The Morris Museum is housed in the Augusta Riverfront Center on the west end of the Riverwalk, across from the Radisson Hotel. From the museum's main entrance, visitors enter an elegant lobby of classic design and then proceed through a series of galleries showcasing an extensive collection of Southern art.

A visit to the museum begins with the Antebellum period in a stately empire setting and continues through galleries devoted to such themes as Civil War art, the Black Presence in Southern art, Southern Impressionism, early 20th century painting and contemporary works. A long landscape corridor offers a warm and tranquil setting for viewing Southern landscape painting.

The Morris Museum of Art houses more than 2,400 works of art in its permanent collection, but it also features changing exhibitions on a continuing basis.

The Morris Museum was established by William S. Morris III, chairman and chief executive officer of Morris Communications Corp., Augusta. Dedicated to the memory of his parents, William Shivers Morris Jr. and Florence Alden Hill Morris Rickenbacker, the museum opened to the public in September 1992.

As a home for a broad-based survey collection of Southern art, the museum does more than house exhibits. Its Center for the Study of Southern Painting is a reference and research library that includes files on more than 1,000 artists who have worked in the South.

The museum store, meanwhile, offers exhibition catalogues, art books, handcrafted jewelry and unique gift items. More than a dozen exhibition catalogues and books have been published by the museum in the past five years.

The Morris Museum of Art is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for students and seniors, and children under 6 accompanied by adults are admitted free of charge. Sundays are always free. For more information, call the museum at (706) 724-7501.