The Frank Museum of Art

Location: 39 South Vine Street, Westerville, OH
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. during the academic year.

Closed March 29 – 31, 2024 for the Easter holiday. 

Phone: 614-818-9716 or 614-823-1792 

The Frank Museum of Art welcomes Ukrainian-born fiber and mixed-media artist Zaryana Bezu, as part of the Otterbein and the Arts: Opening Doors to the World – Spring 2024 Ukraine programming. 

See the Exhibition Schedule >

The Frank Museum of Art houses the university’s collection of art from Africa, Japan, and New Guinea. The museum is located at 39 S. Vine St. in Westerville, in the former “church house” of Lillian Frank who taught at Otterbein for 29 years in the areas of art, theology, and philosophy.

With her husband Paul, Lillian converted the former Salem Evangelical Church, built in 1877, to their residence in 1956. Site of many faculty and student gatherings over the years, the structure was given to the college upon Lillian’s death in 1999, for the express purpose of creating a museum for the college’s collection. It opened in Winter 2004.

More than 100 alumni and friends of Otterbein contributed the funds necessary to realize Lillian Frank’s vision. Additional funding to provide for the museum’s ongoing development, collection acquisition and operating costs will come from the Friends of The Frank Museum of Art Fund.

The Frank Museum of Art is a superb setting for the exhibition of our unique collection of non-Western art, long inaccessible to the public due to lack of exhibit space. At 1,800 square feet, “The Frank may be small by museum standards, but for those interested in exploring non-Western cultures, it is a real treasure.

Particular strengths of the collection include pottery from Africa and New Guinea, 19th century Japanese woodcut prints, and African textiles and sculpture. According to Hill, small private colleges in Ohio agreed to focus their art collections in particular areas many years ago in order to maximize their resources. “The result for Otterbein is a wonderful and unique collection of works from cultures not often seen in central Ohio,” says Hill.

The Frank is used for a variety of programming including rotating exhibits, lectures, recitals, and special educational programs for area schools, arts organizations, and civic groups.