531 NE 1st Ave. · Ocala
A 1916 railway station on the National Register of Historic Places, and since 2019 the home of Magnolia Art Xchange: resident studios where the waiting room was, salons for exhibitions and classes, and a platform along the tracks.
1916
Before 1916, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad each kept a depot of its own in Ocala. That year they built one together: Ocala Union Station, in red brick, just north of downtown.
The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1997, the year the City of Ocala led a $4 million restoration of the complex, paid for by a transportation grant.
2018 – 2019
MAX signed the lease on the station in September 2018, and a year of construction turned it into an art incubator. Studios were built into Salon A, the station's large waiting room. The original tile floors, walls, windows and woodwork stayed; modern lighting for making art went in beside the period fixtures.
The community paid for much of it: the Rotary Clubs of Marion County for Salon C, the Clay Electric Foundation for the artist lounge, and gifts matched by Fine Arts For Ocala. The first resident artists moved in in October 2019.
The City of Ocala owns the station and leases it to MAX. Tuscawilla Art Park, three acres of gardens, public art and a stage, is next door.
Photographs
Choose a photograph to see it larger.
Room by room
The galleries, the shared spaces and the six resident studios. Choose a room to see what happens there and who is working in it.
Hold an event here
Birthday celebrations, wedding receptions, gallery lectures and City events have all been held at MAX, among the art in a restored 1916 station. Three hours for the event, with an hour either side to set up and clear away, from $150.
Choose a day on MAX's own calendar, sign the rental agreement and pay the $75 deposit in one go. Or ask below, and somebody will write back.
Artists who want to run classes or events of their own should look at the affiliate program first.
A name on the door
The salons, the Lounge, the Platform, the Art Library, the Gift Shop and every studio can carry the name of the person, family or business that helps MAX keep them.
