Paul R. Jones Museum

08/25/2026

The Paul R. Jones Museum kicks off the fall semester with a new lens on the permanent collection! Join us on September 4th, from 5-8 pm, as we have the grand reception for: Jerry Siegel-UNCOMMON LENS. This is an exhibition derived from Siegel's portraits, taken throughout much of his career. The focus for this exhibition is on artists in the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art. We are presenting this show in two parts. For the September 4th First Friday opening we will have the following artist's portraits accompanied by one of their artworks:

Part I:
Larry Allen
Amalia Amaki
Fahamu Pecou
Thornton Dial
William Anderson
Benny Andrews
Charlie Lucas
Roscoe Hall

Part I: September 4th- October 23rd
Part II October 30th- December 11th

Please join us for a free public lecture, as Jerry Siegel will be the keynote speaker for the Jones Speaker Series Lecture at the Jones Museum on September 17th at 4pm.

A selection of Jerry Siegels work was recently selected for the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Museums.

Jerry Siegel was born and raised in Selma, AL, and graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta.
His first monograph, FACING SOUTH, Portraits of Southern Artists was published by the University of Alabama Press, and features portraits of 100 Southern artists. This body of work has been featured in solo exhibitions at 6 Museums in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. His second book, Black Belt Color, focuses my attentions on documenting the unique, cultural landscape of the South, concentrating on the Black Belt region of Alabama.
Siegel's work is in many public, private and corporate collections, including the Do Good Fund, High Museum of Art, GA Museum of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, and many more.
In the past 19 years, his work has been acquired by 16 museums throughout the Southeastern US. Siegel's work has also been shown in solo exhibitions and in the permanent collection at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta, The Telfair Museums, Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah, GA, Montgomery Museum of Art in Montgomery, AL, The Morris Museum in Augusta, ­­­­­GA, The Jule Colins Smith Museum in Auburn, AL, and The Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL.

Jerry Siegel
Image credit: Linda Fatuzzo

06/10/2026

We are happy to partner once again with our friends at the LSU Museum of Art. For this exhibition, a compelling exhibition of women photographers!
ReVision: Women in Photography features works from the permanent collections of the LSU Museum of Art and the Paul R. Jones Museum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, showing the continuing impact of women artists who have shaped—and continue to shape—the visual language of photography. Featured photographers include: Amalia Amaki, Sheila Pree Bright, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Suda House, Celestia Morgan, Martina Mullaney, Dianora Niccolini, Anne Noggle, Kenda North, Akasha Rabut, Ming Murray Smith, Clarissa Thompson Sligh, Sheila Turner, Kristine Thompson, Melanie Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems.

This show was curated by Michelle Shulte, Chief Curator, at the LSU Museum of Art. There will be a free public reception at the LSU Museum of Art this Thursday, June 11th, 5-8 pm, if you are in the area.

All of the photos in the show from the museum's collection have never been shown before.

04/29/2026

The Paul R. Jones Museum of American Art is pleased to present The Domestic Liminal from May 1 to August 21, 2026. The public is invited to a reception on Friday, May 1, from 5-8 p.m. during the First Friday Art Walk.

The Domestic Liminal is a curatorial project led by Dr. Lucy Curzon’s course, Art History 580: Twentieth Century seminar, which has selected pieces from the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at The University of Alabama to highlight themes of the everyday in 20th-century art and culture.

The department thanks the following students for developing and installing the show:

Tiffany Hawkins
Tayler Allen-Galusha
Peninah Feltman
Shakiba Ebrahimpour
Taylor Knudsen
Amelia Beacham
Erin Yother
Andrew Morgan
Sarah Riches
Scott Moore

This exhibition was inspired by Hyperallergic’s feature essay in February 2026, “How Liminalism Became the Defining Aesthetic of Our Time,” by Ed Simon. In this essay, Simon writes about the growing internet sensationalization of the “liminal aesthetic.” Defined by a sense of ambiguity and placelessness, the liminal zone, according to Simon, “flattens experience in the same way that digital homogenization obliterates distance.” This feature, paired with themes within the students’ coursework, inspired them to survey the collection for artwork that evoked the liminal in everyday settings or locations.

Liminality is a term that resists easy definition; it is a state of “in-betweenness” that is experienced by everyone. The night before marriage, puberty, moving homes, or awaiting a call are all examples of the liminal that speak to human experience. In the 21st century, photography, technology, and social media have captured images of these moments. This has led to the creation of online groups on Facebook and Reddit that are dedicated to sharing these odd images because of their widespread appeal and understanding from our own day-to-day experiences. By bringing the liminal from the internet into the gallery setting, the students hope to encourage visitors to reflect on the ways they have experienced moments of liminality in their everyday lives.

This exhibition features works of art from notable artists such as:

Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) a Black female artist who investigated southern dwellings in sculpture, painting, drawing, video, photography, and land art
Hans Bhalla (1927-1977) the former Department Chair of Art at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA
Molly Brooke Threadgill, an alumna from The University of Alabama and Art Teacher in the Tuscaloosa City School system
Wendel A. White, a documentary and experimental photographer who serves as a Distinguished Professor of Art at Stockton University, NJ.

Note: This press release was contributed by ARH 580 student Tiffany Hawkins.

Image below: Showcard image featuring an artwork by Beverly Buchanan titled Shack.