Image: Stark Museum of Art
The Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas, will open its doors after hours on August 27, 2026, for the latest installment of its ‘Art After 5’ series. The museum says the evening, scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m., will be free to attend and will include exhibitions, a lecture, guided tours and other activities.
According to the museum’s event page, ‘Art After 5’ is designed as an after-hours experience at the Stark Museum of Art and The W.H. Stark House. The museum describes the series as free of charge and built around hands-on art making, lectures, special guided experiences and similar programs. It also notes that each ‘Art After 5’ event is different from the last and takes place on the last Thursday of the month.
For the August 27 edition, the museum lists a slide talk titled ‘Blackwell’s Orange,’ presented by Sarah Boehme, PhD., at 6 p.m. The museum’s exhibition page says the lecture is offered in conjunction with ‘The Color Orange,’ a collection-based exhibition that explores the history, uses and effects of the color orange through works spanning from the 1500s to the 2000s. The page adds that the exhibition includes examples by European, American and American Indian artists, and invites visitors to consider how orange makes them feel.
The accompanying ‘Blackwell’s Orange: Art from A Curious Herbal’ page provides the lecture’s thematic frame. It notes that in 1737 artist Elizabeth Blackwell published ‘A Curious Herbal,’ a two-volume work identifying medicinal plants, and says she created all 500 illustrations herself to raise funds to free her husband from debtor’s prison. The page says the slide talk will examine how Blackwell became the first woman to produce an herbal of this scale, with attention to her detailed illustrations, including ‘The Orange Tree,’ and her connections to English botanical gardens.
The museum will also offer guided three-floor tours of The W.H. Stark House at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., with advanced reservations recommended for those tours. Small bites and beverages will be available for purchase from Free State Cellars. The museum says registration is not needed for ‘Art After 5’ events held at the museum itself.
Visitors attending the evening will be able to view more than a dozen exhibitions across the Stark Museum of Art, including ‘America 250: Three Presidents – Lincoln, Grant, and Garfield,’ ‘The Color Orange’ and ‘Invitation to Imitation.’ The museum’s ‘America 250’ page says the special focus exhibition features three watercolor paintings by Taos artist Oscar E. Berninghaus and is on view from May 16 to December 23, 2026. The museum’s ‘Invitation to Imitation’ page says that exhibition includes 16 original works by Stark Museum of Art Education staff and is on view June 3 to October 3, 2026 in the Community Art Gallery.
‘Art After 5’ is scheduled for August 27, 2026, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Stark Museum of Art, 712 Green Ave., Orange, Texas. The museum lists the lecture at 6 p.m. and guided house tours at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.
