Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
3100 South Ocean Boulevard
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29577
843.238.2510
The Art Museum is dedicated to being one of the finest visual arts museums in the Carolinas. We strive to engage our community and our visitors through unique exhibitions and interactive, educational and creative programs for people of all ages.
In our 11 galleries, exhibitions change throughout the year as the Museum features a lively panorama of artists and their works including paintings, textiles, sculpture, photography, video, ceramics, assemblage, collage—almost anything the artistic imagination can construct. We have featured artists of national renown, such as Ansel Adams, Norman Rockwell, John James Audubon, the Gee’s Bend quilters and Jasper Johns, as well as some of the region’s most celebrated names, including Jonathan Green and Brian Rutenberg. We take pride in offering exhibitions that provide enjoyment and learning for all ages—and especially for families, such as those highlighting Goodnight Moon, Babar, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and the golden age of animated films.
A visit to the Art Museum can be enhanced by our lively opening receptions, our docent tours and our engaging lectures. We take great pride in our extensive opportunities for children to become engaged in learning about the visual arts with an enticing array of classes and summer camps.
The Museum first opened to the public in June, 1997, but was conceived some 13 years earlier by a small group of Myrtle Beach visionaries—artists, art patrons, business leaders, cultural enthusiasts and other private citizens. The building itself dates to 1924, when it was built by textile industry mogul Eugene Cannon in the Cabana Section of Myrtle Beach. It was subsequently sold to Col. Elliot White Springs for use by his family and executives of Springs Industries and re-christened Springmaid Villa. Today it stands proudly as one of the few remaining examples of Myrtle Beach’s early beach homes through the efforts of the Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild, a local artists’ group, who arranged for the home to be saved when it was scheduled for demolition in 1975. The home was moved eight miles south to land donated by Myrtle Beach Farms. It eventually was re-named for the founders of the company and became the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum.
In 2013, just one year after its 15th anniversary, the Museum was the recipient of the State of South Carolina’s prestigious Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award for Outstanding Arts Organization. This award honors South Carolina arts organizations who maximize their roles as innovators, supporters and advocates of the arts. The Verner Award is designated as the official “Governor’s Awards for the Arts.”