Displaying items by tag: Renovation

In conjunction with the grand opening of the renovated American Wing, the Baltimore Museum of Art presents "Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries" on view through May 2015. The exhibition features more than 20 samplers and silk embroideries made by American girls who attended schools in Maryland and other states along the East Coast during the 18th and 19th centuries. From opulent to understated, the works provide a fascinating glimpse into early American life.

“The samplers and embroideries on view in 'Lessons Learned' were once displayed by families as showpieces to advertise their daughters’ accomplishments,” said Curator of Textiles Anita Jones. “In working with a needle and thread, these young women learned a skill, diligence, patience, and obedience.”

Susan Lubowsky Talbott, who has been director and chief executive officer of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art since 2008, announced her retirement Friday, Talbott told "The Courant."

Talbott will stay in the position until the fall, "in order to ensure a smooth transition," she told the board of trustees. In the fall, the final stage of the Hartford museum's $33 million renovation and reinstallation will be unveiled.

The storybook rise of Jean-Luc Martinez begins where he grew up, in a Paris suburb dominated by blocky public housing. It ends deep within the opulent palace of the Louvre museum, where he is plotting what he calls a “petite révolution.”

Mr. Martinez, 50, son of a postman and the Louvre’s president since April 2013, is moving quickly to make a democratic mark on the royal stronghold that has the most visitors of any museum in the world, 70 percent of them foreign tourists.

More than $110-million will be poured into ‎a major “facelift” of Canada’s National Arts Centre, an iconic performing venue in the nation’s capital constructed half a century ago.

The renovation adds a 21st century twist to the 1969 building, known for its brutalist architectural style, which features exterior and interior walls clad with concrete.

A significant portion of this upgrade is installing a glass and metal enclosure on multiple floors around a significant portion of the existing building, creating new wings with views and greatly expanding the venue’s capacity for meetings and events.

The Cleveland Institute of Art's long journey toward unification of its bifurcated campus in University Circle is nearing completion after nearly two decades of dreaming, three college presidents, a couple of recessions and several changes in architects.

On Tuesday, President Grafton Nunes conducted a hardhat tour of the art institute's new George Gund Building, a nearly 80,000-square-foot addition to the college's Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts at 11610 Euclid Ave.

The Clark Art Institute received the 2014 Apollo Award for Museum Opening of the Year during presentation ceremonies held in London on December 3.

The award, presented by Apollo, the noted international arts magazine, recognizes major achievements in the art and museum worlds.

The Clark received the award in recognition of its distinctive success in combining new construction, a subtle renovation of its existing facilities, and a significant rethinking of its landscape to create a unified new campus. Other museums nominated for the 2014 Museum Opening of the Year award included the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; the Imperial War Museum, London; the Musée du Louvre’s Eighteenth-Century Decorative Arts Galleries, Paris; and the Mauritshuis, The Hague.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will display rarely-exhibited tapestries from the eighteenth century in its soaring Morgan Great Hall during the final phase of the museum’s five-year, $33 million renovation. The large, intricate tapestries-which depict the saga of Greek hero Jason-will be on view through April 2015, at which point the Great Hall will be transformed in preparation for the Sept. 19 grand reopening of the Morgan Memorial Building.

The Jason Tapestries are enormous in size-ranging in height up to 14 feet, and in width up to 24 feet-presenting a challenge for curators in exhibiting them on a regular basis.

Christmas came early for the Woodruff Arts Center, which announced Friday morning that it has received a $38 million grant from the Woodruff Foundation.

The largest gift in the Midtown art center’s 46-year history includes $25 million in endowment matching funds — including support for full-time musician positions with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra — and $13 million for capital improvements. Those capital funds, which do not require a match, will support a complete renovation of Alliance Theatre performance, education and public spaces.

The renovation will be so major for the Alliance spaces in the Memorial Arts Building, which have not significantly changed since the building opened in 1968, that the theater will have to secure a temporary home for at least one full season.

After numerous false starts, the City of Miami Beach is now proceeding apace with the renovation of its Convention Center, which has hosted Art Basel for more than a decade despite its dated design and creaking infrastructure. The $500 million renovation, which is being planned to start when Art Basel in Miami Beach 2015 closes and is due to be completed before the 2017 edition of the fair, replaces a previous, much more ambitious redevelopment scheme designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

Art Basel will continue to take place in the center, the oldest parts of which date from the late 1950s, throughout the revamp. “We are very confident that the refurbishment will be phased in a way that will enable us to continue operating to Art Basel standards,” says a spokeswoman for the fair.

On February 2, 2015, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, will start renovating portions of its Philip Johnson-designed building. The museum will remain open during the process, though some galleries will be inaccessible. The project is expected to last four months, with all galleries scheduled to reopen in June 2015.

The Amon Carter Museum was designed by Johnson in the International Style --- a straightforward and unadorned aesthetic that expresses classical structure through the use of modern materials. Although the museum was initially conceived as a small institution, its collection continued to grow, necessitating a number of subsequent expansions, which Johnson spearheaded.