Years closed: 4 • Renovation costs: $14.2 million • New size: 63,180 square feet • Total pieces of art 12,500 • Asian art 8,000 pieces • Average number ofvisitors per year before closure: 45,000
WORKJ
After four years and $14-2 million,
the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art reopens
its renovated galleries to the community
A
MUSEUM HISTORY
1921 - Gertrude Bass Warner bequeaths more than
3,000 works of art to the University in memory of her
husband, Murray Warner
1929 - Construction of the museum begins after Prince
Lucien Campbell, the University’s president from 1902 to
1925, initiates a campaign to have a museum on
campus. Ellis Lawrence, who designed several other
buildings on campus, draws up plans for the museum
1932 - The Museum of Art officially opens its doors
Sept 2000 - The museum closes for remodeling
Sept 2002 - Groundbreaking for the renovation and
expansion project
May 2004 - The museum is renamed the Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art in honor of the 1973 University
graduate who made a multimilliomdollar contribution
toward the museum’s $14.2 million renovation
featuring the museum s *
collections, these are just
After four long years of rebuilding and restora
tion, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
opened its bronze doors to the public Sunday.
More than 5,000 people streamed into the museum,
which cost $14.2 million to revamp.
“This is a social place as well as an educational
place,” museum Director David Himer said. “The
real joy is seeing the spaces filled with people. ”
A masterpiece in its own right — museum Board
President Susan Pape called it “a pearl in the midst of
ipus” — the museum is now 63,180 square feet,
e than twice its original size.
It has several galleries, including a 4,000-square
foot space dedicated to changing exhibitions.
From now until May 1, Andy Warhol’s “Dream
America” exhibit will grace the walls of this
gallery. A Technicolor Marilyn Monroe is
the first thing visitors see as they walk up
the stairs leading to the gallery. The ex
Campbell Memorial
Courtyard
The courtyard, named after
former University President
Prince Lucien Campbell,
features a reflective pond and
provides a tranquil space for
visitors.
Marche Museum Cafe
Museum visitors and the campus
community can stop in for a taste of
classic French cuisine at the cafe.
Diners can sample everything from
espresso and pastries to salads,
soups, pate and quiche. The cafe is
open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Hie cafe has extended hours until
7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
hibit also highlights Warhol’s other
renowned pieces from the “Mick
Jaggers” to “Muhammad Ali.” The
exhibit is on tour through seven
states and includes more than
100 screenprints from the
Jordan Schnitzer Family
Foundation.
Other galleries
are dedicated to Chi
nese, Korean, Japan
ese, American and
European art, open
ing up new worlds
and rich histories.
“We just think
there’s going to
be many rea
sons for you to
come and
Changing Exhibitions
Gallery
The 4,000-foGt gallery will
feature different exhibitions
throughout the year. The
inaugural exhibit is Andy
Warhol’s "Dream America,”
which highlights more than
100 screenprints of some of
Warhol’s most popular
works, such as the "Marilyn
Monroes,” "Mick Jaggers”
and "Campbell Soups.”
The exhibit will be open until
May 1.
Discovery Gallery
Set up like a living room with small
stations, the gallery is an interactive
space where families and students can
learn about how and why art is made,
and why people collect art. Visitors take
part in hands-on activities and may even
dress up as a piece of art. The gallery is
part of an educational suite that also
includes an art studio and lecture hall.
Oregon Daily Emerald
January 24, 2005
come back of
ten,” TUrner
said.
*
Visitors
were only
able to see a
portion of
the Japan
ese art at
the open
ing. The
Chinese and
Japanese gal
leries will be
Museum Store
The expanded gift shop has a
vibrant display of museum
memorabilia as well as gift
items specifically related to
exhibits on show at the
museum.
fully installed
in time for then
own opening in
the fall, Tlirner said.
“We’re going to be the only university in the Unit
ed States that has a space allocated to Korean art,”
TUrner said.
Gertrude Bass Warner, who bequeathed more than
3,000 works of Asian art to the University in 1921,
welcomes the visitors in the museum’s main hall —
Warner’s portrait hangs by the main information
desk. Warner’s contribution inspired University ad
ministrators at the time to construct a building that
would house these works; construction began in
1929 and the museum was officially opened in 1932.
Visitors at the opening each took in the art in dif
ferent ways. Some gazed in reverent contemplation
and some even took notes. Others pointed at the
pieces and shared thoughts with friends. One mother
patiently explained some of the European paintings
to her eager daughter.
“The two portraits of the officials are just mag
nificent,” Doug McCarty, a Eugene resident, said as
he looked at some of the Korean pieces. “I’d like to
own them.”
While the museum started with just one collection,
its holdings have multiplied expansively, which is
one of the key reasons why a renovation was vital,
museum spokeswoman Katie Sproles said. She added
that the museum now has three times the storage
space it had before.
Apart from sheer size enabling more display and
storage, the improved facility will allow museum
staff to diversify the exhibits. The Changing Exhibit
gallery has movable walls, a high open ceiling and
data ports that allow the incorporation of innovative
set-up designs.
Larry Fong, the associate director and curator of
American and regional art, said it is now possible to
display large pieces.
“We never had the space to do that,” Fong said.
“One of the elements of modern art is that things
this purpose.
“As an art museum, we are an educational institu
tion,” Director of Education Lisa Abia-Smith said.
“We have to appeal to how the visitors learn.”
In the novel Interactive Discovery Gallery, visitors
can engage in hands-on activities that help them ex
plore the art and the art-making process. Visitors can
look at different pieces of art, try to pick out objects in
the piece and describe its mood, and then write then
reactions. Or they may try to make a sculpture or write
a poem inspired by the art. The gallery also has folders
with artist biographies, works and pictures.
