Member Preview Day

Saturday, April 1 | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Museum Members Only

The Huntsville Museum of Art invites our Museum Members to attend an exclusive, Members-only preview of our newest exhibition, Mystery and Benevolence: Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art from the American Folk Art Museum, the day before it opens to the public. As always, Museum admission is free for Members. Docents will be leading two tours of this exhibition for our Members. Take a deep dive during your preview day by attending a tour at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m.

The mystique of secret societies, with their cryptic signs, gestures, and arcane rituals, has been embedded in our American experience since the early 18th century. Before the age of mass production, artists who painted a portrait or embellished a piece of furniture might have also decorated a parade banner, an apron, symbols on a chart, or a backdrop for a fraternal lodge. More importantly, he or she encoded the ideals of fellowship, labor, charity, passage, and wisdom – the core of fraternal teachings – into the many forms associated with fraternal practice. The iconic art and objects showcased in Mystery and Benevolence relate the tenets of fraternal belief through a potent blend of highly charged imagery, form, and meaning. The exhibition explores the fascinating visual landscape of fraternal culture through almost 200 works of art comprising a major gift to the American Folk Art Museum from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection. Organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

Mystery and Benevolence: Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art from the American Folk Art Museum was organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.