New Exhibit Just Right for Halloween

Everyone is looking for a good scare during the month of October, and the new exhibit at the Brush Square Museums should provide visitors the perfect spooky Halloween treat. The exhibit, titled “In Loving Memory: The Art of Victorian Mourning,” explores various Victorian death customs and runs through March 2016.

Michael Hoinski, culture and arts education coordinator for the O. Henry Museum, said the exhibit looks at curious rituals surrounding death at the turn of the century, some of which O. Henry might have practiced after losing his son in childbirth.

“Visitors can see death masks, post-mortem photographs, and intricately hand-crafted hair jewelry and art, including a hair wreath made in 1875 by a nine-year-old girl from New Braunfels,” said Hoinski.

In addition to the exhibit, the museums will host a curator’s talk by guest curator Brooke Gaar-Bever on Friday, October 30, at 6 p.m. It will be followed by a walking tour at 7 p.m. of curious deaths in Austin history that occurred in the downtown area. The tour will be led by Dale Flatt of Austin’s Cemeteries, will last about an hour, and will conclude at 8 p.m. The entire event is free!