Museums
Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art
386 Beach Blvd
Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Frank Gehry designed this five-building museum campus as a cluster of curved, stainless-steel pods scattered among century-old live oaks — one of the odder, better art detours on the Gulf Coast. It's built around the ceramics of George E. Ohr, the self-declared "Mad Potter of Biloxi," whose twisted, glazed pottery baffled critics in his own lifetime and gets taken seriously now. A barge tore through the half-built site during Hurricane Katrina in 2005; what stands today on Beach Boulevard opened in phases between 2010 and 2014.
Getting There
The museum sits directly on Beach Boulevard (Highway 90), across from the sand and about five minutes west of the Hard Rock and Beau Rivage if you're coming from the main casino strip. It's an easy add-on to a beach afternoon, not something that needs its own day. A free visitor parking lot sits right on the grounds, so there's no meter-feeding or hunting for a spot the way you will downtown near the Lighthouse. The campus spreads across four acres of live oaks, so once you're parked, expect a short walk between the separate gallery buildings.
What to Expect
Gehry's design scatters five separate buildings across the property — curved, stainless-steel-clad forms built to weave between the live oaks rather than clear them. Inside, the museum's real draw is room after room of George Ohr's pottery: the twisted handles, pinched rims, and volcanic glazes that got him dismissed as a crank in his own lifetime and celebrated a century later. The Center for Ceramics runs working studio demonstrations on select days. Beyond the permanent Ohr collection, the museum rotates in traveling exhibits — through late June 2026, that's "From Stono to Now," a survey of Black resistance in American art spanning nearly three centuries.
Good to Know
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4:15 p.m.; it's closed Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays including Mardi Gras Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Adult admission is $12, $10 for seniors, military, AAA, and AARP members, and $6 for students and kids 6 to 17; children under 6 get in free. Call 228-374-5547 to confirm hours around Mardi Gras. Give yourself at least 90 minutes if you actually want to read the gallery labels instead of speed-walking past the pottery.
Our Take
Skip this one and you'll leave Biloxi thinking the town's only culture is on a casino stage, which sells it short. The Ohr collection alone is worth the $12 — nothing else on the coast looks like it, and Gehry's buildings are a genuine architectural oddity you won't find anywhere else in Mississippi. Go on a weekday morning if you can; Saturdays draw a steadier stream of families and bus groups.
Details last verified August 2026. Always confirm current hours and prices directly with the attraction.