Are you free on Saturday Sept. 27?  The three Stetson museums, along with 11 other sites in West Volusia, will be open, and free admission as part of the Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day.

The Gillespie Museum, located at 234 E. Michigan Ave, will be unveiling a new exhibit: Common, Clay and Otherwise  (Sept. 2- Jan. 15). Featuring an environmental installation, Recomposed, by Rachel Mathes ’14, the exhibit explores the beauty and utility of clay. The Gillespie will also feature its “Collector’s Corner” and a special display—“Smithson, Smithsonite, and the Smithsonian”—tracing the mineralogical contributions of James Smithson, the British scientists whose founding gift to the people of the United States established our national museum.

Stetson’s Natural History Museum, located in the Sage Science Center, will be open to share its collection of fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, plants, shells, skulls, and bones. The museum will also be presenting a new display of birds and birds’ eggs (pictured left), along with museum games for young scientists.

At the Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center, there are currently two exhibits. The Waiting Room: Lost and Found  (Sept. 5-Oct. 15) is a national dialog that examines women’s health issues, healthcare broadly and access, through aesthetic, scientific, cultural, political, economic and literary lenses.. Oscar Bluemner’s America: New England Scenes (Sept. 5- Dec. 5) continues the project of the Hand Art Center to display and investigate the extensive collection of artwork by Oscar Bluemner (1867-1938) bequeathed to Stetson University by the artist’s daughter. The exhibition focuses on scenes from New England states.

For additional information about West Volusia’s celebration of Smithsonian Museum Day, the free shuttle and the museums in West Volusia who are participating, check out: https://www.stetson.edu/other/gillespie-museum/media/MuseumDay-MAP2-2014.pdf.