Mott-Warsh Collection

05/27/2026

"Alma Woodsey Thomas had her first one-woman show at the age of 68 and developed her style in retirement. Despite her belated start, Thomas went on to have retrospectives at Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American Art. She was the first African American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art and her work has been shown at the White House on three occasions.

[...] Thomas’ early art creations were naturalistic and in the figurative tradition, however at Howard University she became fascinated by abstraction. When she was invited to exhibit her art at Howard in 1966, Thomas decided to experiment with a new approach that would lead to the type of painting for which she is best known today: large canvases filled with dense, irregular patterns made by brushes heavily laden with bright colors. Thomas' mature work has been compared with Byzantine mosaics, the pointillist technique of Georges Seurat, and the paintings of the Washington Color School, yet her work is quite distinctive." - Excerpt from the label of this artwork in the exhibition "Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection" curated by Stephanie James at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, MI, on view Feb. 12 - Aug. 22, 2026.

Featured artwork details: Alma W. Thomas, “Dahlias in the Fall”, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 24 in. x 36 in. © Charles Thomas Lewis

MW Gallery hours: Thursdays 11AM-6PM, Fridays 11AM-6PM, and Saturdays, 11AM-5PM
815 S. Saginaw St. Flint, MI 48502
Admission is always free.

05/22/2026

Sankofa Project's program was excellent! Delma Jackson III's presentation was an insightful dive into the dualities racially Black bodies are faced with, and the workshop by Regina Laurie gave everyone an avenue to interrupt the narrative. With this knowledge and the support of Canisha Norris' somatic techniques and the strategies for looking at art provided by MW Gallery's Michaela Mosher, participants of every race are more equipped to step up and move us all forward. Thank you to everyone who joined! And If you weren't able to attended this event, keep an eye out for future programs presented by Sankofa Project at MW Gallery and elsewhere!

Photos by PlainAirPhotography, taken during the lecture and workshop "Brutes, Wh**es, Sambos, and Mammies: The Politics of Black Bodies", part of Sankofa Project's Bearing Witness Series, May 20, 2026 at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, MI. This program was presented in conjunction with MW Gallery's current art exhibition "Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection" curated by Stephanie James and on view through August 22, 2026.

05/21/2026

This week the gallery is open regular hours Thursday 5/21 and Friday 5/22 11:00AM-6:00PM, but will be closed Saturday 5/23 in observance of Memorial Day. Have a warm and sunny weekend!

05/15/2026

This week we're remembering one of the greats: Mary Lovelace O'Neal, an abstract master known for her large artworks and her giant personality, passed away on May 10th, 2026.

The Mott-Warsh Collection is lucky to have a few artworks by O'Neal, including this monumental piece “Racism is Like Rain, Either it is Raining or It Is Gathering Somewhere", 1993, Acrylic and pigment on canvas, 81 in. x 138 in. © Mary Lovelace O’Neal. The artwork was seen most recently on view at MW Gallery in the exhibition "Beyond the Physical World" curated by Stephanie James, which was up Sept. 13, 2024 through Jan. 25, 2025. These are some snapshots from that exhibit.

Read more on ARTnews: "Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Abstract Painter Who Refused to Conform, Dies at 84" https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/mary-lovelace-oneal-abstract-painter-dead-1234785363/

05/15/2026

We've lost another one of the greats - Mary Lovelace O'Neal, an abstract master known for large artworks and her giant personality, passed away on May 10th, 2026.

Read more on artnet:

After coming of age in the Civil Rights movement, Lovelace O’Neal forged a singular path in American painting that belatedly saw recognition.

05/09/2026

Congratulations Tara! Our 20,000th visitor! We had such fun handing out goodie bags and trying to anticipate when our special guest would wall through the doors. Thank you to ALL of MW Gallery's 20,000 visitors over the past 10 years. You rock!

05/06/2026

See you this Friday for Flint ARTWALK! MW Gallery will be receiving its 20,000th visitor sometime that evening! Will it be you? We have a special surprise for the 20,000th visitor, as well as the first 25 visitors through the door at 6pm will receive a small thank you gift as a token of our appreciation for 10 years of being able to share art from the Mott-Warsh Collection with you.

05/05/2026

Be our 20,000th visitor and get a special surprise! Friday, May 8th MW Gallery will receive its 20,000th visitor since opening its doors in June 2016. Over the past 10 years, MW Gallery has had the privilege of sharing art from the Mott-Warsh Collection with the public in downtown Flint, MI. Thank you to everyone who has helped us achieve this milestone! You are our mission.

In addition to a surprise for the 20,000th visitor, the first 25 visitors through the door Friday during ARTWALK, starting at 6:00pm, will receive a small thank you gift. Then, join us next month at ARTWALK as we celebrate MW Gallery's 10 year anniversary on June 12, 2026!

05/04/2026

"Fashion is Art" - this year's Met Gala theme - has got us looking at the fashion "in" art, like this piece by Fabrice Monteiro. See any Met Gala attendees who stole this look?

Image: Fabrice Monteiro, "Signare, lle de Goree #1", 2011, Digital C-print, 31 1/4 x 23 1/4 x 1 ¾” © Fabrice Monteiro

"Fabrice Monteiro is an artist practicing photojournalism, fashion photography, and portraiture. His photographs are especially noted for their rich, lush color and provocative subjects.

Signares were a society of mixed-raced women, born of unions between European settlers and African women, who rose from the 17th century onward as figures of power, refinement, and ambiguity within the tumult of colonial history. Many of these women became astute negotiators of commerce and trade—including at times, human beings. In a male dominated world, they transformed their marginal position into a space of influence, combining elegance, intelligence, and strategy. In his lavishly adorned reinterpretation of their stories, Monteiro confronts the complexity of Africa’s histories." - Excerpt from the artwork label on view now through Aug. 22, 2026 as part of the exhibit "Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection" curated by Stephanie James at MW Gallery in Flint, MI.

04/30/2026

Decisions, decisions, decisions…think you know what they’d pick? Come check at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, MI, where you can see these sculptures and more on view in the exhibit “Voice and Visibility: 25 Years of the Mott-Warsh Collection” up through August 22, 2026.

Admission to MW Gallery is always free and the gallery is open Thursdays 11am-6pm, Fridays 11am-6pm, and Saturdays, 11am-5pm. Contact us about free guided tours and enrichment opportunities for your group!