MUSEUM REOPENS ON APRIL 24, 2010, FOLLOWING MAJOR THREE-YEAR EXPANSION; DRAMATIC NEW BUILDING AND SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE PROVIDE NEW HOME FOR COLLECTION, ENHANCED BY IMPORTANT NEW ACQUISITIONS
Media Preview: Tuesday, April 6, 10 am – 1 pm
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) — one of the most important and distinguished museums in the South—has completed a major, three-year expansion and reopens to the public on April 24, 2010. The expansion dramatically transforms the visitor experience of the Museum, which, sited in a 164-acre park in Raleigh, offers a unique blend of art, architecture, and nature.
About the Expansion
The North Carolina Museum of Art — first major art museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding—is in the final stages of its expansion. The centerpiece of the expansion initiative is a new 127,000-square-foot, light-filled building designed by New York-based architects Thomas Phifer and Partners. The single-story structure, surrounded by sculpture gardens and beautiful pools was created specifically to showcase the Museum’s outstanding permanent collection of more than 5,000 objects spanning antiquity to the present day.On the occasion of the expansion, the Museum has acquired more than 100 new works of art. Representing commissions, gifts, and purchases, the new works encompass important and diverse examples of historic and contemporary art from around the world, and will be installed in the Museum’s new building and the surrounding landscape. Highlights include a gift of 28 sculptures by Auguste Rodin, and work by such internationally acclaimed artists as Roxy Paine, Ursula von Rydingsvard, El Anatsui, Jaume Plensa, Jackie Ferrara, Ellsworth Kelly, and David Park, among others.
The expansion project will also transform the Museum’s 1983 East Building, designed by the eminent architect Edward Durell Stone, into a dynamic center for temporary exhibitions, education and public programs, and public events, as well as a place for collections management and other administrative functions.
In December 2006 the Museum officially broke ground, and the new building is scheduled to open to the public on April 24. Upon completion, the 164-acre campus will be the nation’s largest art museum park, with walking paths, bike trails, ecological projects conceived with artists, and site-specific commissioned works of art in a rolling green landscape.
In December 2006 the Museum officially broke ground, and the new building is scheduled to open to the public on April 24. Upon completion, the 164-acre campus will be the nation’s largest art museum park, with walking paths, bike trails, ecological projects conceived with artists, and site-specific commissioned works of art in a rolling green landscape.
The North Carolina Museum of Art first opened to the public in April 1956, in a renovated state office building in downtown Raleigh, the state capital. It launched the present Edward Durell Stone-designed facility on April 5, 1983. In 1997, as part of the 50th- anniversary celebration of its founding, the Museum opened its performing arts and film venue, the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater, in Museum Park. With its present expansion and renewal, the Museum is poised to become one of the nation’s most vital cultural destinations:* * * Press Contact For additional information or images, contact Libby Mark or Tiffany Pak at Jeanne Collins & Associates, LLC, New York City, (646) 486-7050, or info@jcollinsassociates.com.