“Its intention was to let people become a part of
the art,” Sproles said.
Adjacent to the gallery is a studio and lecture hall
that will help facilitate other educational activities and
classes. Visitors may also take tours led by specially
trained “exhibition interpreters.” Originally, the muse
um had docents who shared facts about the art, but the
new interpreters will instead encourage dialogue about
the pieces, Abia-Smith said.
The art pieces also have interpretive labels that
hopefully will help generate discussion, Timer said.
Leslie Buck, visiting from Berkeley, Calif., said she
appreciated these labels as she looked at some of the
European pieces.
“I like the way they have a lot of history and explana
tions,” Buck said. “That really helps you understand.”
Abia-Smith said the museum also offers teacher
training and professional workshops for K-12 teach
ers to help them determine how they can use the mu
seum to enhance their curricula. In addition, the mu
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for larger pieces but also stacking dif
ferent pieces, as is evident in the
Warhol exhibit.
In addition, the integration of climate
control into the revamped building al
lows the museum to show more delicate
pieces that require special conditions.
“That’s really important for the sta
bility of the art, the preservation of the
art,” Fong said.
Also, the inclusion of technology
such as wireless capabilities makes
the museum more accessible to
multi-media exhibits.
Different rooms in the museum are
named in honor of several key donors
who contributed to the renovation. The
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IF YOU GO
Hours:
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday
through Sunday
Costs:
Adults: $5
Seniors and non-University
students: $3
University community,
museum members and
children 13 and under Free
For more information about
the museum and its services,
visit uoma.uoregon.edu
seum will have talks, lectures, music
and other activities related to the art.
“We’re trying to design programs
that are not just visual arts but are
multidisciplinary,” Abia-Smith said.
University students will also benefit
from the museum’s reopening. The
museum has classes, practicum and re
search opportunities and other re
sources. Starting in May, Masters of
Fine Arts students will display their
projects in the museum for the first
time in four years.
The museum has also dedicated
the Focus Gallery to show off works
related to different curricula, Tinner
said. On display this term, “Colorful
Lanterns at Shangyuan” is a Chinese
museum useu was renameu iasi may m
honor of University graduate Jordan Schnitzer,
who gave more than a million dollars toward
the reconstruction.
At the opening, Schnitzer said it was the first time
during his 30 years coming to the museum that he
h^l seen “a crowd waiting to get in.”
“We must now spread the word and reach out to this
campus, reach out to the community and reach out to
the state and bring people in,” Schnitzer said, adding
that it is vital for the museum community to continue
working to allow the institution to reach new levels of
“outreach, cultural awareness and stimulation.”
Aside from about 750 individual donors, the state of
Oregon also allocated $6.36 million in state-serviced
bonds toward the building’s construction.
University President Dave Frohnmayer said in an
e-mail statement that without the support of numer
ous benefactors the expansion would have been an
“unfulfilled dream.”
“Now doubled in size and upgraded substantially
in every respect, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
... will resume its place as a magnet to this campus
for people of all ages and cultural interests and serve
as a centerpiece for renewed vitality of the arts and
humanities,” Frohnmayer said.
The museum is committed to reaffirming its
educational mission and offers programs that serve
scroll painted during the mid- to late-Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) that depicts a market scene. The scroll
comes to the University in collaboration with a
conference arranged by history professor Ina Asim.
The scroll has more than 2,000 different images,
Ttimer said. A digital reproduction of the scroll will
allow people to sift through the images and labels
will provide more information.
“It’s the first recorded image of the East with
someone with eyeglasses,” TUrner said.
Junior Alishiya Halaney can testify to the connection
between art and the classroom.
“I like the Andy Warhol exhibit because 1 studied it
in my art and gender class, so I can relate to who he is
and what he was about,” Halaney said. She said the
class explored some of the controversy surrounding
Warhol’s work and its relation to pop culture.
After four long years of waiting, many hope that
University members and the community will come to
the museum to “see. think, do.”
“I think museums are wonderful places to lose
yourself,” curator Fong said.
Allan Price, vice president of University Advance
ment, echoed these sentiments.
Quoting Pablo Picasso, he said, “Art washes away
from the soul the dust of everyday life. ”
ayishayahya@ daily emerald, com
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
AMERICAN AND REGIONAL ART
The American art collection features mostly 20th
century and contemporary art: paintings, prints,
drawings, sculpture and ceramics of the Pacific
Northwest. Prominent artists' work make up the
collection, which includes the largest public collection
of paintings by Morris Graves; the David McCosh
Archives, which has nearly 1,600 works of art; and
historic documents and paintings and drawings from
the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration.
MCKyCCTBO
EUROPEAN ART/RUSSIAN ICONS
The museum’s European paintings include German
expressionist painter Max Pechstein's “Ballet Dancers,"
1912, and Le Corbusier’s “Women on the Beach,”
1932. In addition, there is a significant collection of
Russian Icons from the Novgorod and Moscow schools
from the 15th through 18th centuries.
For the first time, the University has set aside a
permanent gallery dedicated to Korean art. It will be
the only university in the United States with a space
specially created for this type of art. The growing
collection includes traditional costumes and
accessories, ceramics, paintings and bronzes.
CHINESE ART
The Chinese collection is the largest at the museum
and includes jade objects, ceramics, hanging scrolls
and hand scroll paintings from the 15th through 20th
centuries, and two Qing dynasty imperial thrones from
the Forbidden City in Beijing.
This collection includes Japanese art and artifacts,
paintings, woodblock prints, early Imari and Kutani
ware ceramics and lacquer ware.
Story; AyishaYahya
Photography; Danielle Hickey and Tim Bobosky
Design: Kira Park