Flint Institute of Arts

Address 1120 East Kearsley Street, Flint, MI 48503

For a city this size, the Flint Institute of Arts has no business being this good. Founded in 1928, the museum holds roughly 9,000 works ranging from Italian Renaissance and Flemish baroque paintings to French Impressionists, American modernists, and a strong African and Asian collection. The Bray Gallery's collection of paperweights is one of the largest in the world.

The Institute also runs an art school with hot-glass and bronze-casting studios — visitors can sometimes watch demonstrations. Admission is free on Saturdays. The Hurand Sculpture Garden is open year-round.

things to do museum
A story
The Institute owns one of the largest collections of Steuben glass outside the Corning Museum — over 1,800 pieces, donated in 1976 by Isabel Foster Hall, a Flint native. The cut crystal animals and sculptures sit slightly incongruously among the European old masters and African art, but they are among the museum's most popular exhibits.