Polk Museum of Art

With eight galleries and a sculpture garden, visitors are sure to find something they like on exhibit at Polk Museum of Art. Our rotating exhibition schedule offers a diverse array of visual options, from African or Asian art to contemporary art by national or regional artists.

Downstairs, visitors enter into the Hollis Gallery, our "front porch." Major touring or Museum organized exhibitions will be found in the two large main galleries: the Dorothy Jenkins Gallery and the Emily S. Macey Gallery. Pre-Columbian works can be found on permanent display in the Taxdal Pre-Columbian Gallery, and artwork by elementary through high school students will be found in the George Jenkins Student Gallery. As you travel to the elevator or stairs, browse through the Perkins Gallery where you will often find one-person exhibitions on display.

Our upstairs galleries offer a more intimate venue for viewing art. The Ledger and Murray galleries are often combined to showcase rotating exhibitions of works from the Permanent Collection. In the Marks Gallery, you will find works from our Student Collection.

One of the goals of Polk Museum of Art is to stimulate awareness and appreciation of the arts through the acquisition and care of a Permanent Collection.

After an exhaustive review of the community-based donations made to PMoA from 1966 to 1983, our staff and Trustees decided that PMoA could best serve the public by focusing on four collection areas:

• Modern and Contemporary Art
• Asian Art
• European and American Decorative Arts
• Pre-Columbian Art
• African Art

These collections give all of our visitors the opportunity to experience a wide range of artistic objects: from 2,500 year old vessels made by the Chavin culture in what is now Peru, to contemporary artworks completed in the last six months.

All four collecting areas continue to grow, but the Modern and Contemporary Art area is by far the fastest growing. PMoA's guiding principle in collecting art is that each object must add to the educational and artistic value of the permanent collection while reflecting community interests.