PRESS RELEASE

August 27, 2002

Contact:
Katie Sproles, (541) 346-0942, ksproles@darkwing.uoregon.edu

MUSEUM OF ART SETS GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY SEPT. 10

EUGENE, OR, August 27, 2002—The University of Oregon Museum of Art (UOMA) is preparing to break ground this fall on a $12.72 million renovation and expansion project that will modernize its outdated and undersized facilities.

A ceremonial groundbreaking, free and open to the public, is scheduled at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the museum, 1430 Johnson Lane on the UO campus. UOMA director Del Hawkins will serve as master of ceremonies for the event that will feature UO President Dave Frohnmayer and some of the lead donors in the art museum’s capital campaign.

“This will mark the beginning of the Museum of Art’s future as a major cultural visual arts resource for the entire region and beyond for generations to come,” says Hawkins. “After successfully meeting the $12.72 million fund-raising goal this spring of 2002, we’re eager to begin the construction on this long-awaited and much-anticipated project.”

The project will double the size of the museum. It will also modernize the museum’s outdated facilities for collections storage, climate control and staff workspace.

Built during the Great Depression, the museum building was reduced to one-third of its originally designed size for economic reasons. By the time it was completed in 1932, the 32,000-square-foot building was already too small for the original collection of 3,000 works of art.

Throughout the years, space issues have increased exponentially. While the original building remained virtually unchanged, the collection it housed quadrupled to more than 12,500 works. The average number of visitors to the cramped museum grew to 40,000 to 50,000 people each year before the building closed in September 2000 to prepare for this project.

The expansion will add gallery space and other facilities that will enable the art museum to host major traveling exhibitions, to better display the art museum’s collection and to offer more educational opportunities for UO students, Oregon schoolchildren and the public.

The 38,000 square feet of added space will allow for the creation of a new American and regional art gallery and will house the Gordon Gilkey Research Center for prints, drawings and photographs. The completed project will include an educational suite containing a discovery gallery, studio and auditorium and will serve patrons with a new café within the building. A special events hall will be available for public rental.

The construction phase and reinstallation of the museum’s collections are expected to take approximately 18 months. The UOMA staff is preparing for a winter 2004 reopening.

The State of Oregon awarded $6.36 million in state-serviced bonds to the $12.72 million renovation and expansion project. These funds were matched, as required, through a combination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Paul Allen, Donald R. Barker and Chambers Family foundations. Several estate gifts and more than 750 individual donations also contributed to the project.

For information about the University of Oregon Museum of Art, contact Katie Sproles, UOMA public relations and marketing coordinator, at (541) 346-0942.

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