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EXHIBITS
The Elisabet Ney Museum houses the World’s largest collection of this remarkable woman’s work, spanning the 1850s through her death at the site in 1907, along with furnishings and ephemera.
The Museum also exhibits contemporary artists in the building as well as on the grounds, much of which features a Historic Prairie Landscape Restoration that mimics what Miss Ney found when she purchased the property in 1882.
Breaking the Mold: Pilot Program
April 15, 2025 - May 30, 2025
Austin’s first art museum, the Elisabet Ney Museum invites you to embark on an exciting new program called Breaking the Mold: Mobile Hands-On Art Crates. Experience the historic life of our local 19th century pioneer, artist, naturalist, and women’s rights advocate, Elisabet Ney through the voices of three Austin contemporary female artists: Beili Liu, Virginia L. Montgomery, and Tammie Rubin. Each has designed individual art crates for fourth-grade teachers to incorporate into their classrooms in exciting and dynamic ways.
All three distinct art crates were developed within the artists’ personal studio environments in the same manner that Elisabet Ney would have worked within her own Formosa studio, now the Elisabet Ney Museum. Curriculum guides connect teachers to Ney’s life story and artistic practices through specific TEKs and STEAM standards. The guides also contain lessons and activities along with all of the art supplies required to complete them and are all contained in a unique piece of traveling art!
ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
In ELISABET NEY: ART FOR HUMANITY’S SAKE, the Elisabet Ney Museum brings together over 80 pieces from our collections and puts them online! Enjoy the ultimate portrait of Elisabet via portions of our extensive collection portrayed in a way never before possible: online! Portrait and allegorical sculptures, studies, maquettes as well as archives, letters, photos, tools, personal effects—even clothing—are all displayed in this crisp, and useful, online exhibition. Casual fans to advanced researchers will find the data of great interest. You can even see things that are never visible to the public—items that are deep in our collections room!
Please visit the online exhibition here
For more information about these exhibitions, please visit our Exhibits page.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
- Breaking the Mold - Fall 2024
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Celebrating the commonalities between 19th-century art and modern times, the contemporary art programs at the Elisabet Ney Museum activates conversations between artists across the centuries and in collaboration with the historic native Texas landscape. Redefining Ney's iconoclastic life and brilliant art through the lens of three female contemporary visual artists, the museum’s newest exhibition, Breaking the Mold, explores notions of the artist process, life in 19th century Austin as an immigrant, and an admiration for the natural world.
The exhibition features new and existing artwork inspired by Elisabet Ney by Austin-based artists Beili Liu, Virginia L Montgomery (VLM), as well as Tammie Rubin. In addition to the exhibition, the artists will collaborate with the museum to create a new annual educational initiative, Breaking the Mold: Mobile Hands-On Art Crates. Each unique portable classroom kit will be designed and fabricated by the artists and be deployed into Austin elementary classrooms to engage students in the areas of art, history, science, and math to encourage critical thinking and the creative process. This program will also reinforce Elisabet Ney’s vision for women in the arts while advocating for youth educational initiatives.
This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Dorothy C. Radgowski Learning Through Women’s Achievement in the Arts Grant Program, provided through the Where Women Made History and the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios programs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation along with support from the Summerlee Foundation and A3.
- Super Modeling: Neoclassical Sculpture & Elisabet Ney
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Super Modeling: Neoclassical Sculpture & Elisabet Ney
On display from April 6th to December 1st, 2024
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Have you ever wondered how Elisabet Ney created her exquisite Neoclassical sculptures? Check out the museum's brand new exhibit "Super Modeling" curated by our very own museum educator Michelle Sefcik. The exhibit is a journey through Ney’s sculptural process - including some of her tools, works, and study aids!
- Alejandra Almuelle: "De Tierra"
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Explore the Ney's latest exhibit by local artist, Alejandra Almuelle. Originally from Peru, Almuelle's ceramic figurative sculptures exemplify the biological archive of experience through the human form. Working in clay is an important component to her work because of the medium's historical significance and its connection to the earth.
Throughout the museum, Almuelle's works are going to be re-contextualized amongst Elisabet Ney's own classically-inspired sculptures.
The exhibit will be on view from May 25 to July 30, 2023.
- Deborah Mersky: “The Path I Took”
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On view through May 14th 2023.
Through painted and stitched works, Mersky retraces memories of a childhood in Austin spent wandering along creeks and railroad tracks. She combines these abstracted sensory memories with versions of her current daily walking routes; leading to visual/tactile translations of an untamed world close at hand. Mersky describes these paper and textile artifacts as direct evidence of her days, past and present.
For more information on the artist's work, visit: https://deborahmersky.com/
- ANNIE MAY JOHNSTON "the Mother the Witch the Hysteric”
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ANNIE MAY JOHNSTON
"the Mother the Witch the Hysteric”
On view from January 26 to March 21, 2023
Come experience the new exhibition at the Elisabet Ney Museum, the Mother the Witch the Hysteric by Annie May Johnston! The Museum continues to present local contemporary female identifying artists within the walls of Miss Ney’s former studio, Formosa. This spring, the Ney welcomes Johnston as she works in collaboration with Elisabet Ney’s striking sculpture of Lady Macbeth. Johnston’s unique printmaking practice employs new technologies alongside traditional processes. Considering gendered traits, the supernatural and pseudo-science, her new artwork combines images and interpretations of Lady Macbeth, Elisabet Ney, and herself. This exhibition is in partnership with PrintAustin, an artist-led nonprofit organization working to showcase traditional and contemporary approaches in printmaking.
