operation areas. The museum facilities now occupy approximately 15,000 square feet.
The collection is strong in a number of areas, with most works dating from the 20th Century. The collection includes pieces from well-known artists Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, John Marin, Charles Demuth, and Alexander Calder. In addition the museum has strong representation of the Fort Worth Circle (active 1945-55), the regional Taos Modernists (active 1948-1979), a small, impressive Asian Collection, and the W. O. Gross, Jr. Collection of pre-Columbian art. The outdoor sculpture collection is installed throughout the grounds, with key pieces placed inside the Marshall R. Young Courtyard, including Jesus Bautista Moroles' granite Sun Symbol, Pericle Fazzini's Conversation, and several other post-World War II Italian figurative bronze works.
The Old Jail Art Center is one of the few accredited fine art museums in Texas. Education, exhibitions and art programs are scheduled year-round to serve an audience of children, youth, adults, and visitors from around the globe. The Old Jail Art Center is located on Highway 6, two blocks east of Highway 180 in Albany, Texas.
The permanent collection numbers over 1,800 works. The largest area of the collection consists of modern drawings, paintings, and prints by well known Americans such as John Marin, John Sloan, Charles Demuth, and Thomas Hart Benton and Europeans, Paul Klee, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Gustave Caillebotte and Joan Miro. The collection also contains a sizable number of works by contemporary British artists such as Adrian Heath, Henry Moore, and Alan Reynolds. Smaller regional collections of the Fort Worth School (1945-1955) and Taos Contemporary artists round out the Museum's permanent holdings. Today, the OJAC actively collects and showcases the work of young Texas artists.
The OJAC's Eastern Art collection, while small, is impressive. The thirty-five Chinese terra-cotta tomb figures which date from the early Han dynasty to the T'ang dynasty are the highlight of the museum's eastern collection. Augmenting the Eastern collection are 10 pieces of tomb pottery and 12 porcelain decorative arts on long term loan from the San Antonio Museum of Art.
The OJAC is also the home of the W.O. Gross, Jr. collection of pre-Columbian art. This extensive and important collection features earthenware vessels, votive figurines and tomb pottery. Among the numerous cultures represented in this collection are Chimu, Colima, Huastec, Jalisco, Maya, Mixtec, Nayarit and Teotihuacan.
The Marshall R. Young Courtyard, named for one of Albany's pioneer oil men, was created to exhibit most of the OJAC's 20th Century outdoor sculpture including American artists Jesus Bautista Moroles, Evaline Sellors and the late Charles Williams, as well as post WWII European sculptors Luigi Broggini, Pericle Fazzini, and Augusto Perez. Other important outdoor works of various media are installed throughout the Museum grounds.
One of the newest additions to the OJAC is the Sallie Reynolds Matthews
The Robert E. Nail Archives includes photographs, newspapers, and other official documents pertaining to Shackelford County, Fort Griffin, Camp Cooper, Lambshead Ranch and other area ranches. Supervised research is available by appointment.
Exhibitions, docent program, gallery tours, lecture series, and docent art appreciation classes, and summer art programs for 1st-12th grades, college internships, In-School art education program. All programs are open to the public.
p>Semi-annual newsletter and occasional exhibition catalogues.
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