A permanent exhibition of works collected by Art Therapist Joyce Laing, OBE.

A major collection within the AMSET permanent collection is that of the larger than life totem-like sculptures of Felix “Fox” Harris.

For over 20 years, Harris crafted his sculptures of recycled materials and displayed them in his yard, creating a forest-like environment. Harris was inspired to make art by a vision from God telling him to set aside his old life and make a new one. God told him to “make somethin’ out of nothin,’” he said. Harris took this to mean that not only should he reform his ways, but that he should literally take found objects and give them new life. In time, Harris constructed a forest of totems, some as tall as 15 feet, made from scrap metal, old toys, street markers and other discarded objects.

These significant pieces of folk art were donated to AMSET after Harris’ death in the mid 1980s and have had a tumultuous history at the museum, through numerous installation locations, de-installations due to threats of inclement weather and subsequent long-term storage. Finally in August 2007, AMSET unveiled Somethin' Out of Nothin': The Works of Felix "Fox Hafoxcolor.jpgrris, a semi-permanent gallery and glorious new resting place for the Beaumont treasures.

The entire third floor of the Museum is reserved for Southern Contemporary Folk Art. As part of this dedication to folk art, the Donelly and Lail Galleries house works in an open storage format. Works in these galleries change regularly.

Theora Hamblett, a lifelong resident of Lafayette County, didn’t begin her career as an artist until the latter part of her life.

Born in 1895 in Paris, Mississippi, Hamblett grew up on a chicken farm, which became the subject of many of her paintings. During the early decades of the twentieth century, she taught school, but by the 1930s, she left to care for her ill mother.

After the passing of her mother, Hamblett moved to Oxford, where she bought a 12-room house on Van Buren Avenue. She rented rooms to University of Mississippi students and sewed to make money.