Open: Tuesday - Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday: 1 to 5 p.m.
Closed: Mondays and four holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The Military Museum: Open Tuesday through Saturday10 a.m. through
5 p.m. Closed Sundays and Mondays and the same four holidays.

The State Capitol: Open for guided tours Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Closed holidays.

Admission: Admission to the museum's permanent exhibits, the Military Museum and the State Capitol is always free. Most temporary exhibits are also free although admission may be charged to some.


Exhibition:

Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster
November 11 - January 15
Changing Gallery I

Born in rural Alabama in 1916, Finster went on to become a preacher, tent revivalist, and "master of 22 different trades" before building his roadside tribute to inventors, the Plant Farm Museum. Later dubbed "Paradise Garden" by Esquire magazine, Finster’s rock-and junk-encrusted wonderland was the focus of Finster’s life work.

In 1976, however, this focus shifted slightly. As he was using his hands to apply paint to a refurbished bicycle, Finster noticed that the paint smudge on his finger had created a perfect human face. A voice spoke to him, saying, "paint sacred art." In response, Finster churned out thousands of sermon-laden artworks with subjects ranging from historical characters and popular culture icons like Elvis Presley to evangelistic fantasy landscapes and futuristic cities. Most works are meticulously covered in Finster’s own hand-lettered words and biblical verse.

Finster’s preaching experience and showman-like personality helped shape his public persona and ever-increasing celebrity. To spread his vision beyond "Paradise Garden," Finster began to design record album covers for rock groups such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads. Interviews, films, along with his legendary appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson further advanced his career.

The industry of active promotion and prolific production which pervaded Finster’s daily life came to define his final years. Though he continued to create many fine works, some critics felt that the quality of his work suffered.

However, Finster’s intentions remained true to his inner voice—to make sacred art. Well-known yet frequently misunderstood, his position remains uncertain, suspended somewhere between awe for his tireless, faith-driven creativity and reluctance by the art community to accept his place in contemporary art.

Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster is curated by Glen C. Davies, organized by Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and sponsored in part by Fox Development Corporation; Thomas E. Scanlin; Office of the Chancellor, U of I; Office of the Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, U of I; Illinois Arts Council; Krannert Art Museum Director’s Circle Fund; and Krannert Art Museum Council.

To accompany the exhibit, the State Museum has produced an original documentary film entitled, Visual Voices of the South, which will have its debut in November. The film, which will serve as an orientation for visitors, includes one of the last-known interviews with Finster. Tennessee’s acclaimed self-taught artist, the late Bessie Harvey, is also shown. Many of the artists in the film are represented in the museum’s permanent collection.

Visual Voices will address four critical artistic questions about self-taught art: What is self- taught art? Why do we collect it? Why does the artist create it? And, why is it important? The State Museum Foundation’s Board Treasurer, Rich Roberts, who has amassed a significant personal collection of folk art, shot and donated some of the documentary’s essential footage for the film and was instrumental in underwriting a substantial portion of the project.

A 152-page hardcover, full color catalogue with essays by Jim Arient, N. J. Girardot, Phyllis Kind, and exhibition curator Glen C. Davies, will be sold along with other folk art items in the "Paradise Garden" Gift Shop. After viewing the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity shop in the special store which will only be open during the run of the exhibit.

SAVE THE DATES: Members’ Only Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on December 2. Guest curator Glen C. Davies will conduct a walking tour for on December 3 beginning at 2 p.m. on Level D, the general public is invited to attend.

Japan 1945: Images by U.S. Marine Photographer Joe O'Donnell
Through September 2012
Military Branch Museum in the War Memorial building on plaza across the street from the main museum

An exhibition of images taken by the late Nashville photographer Joe O’Donnell in 1945 post-war Japan opens October 6 at the State Museum’s Military Branch.

The exhibit, entitled Japan 1945: Images by U.S. Marine Photographer Joe O’Donnell, will showcase 24 of the most compelling images O’Donnell took while serving in the U.S. Marines Corps in Japan.

O’Donnell enlisted in the U.S. Marines Corps in 1943 at the age of 20 and was assigned as a photographer with the 5th Division. In 1945, he was given the order to document the aftermath of U.S. bombing raids on the Japanese cities struck by atomic bombs, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the seven months he spent on assignment, he also photographed cities such as Sasebo, one of the more than 60 Japanese cities that had been firebombed.

Throughout this time, O’Donnell took thousands of official photographs and shot several hundred with his own camera. This camera, as well as other objects from his career as a photographer, will also be presented in the exhibition.

When he returned home from the war, O’Donnell put the negatives of his own photos in a trunk and locked them away, emotionally unable to look at them until after nearly 50 years.

In 1995, O’Donnell published many of the photos in Japan. A decade later, a book was published in the United States by Vanderbilt University Press, entitled "Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine’s Photographs from Ground Zero." He also lectured and exhibited in both countries. The State Museum used original negatives from Joe O’Donnell’s personal collection to create the exhibition.

"These powerful photographs were among the original images O’Donnell took as a U. S. Marine photojournalist in occupied Japan in the aftermath of war, showing both destruction and reconstruction. They provide a look at the world’s entry into the nuclear age," explained the museum’s Executive Director Lois Riggins-Ezzell.

The exhibition of O’Donnell’s photographs captures gripping images of Japanese children and adult survivors in their world as it was at the time.

"Not only do O’Donnell’s tragically beautiful photographs capture a hell on earth, they also embody his profound compassion and respect, making his haunting images precious not only as documentation but also as works of art," Donna Seaman said in a recent review of O’Donnell’s work for Booklist magazine.

After the war, O’Donnell was employed as a photographer with the United States Information Agency, an organization created in 1953, where he photographed American presidents, world leaders and important White House events. A case displaying objects from O’Donnell’s personal collection is included in the exhibition.

In the early 1980s, O’Donnell moved to Nashville, where he continued to take photographs, exhibit his work, and lecture until his death in 2007.