This Texas Museum Displays 1,400 Toilet Seats as Works of Art
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The Barney Smith Toilet Seat Art Museum in The Colony displays more than 1,400 of Smith’s original toilet-seat artworks. It makes an unusual stop for visitors curious about Texas culture and the people who shape it. The collection offers a personal view of one artist’s ideas, built on an object most people would throw away. Its scale is striking, yet each seat also gives you a close look at Smith’s choices. Found-object assemblage means artwork made by arranging and attaching ordinary or discarded objects. That approach turns a familiar toilet seat into a work with its own character. The appeal is not just the number of seats, but the personal stories and inventive objects Barney Smith assembled. For more offbeat stops, you can also explore these unusual Arkansas attractions.
Key Takeaways
- More than 1,400 original toilet-seat artworks
- Created by artist Barney Smith
- A personal record as well as an art display
- Now shown at Truck Yard in The Colony
- Free public access during business hours
How Did Barney Smith Turn Toilet Seats Into Art?
A discarded toilet seat headed for the landfill became Barney Smith’s first canvas. Smith was a master plumber from a family of plumbers, and he found unwanted seats at a plumbing supply house. Rather than waste them, he saw a shape that could hold a new kind of work.
Smith made his first toilet-seat artwork in 1984, using a seat as a mount for a hunting trophy. His father’s trophy mounts helped shape that idea. Smith treated the toilet seat as a frame for art, not as plumbing equipment.
A toilet seat could serve as a canvas when Smith saw its shape as a frame, not a fixture.
From plumbing work to an unlikely canvas
Smith’s work grew from years spent around plumbing parts and cast-off materials. A supply house gave him access to seats people no longer wanted. His trade also taught him how objects were made and how their parts fit together.
That practical eye did not limit his imagination. Smith could look at a discarded object and picture a different use for it. His first effort grew into a private creative practice in his garage.
Building art from found objects
Smith made collages by attaching found items to the seats. Found-object assemblage is artwork made by arranging and attaching ordinary or discarded objects. His materials included:
- Arrowheads
- Stamps
- Railroad spikes
- Horseshoes
Each object gave Smith another way to add shape and texture. The toilet seat became a base for pieces that might otherwise have stayed in a drawer or scrap pile. The finished work brought many small parts together in one frame.
Smith opened his garage museum to the public in 1992, turning a private creative practice into a destination. The garage offered a close view of an artist working with what others had cast aside, and visitors could see the results at their own pace.
What Can You See at the Barney Smith Toilet Seat Art Museum?
The collection ranges from family and Texas subjects to Michael Jackson, NASA, and the Challenger disaster. These toilet seats are more than novelty objects: they hold personal stories, regional symbols, and references to major events. The variety is part of the art, since each seat gives a different subject its own place.
The seats connect Smith’s life with Texas culture, pop culture, and space history. Some works include pieces of the Berlin Wall, while another incorporates a piece of the Challenger shuttle. The collection asks you to look closely at both the subject and the material.
Personal stories and Texas symbols
Family and personal subjects make the seat art feel like a record of Smith’s own life. Texas also appears through state symbols and related themes. A familiar toilet seat becomes a small display space for memories and regional pride.
The personal details sit beside broader subjects, rather than replacing them. This mix gives visitors more than one way to read the work. Some seats point toward Smith’s own experiences, while others look outward to shared culture.
| Theme | Specific subject | Detail in the collection |
|---|---|---|
| Personal and family | Smith’s life and family | Personal stories on the seats |
| Texas and its symbols | Texas | State symbols and related subjects |
| Pop culture | Michael Jackson | A likeness |
| Space history | NASA’s 1986 space shuttle disaster | Work incorporating a piece of the Challenger shuttle |
Space history, pop culture, and found pieces
References to NASA and the 1986 shuttle disaster bring national history into the collection. Michael Jackson adds a pop culture subject from a different part of public life. These choices show how far a single toilet seat can reach as a work of art.
Unusual public art can also invite visitors to add their own marks, as seen at Seattle’s Gum Wall. Smith’s collection has its own story, told through the objects he chose and the subjects he gave them. The variety makes the collection read as a record of Smith’s interests as well as a display of unusual materials.
Where Is the Museum, and When Can You Visit?
Visitors find the collection inside Truck Yard at 5959 Grove Lane in The Colony. It moved there in 2019 and sits in its own room on the second floor, next to the upstairs bar. Entry is free during Truck Yard business hours, though private parties can affect access.
Truck Yard’s weekly hours are:
- Monday-Wednesday: 4 p.m.-midnight
- Thursday: 11 a.m.-midnight
- Friday-Saturday: 11 a.m.-1 a.m.
- Sunday: 11 a.m.-midnight
Use this checklist to plan your visit:
- Confirm the day’s opening time.
- Note the closing time.
- Find the room beside the upstairs bar.
- Account for possible private-party closures.
Check the day’s schedule before setting out because private parties can affect public access.
Conclusion
Smith’s legacy turns an ordinary discarded object into a record of one person’s attention and imagination. His work shows how a simple toilet seat can hold personal meaning and reflect the world around its maker. Art can begin with an object that most people would overlook.
At Truck Yard, you can see how Smith gave discarded materials a second life. Take time to look at the details and notice how each piece changes the familiar shape of a seat. Make a visit to Truck Yard your next chance to see that creativity up close.