- RENEE LAI & ROSA NUSSBAUM "The Bathing of the Sphinx"
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RENEE LAI & ROSA NUSSBAUM
The Bathing of the Sphinx
On view through January 15, 2023
For the Austin Studio Tours this year, the Ney will present a new exhibit by artists, Renee Lai and Rosa Nussbaum, titled "The Bathing of the Sphinx". Visitors will be able to view the artists’ mysterious, narrative video projections in the museum’s main gallery. Then, on November 10 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, the Ney will host an opening reception that will also include the unveiling of Lai and Nussbaum’s sculptural installations nestled amongst the museum’s trail. Through this exhibition, the artists will connect their own experiences involving art, land and femininity to Elizabet Ney’s personal history. The opening reception will be free to the public, and the exhibit will be on view through January 15. The West Austin Studio Tour will take place at the Ney from noon to 5 pm on November 5, 6, 12 & 13.
- CINDY ELIZABETH "EVE"
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CINDY ELIZABETH
"EVE"
On view through October 30, 2022
Eve is an homage to all the women, girls, and femmes who, like Elisabet Ney, have shaped and are still shaping the landscape of Central Texas. Mostly captured over the course of the pandemic, this collection of images showcases portraits of Black women and girls, who are central to the culture of Austin and yet are often erased and dissociated from the culture they have created. Eve is a celebration of the presence, work, and beauty of Black women in Austin; to disrupt white supremacist culture as much as to credit Black women for their contributions to the arts and fashion.
- REHAB EL SADEK "Secret Place"
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REHAB EL SADEK
Secret Place
On View through July 31, 2022
“Secret Place” is a site-specific installation created to be a meditation on the internal solitude inherent to the immigrant experience. El Sadek utilized sculpture, photography, and everyday objects to create this body of work. The fragility of individual and collective memories is demonstrated through installation materials in various states of aging and deterioration. El Sadek’s heritage is also reflected in some of the materials, especially those used in Egypt for healing, protection, and conservation.
- LIV MONIQUE JOHNSON "Suspension"
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LIV MONIQUE JOHNSON
Suspension
On View throuch March 18, 2022
“Suspension" is a unique 3D immersive print installation which invites the viewer to explore an outcropping of unexpected wilderness where the weird may take place. Screen-printed elements and a variety of materials combine to create a lush room-full of colorful foliage, culminating in a suspended moment; a focal point of ultimate potential. Surrounded by abundance, this core allows for a quiet confrontation with the unknown.
- JADE WALKER: "REWEAVE 2021"
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JADE WALKER: REWEAVE 2021
Mire + Mend outdoors
Birdsong indoors
On View: Saturday, June 9 to Sunday, October 24, 2021
The Elisabet Ney Museum is proud to present “Reweave: 2021,” an exhibition of works indoors and outdoors by Austin artist Jade Walker. The show consisting of two parts: Mire + Mend, which is outside the Elisabet Ney Museum, on its grounds; and Birdsong, located inside the Museum. There is also a virtual component, found here. Intended to reflect community bonds through intersections in fabric and weaving, Reweaving refers to the art of repairing damage to a garment in a virtually invisible way by hand weaving new material and replicating the garments original structure as closely as possible. Both Mire + Mend and Birdsong utilize similar weaving structures but one asks others to bring their own materials and take part in a communal fashion to mend while the other advocates observation and action through other means. Together these works create the overall project, Reweave: 2021.
- SUFFRAGE NOW
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In SUFFRAGE NOW, the Elisabet Ney Museum asked contemporary women photographers to share photos that comment on the Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment. The photos were selected by a preeminent jury of curators, photo editors, photographers and artists. Photos are accompanied by commentary by the photographers. The exhibition is ALL online. Participate on social media by using the hashtag “#SuffrageNow”!
Please visit the online exhibition and related programming here.
- BARBARA ATTWELL: "REWYLDING"
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BARBARA ATTWELL: REWYLDING
On View: Saturday, February 27 to Sunday, July 26, 2020
For a video tour of the past Special Exhibition “Barbara Attwell: Rewylding”, please visit Barbara Atwell: Rewylding Exhibition
- ELISABET NEY: "ART FOR HUMANITY’S SAKE"
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In ELISABET NEY: ART FOR HUMANITY’S SAKE, the Elisabet Ney Museum brings together over 80 pieces from our collections and puts them online! Enjoy the ultimate portrait of Elisabet via portions of our extensive collection portrayed in a way never before possible: online! Portrait and allegorical sculptures, studies, maquettes as well as archives, letters, photos, tools, personal effects—even clothing—are all displayed in this crisp, and useful, online exhibition. Casual fans to advanced researchers will find the data of great interest. You can even see things that are never visible to the public—items that are deep in our collections room!