Renaissance

Biloxi is still recovering from the disaster that struck in August 2005.

One of the landmark to be, the Ohr-O'Keefee Museum of Art was destroyed shortly before its completion.

Frank Gehry who was the architect, created a new design to rebuild the museum, and in the spirit of the hurricane's aftermath, included four "pods".

These "pods" will host the collection of potteries from George Ohr who called himself:"The Mad Potter of Biloxi".

I recently visited the work in progress and was not reassured to see the project located across the beach, again.

A glimpse at the site (it is not accessible to the public) revealed the elegant lines of the pods, reflecting the sun and glowing in the blue sky.

The stainless steel panels however appear weak and a few are already bent. This spoils the purity of the design which should be flawless to reach its full dimension.

The rest of the project is too far from completion to appreciate.

The museum is scheduled to reopen this year, in November?

Meanwhile, the collections of potteries have been travelling and displayed at several museums.

After all these tribulations, the mad potter deserves a new home.

PS: why pods? These transient storage units called pods were common site near the damaged houses after hurricane Katrina. They contained all the salvaged "treasures".

photographs by the author