If you’re ready for an in-person cultural experience after over a year spent at home, you’re in luck — museums throughout the region are serving up exhibits ranging from LEGO sculptures to multiple immersive Van Gogh experiences to help you make up for all that lost time. Here are a few worth getting excited about.
“Power, Passion & Pose: Photographs by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory”
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga
Through Sept. 6
A true intersection of art, this exhibit features nearly 50 stunning dance photographs from New York power couple Ken Browar and Deborah Ory alongside costumes from various fashion houses. Browar’s photography has appeared in fashion magazines worldwide, while Ory has been a photo editor for publications including Conde Nast’s House & Garden magazine and Mirabella, created by former Vogue editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella.
Tickets: $20, or $18 for seniors (free for members and children 17 and younger); huntermuseum.org/visit
* Tickets are date-specific. Book online.
“Calder-Picasso”
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
June 26-Sept. 19
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View more than 100 paintings, sculptures and works on paper from various phases of the careers of two of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso.
Tickets: $14.50 (free for members and children younger than 6); high.org/tickets
* Note: Timed admission.
>> While you’re there: In celebration of the centennial of the 19th amendment, “Underexposed: Women Photographers From the High Museum” will be on display at the High through Aug. 1. It features more than 100 pieces from the museum’s collection — many of which have never been shown — shot by female photographers from the modern period to the present.
“SUPERnatural: Aerial Art in Motion by Poetic Kinetics, Glass Art in Bloom by Jason Gamrath”
Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Through Oct. 31
Artist Patrick Shearn of Poetic Kinetics, whose past installations include events like Burning Man and Coachella, has crafted a billowing “skynet” above a wooded area of the gardens to resemble a flock of colorful birds. And Seattle glass artist Jason Gamrath is exhibiting 150 oversized floral sculptures, including 30 specifically for this exhibit, scattered throughout the formal gardens.
Tickets: $19.95-$24.95 (free for members and children age 3 and younger); atlantabg.org/tickets
“The Sculpture of William Edmondson: Tombstones, Garden Ornaments, and Stonework”
Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Nashville
Aug. 12-Oct. 31
A self-taught artist and former slave, Nashville native William Edmondson was the first Black artist to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This exhibit is the first large-scale museum examination of the artist’s career in more than 20 years.
Tickets: $18-$25 for gardens and mansion or $13-$20 for gardens only; cheekwood.org/buy-tickets
* Note: Timed-entry reservations must be made online.
>> While you’re there: “Sean Kenney’s Nature POP! Made with LEGO Bricks” will also be at Cheekwood through Sept. 5. Inspired by the Pop art movement, it features 38 sculptures made of 800,000 LEGOs, which really pop in the natural setting of the gardens.
“Color of Chagall & his Contemporaries”
Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta
Summer 2022
The art museum at this small liberal arts college in the middle of Atlanta is known to regularly bring in top-notch exhibits. Although it’s currently closed to visitors due to health restrictions, next summer the museum will feature a selection of rarely exhibited oil paintings by late 19th and early 20th century artists like Chagall, Renoir and Pissarro as well as drawings by Degas, Bonnard and Dufy.
Tickets: $5 (free for children younger than 12); museum.oglethorpe.edu
Are you a Van Gogh lover?
The digital art show trend has arrived stateside, bringing not one but three different immersive Van Gogh shows to choose from as they make their way to cities near Chattanooga.
“Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience”
Through August
Pullman Yards, Atlanta
This hourlong light and sound show features 360-degree projections of the artist’s work across 20,000 square feet of warehouse space. An optional 10-minute VR experience takes you on a day in the life of the artist.
Tickets: $19.10-$35.40 for general admission or $35.90-$52.30 for VIP with VR experience; vangoghexpo.com/atlanta
“Immersive Van Gogh”
Nashville (location TBA)
Nov. 4, 2021-Feb. 6, 2022
Projections and digital animations of the Dutch painter’s works will dance across 500,000 cubic feet, set to original music. The unique exhibit was created by Italian installation artist Massimiliano Siccardi, whose “Atelier des Lumieres” exhibit was seen by over 2 million people in Paris — and which you may recall from the Netflix show “Emily in Paris.”
Tickets: $39.99-$49.99; nashvillevangogh.com
“Van Gogh Alive”
Nov. 5, 2021-March 5, 2022
Biltmore Estate, Asheville
This is the first of three immersive digital art exhibits in the yearlong “Legends of Art & Innovation at Biltmore” series, which also includes digital shows featuring works by Monet and Da Vinci. Each exhibit is a multisensory experience incorporating light, color, sound and fragrance.
Tickets: Cost is included in daytime admission to the estate. Tickets and required reservations will be available later this year at biltmore.com.