SHAWNEE, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma's oldest art gallery is commemorating its 100th birthday with a series of special exhibitions and festivities.
The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee is launching its centennial events with the exhibition "Celebrating a Century: Treasures from the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art," The Oklahoman reported.
Father Gregory Gerrer, the museum's namesake, was a Benedictine monk and an artist. He collected various works of artistic and ethnological value during his travels to Europe, Africa and South America.
"Father Gerrer started collecting for the museum as early as 1904. He started exhibiting these art and artifacts in his studio behind St. Benedict's Church in 1914. By 1919, he needed more space, so he moved his newly created museum to the second floor of Benedictine Hall," Delaynna Trim, the museum's curator of collections, said in an email.
"Celebrating a Century" will highlight the breadth and depth of the museum's collections display art and artifacts from cultures from all over the world, ranging from an ancient Egyptian god to a medieval Madonna and child figures.
The celebration will continue with a summer exhibit, "The History of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art," which will run from July 13 until Sept. 1. The autumn events will focus on the museum's ancient Egyptian mummies.
"In the fall, a very special event is planned. You will see the face of Tutu, our Ptolemaic era mummy," Trim said.