Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum

Step into Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum, and you’ll enter a world unlike any other. It’s a garage filled with an astounding collection of over 1,300 toilet seats, each meticulously adorned with a unique and intricate design. This unusual museum was the brainchild of Barney Smith, a retired master plumber who found a unique form of artistry in the most mundane of objects. Barney’s artistic journey began with his father, who was also a master plumber, and was known for his meticulous mounting plaques and trophies. Barney saw a similarity between the mounting boards and the toilet seats he worked with every day and discovered a muse in these humble fixtures. You’ll find an array of materials here ranging from trinkets to antique objects, and even remnants from historic events. There’s a seat adorned with debris from the exploded Challenger shuttle, a seat that came from the private plane of Aristotle Onassis and a toilet seat sent to Barney by a member of the armed forces that once sat within Saddam Hussein’s palace. Barney took his passion further, creating a seat for each of his birthdays for decades. He even encourages visitors to bring their own toilet seats, as he has an insatiable desire to keep the collection growing. To make sure that visitors knew the source of their contributions, he started engraving the name of the donor onto the seat. To see his artwork, you’ll need to make an appointment. The museum hasn’t been available to the general public since its move to The Truck Yard in 2019. After a long and fulfilling career, Barney has decided to retire and hopes to find someone who will take over the collection. He’s seeking someone who’ll continue the museum as it is, keeping the seats together and offering a unique artistic experience. Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum, a testament to the power of imagination and an appreciation for the everyday, is a must-see for those who seek the unexpected.