Museum Of Arts And Sciences (Macon, Georgia)
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The Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon is a community
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
in the U.S. state of Georgia. The facility includes four galleries with frequently changing exhibitions, the Discovery House with hands-on activities, live animal habitats, the Mark Smith Planetarium, nature trail, garden, store, auditorium, and classrooms. New exhibitions on
fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...
, science topics, and the
humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...
are presented for periods of four to six months. The museum is open to the public daily and offers programs to schools and groups. The museum is a member of the
American Alliance of Museums The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals w ...
as of July 2019.


History

The museum first opened in 1956Powell, Anna.
Museum of Arts and Sciences
" New Georgia Encyclopedia. 13 August 2013.
and started as a room in the Wesleyan Conservatory with a few activities for children. In 1964, the museum moved locations with the construction of a gallery and workshop. A year later, a planetarium would be added as a new wing of the museum. A 1980 addition included most of the museum's infrastructure. The Discovery House, a new lobby, and classrooms were added in 2001. In 2018, an additional building was added which provides a view of the peach orchard behind the building. Planned additions to the museum, including a bat cave and amphitheater, were approved in March 2019 and are expected to be complete by the end of the year.


Exhibitions


Art Gallery

The Museum of Arts and Science's art gallery is a mixture of permanent
gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: * Gallery (surname), a surname Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery ** Online art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ' ...
pieces and temporary exhibit pieces. The gallery is typically divided into three sections, with one section being for the permanent fixtures and the other two for the exhibits. Exhibitions shown include ''Fired by Genius: The Ceramics of Pablo Picasso'', ''Sunlight and Shadow:'' ''American Impressionism'', and ''The Art of Tiffany''.


Mark Smith Planetarium

The Mark Smith Planetarium is an
observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...
built in 1965 and located to the
southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
of the main entrance. The planetarium runs shows over various topics in astronomy, with two daily shows. The shows switch astronomical topics every two months. In addition to the shows, the planetarium is able to produce a virtual skyline with over 4,000 stars available for viewing. The size of the dome is 12.2 meters, and the planetarium can seat up to 118 people.


Mini-Zoo

The Mini-Zoo is a wing of the facility that houses animals, located to the left of the Discovery House. It has housed numerous kinds of animals, including monkeys, birds, snakes, and an alligator. The exhibit is designed to simulate a jungle environment, and has two stories for visitors to view the animals from. The animals are also part of auditorium shows, led by the museum's animal caregivers.


Discovery House

The Discovery House is a three-story wing, making it the largest exhibit in the museum. It is preceded by ''Gesturing Woman'', a piece by Viola Frey. Each floor is focused on a different area of study; The upper floor is focused on visual art, including activities that allow for children to create their own art such as paper dolls and a light box; The base level floor focuses on the humanities, providing activities intended to promote well-rounded education on the world such as poetry writing and a map room; The bottom floor focuses on science, with activities such as
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
digging and simple experiments in weather and magnetism. This section of the museum includes "Ziggy", a 40 million year old
whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...
fossil, as well as a
taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proces ...
adult
polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...
.


Outdoor Spaces

The Museum of Arts and Sciences' grounds include an amphitheater, a pavilion, raptor retreat, bat cave, and walking trails.


External links


Official Site


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Museum Of Arts And Magics (Macon, Georgia) Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Planetaria in the United States Museums in Macon, Georgia Science museums in Georgia (U.S. state) Art museums and galleries in Georgia (U.S. state) Natural history museums in Georgia (U.S. state)