There was a huge mural consisting of three large paintings, which I found to be particularly interesting. It was a church scene with smiling men and woman going up the left stairs. On the right, women were dressed in black, as if they were leaving a funeral. The painting was so large that it impressed me, and I enjoyed looking into the picture to feel what was going on with these subjects.

It was nice but odd to see a painting by Grandma Moses. I had seen an exhibit of hers at the Shelburne, Vermont, museum a few years back and thought her work was more Vermont, than Georgia, so it seemed out of place here. I think it was called Dividing of the Ways.

The paintings on view represent many different styles. Primarily there are American Impressionists, but also represented are examples of social realist paintings, American abstraction, and dark realism. American Anthem: Highlights from the American Folk Art Museum was the current temporary show at the museum. It featured 125 objects reflecting both historical and contemporary folk production. Works in the exhibit include functional household textiles such as quilts and bed rugs and elaborately painted chests and trunks. Also, there were many portraits, weathervanes, woodcarvings, trinket boxes, family records, and devotional objects. I also saw tinsel paintings where glass was painted on the back and foil was applied beneath the unpainted areas to create dramatic, gleaming highlights.

Finally, there was a Kitchen Gallery in one of the two original kitchens of the Telfair mansion. It includes many features of an early 19th-century kitchen, including an original hearth, double oven, and built-in shelving. I thoroughly enjoyed this museum, including seeing the bronze-cast statue of the "Bird Girl" in front of the museum, made famous from the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Admission is $8; hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 1 to 5pm, and Monday 12 to 5pm.

Sylvia Shaw Judson's sublime "Bird-Girl" statue is on permanent loan to the Telfair Museum. It was removed from the Bonaventure Cemetery to maintain some peace for the gravesites that surrounded it; tourists began to trample through the cemetery in search of it after John Berendt's book became a best-seller. The statue of a girl holding two bowls in each hand filled with azaleas is featured on the dust-jacket of the book. It does not play any role in the real-life events that occurred in the book. It was selected for the cover because it looks like the girl is holding the scales of justice, weighing good versus evil in final judgment.

The Telfair contains many interesting and important American paintings. The "American Impressionists", Childe Hassam, Frederick Frieseke, and Gari Melchers, are represented, as are the "Ash Can Realists", such as Robert Henri, George Bellows and George Luks. A beautiful winter landscape by George Bellows called "Snow Capped River" is one of the museum's highlights.

Admission is eight dollars for adults, seven dollars for seniors and AAA, two dollars for students, one dollar for children six to twelve, and free for those under six. Group discounts are available.

The hours for the museum vary from day to day. It is open on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Docent-lead tours are offered every day at 2 p.m.