Art Museum of Greater Lafayette
Published on HivePostify by @byzantinecat · Tue Jul 21 2026
What's going on?
Following up on my previous post on Columbian Park Zoo, I'm now continuing to share my exploration of Lafayette, Indiana (home to Purdue University) with the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette.
Here are all of my Indiana posts:
G1: [Fort Wayne Zoo](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/fort-wayne-zoo)
G2: [Potawatomi Zoo](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/potawatomi-zoo)
G3: [Columbian Park Zoo](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/columbian-park-zoo)
G4: Art Museum of Greater Lafayette (this post)
G5: [Haan Museum of Indiana Art (Part 1)](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/haan-museum-of-indiana-art-part-1)
G6: [Haan Museum of Indiana Art (Part 2)](https://peakd.com/travel/@byzantinecat/haan-museum-of-indiana-art-part-2)
I'm steadily working on my Indiana backlog:
- Raclin Murphy Museum of Art - Indianapolis Zoo - Indianapolis Museum of Art, Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, and Holcomb Observatory - Garfield Park Conservatory - Eiteljorg Museum - Kurt Vonnegut Museum - Crispus Attucks Museum
All of the pictures in this post were taken by me. If you want to use any of my photos, please contact me to first obtain permission. Of course the copyrights to the art itself belongs to the appropriate artists, who I have credited/referenced. If any artists want me to remove images of their work, I will do so.
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ART MUSEUM OF GREATER LAFAYETTE
102 S. 10th Street Lafayette, IN 47905
Website: https://www.artlafayette.org/
Hours:
Open Daily, 11 AM - 4 PM.
Closed on holidays and between exhibits.
Cost (as of 2026): FREE!
Parking is free as well.
Estimated Time: 30 - 60 minutes.
This is a small local museum with 4 galleries though not all of them may be open at any given time. I spent one hour looking at the art and taking a copious amount of pictures.
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SUMMARY
The Art Museum of Greater Lafayette is a free, local art museum with 4 galleries. On my visit, 3 of the galleries were open for viewing (Poetics of Metal: Jewelry and Metalwork, Time for Tea: A Pour of Art and Craft, and Rooted) while the 4th gallery was being prepped for a new exhibit (Celebrating 40 Years Of "ArtSmart: Indiana") which opened the very next day. There is a gift shop on the upper floor. The hallways outside the studios on the first floor showcase local art which can be bought and, in some cases, you can take classes taught by the local artists.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Poetics of Metal exhibit, which displayed exquisite metallic sculptures. Jessica Mohl's work had an organic look that matched her representations of the natural world. I also appreciated the deeper meanings behind her pieces. Meanwhile Sishi Wang bared her soul with art reflecting her personal and family history.
The teapot collection was just okay. There were a few intriguing pieces. I would have definitely liked it more if there were more cute and whimsical teapots, especially of animals. I guess my aesthetic tastes differ significantly from the owners of the collections!
Lori Brubaker's Rooted exhibit was average as well. There were a handful of interesting naturalistic pieces, particularly with fungi.
Of the local art outside the galleries, I loved Avizia Long's whimsical four-legged friends. The gift shop also had some nice animal prints by Becki Canine and Becky Brody.
The art museum is worth stopping by if you are in the area and since it's free - I would rate it as 2 stars, which is average. Whether or not you enjoy the experience will depend largely on whether your tastes match whatever rotating exhibitions are on display. You will mainly be seeing local art so don't expect to be seeing iconic art by world famous artists (i.e. no Picasso, van Gogh, Renoir, etc.).
Here is how I would compare the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette to other art museums:
5 stars: - Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL) - Castello Sforzesco (Milan, Italy) - Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA) - Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden (New Orleans, LA, Free)
4 stars: - The Ringling (Sarasota, FL) - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice (Nice, France) - Musée Masséna (Nice, France) - Musei di Strada Nuova (Genoa, Italy) - Villa del Principe (Genoa, Italy) - Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Milan, Italy) - Rodin Museum (Philadelphia, PA) - Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis, IN) - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA) - Legion of Honor (San Francisco, CA)
3 stars: - Musée Matisse (Nice, France) - Palais Lascaris (Nice, France) - Musée Picasso (Antibes, France) - Museo Diocesano (Genoa, Italy) - Triton Museum of Art (Santa Clara, CA, Free) - de Young Museum (San Francisco, CA) - High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA) - New Orleans Museum of Art (New Orleans, LA) - Haan Museum of Indiana Art (Lafayette, IN)
2 stars: - Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL, Free) - Design Museum of Chicago (Chicago, IL, Free) - Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre (Nice, France) - L'artistique (Nice, France, Free) - Musée Peynet et du Dessin Humoristique (Antibes, France) - Museo di Sant'Agostino (Genoa, Italy) - Museo del Novecento (Milan, Italy) - San Jose Museum of Art (San Jose, CA) - Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL, Free) - Art Museum of Greater Lafayette (Lafayette, IN, Free)
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POETICS OF METAL: JEWELRY AND METALWORK
www.jessicamohl.com
What Grows from Sorrow, 2021 Red brass, sterling and fine silver, freshwater pearl
Jessica Mohl
What Grows from Sorrow is a metaphor for the eventual transition from grief to solace. This piece is inspired by the graceful form of the nigella flower and by the unpredictable turn of life events. Sheltered at the center of the sculpture is a pearl. Pearls symbolize the evolution and transformation of an irritation or pain into something uncannily soft and beautiful. They form from time and perseverance. Sometimes a pearl is visible, and sometimes it remains unseen. At the center of what sorrow and struggle creates is the sublime.
Among Flowers, 2019 Copper, sterling and fine silver, amethyst, thistle down, glass lens
Jessica Mohl
Among Flowers is a metaphor for that uncomfortable place of being among, but not quite being a part of the whole. The truth is, we are all among flowers.
Lavoisier's Diamond, 2026 Copper, sterling and fine silver, garnets, coal, Argyle mine diamond, glass lenses, carved walnut, lab created diamond dust
Jessica Mohl
I learned about Antoine Lavoisier while researching the element Carbon. He built towers with huge magnifying lenses to incinerate diamonds for the sake of science and knowledge. The vaporized diamonds became the purest form of carbon, proving nothing is truly lost, it is only transformed. Since his decadent experiments in the 1700's, every living thing on earth has at some point contained a microscopic, albeit diluted, fragment of pure carbon created from the diamonds he destroyed.
Hope, 2026 Sterling and fine silver, gravel from Crater of Diamonds (Arkansas), quartz carbuncle, glass bottle
Jessica Mohl
Tags: #travel#travelblog#wanderlust#lafayette#indiana#museum#art#teapot#cute#giftshop