The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts will be closed over the summer to accommodate incoming renovations.
Dr. Marilyn Laufer, the museum’s director, said these changes are being made mostly to benefit museum-goers experience.
One technical issue being addresses this summer with be the museum’s acoustics.
“One aspect of the visitor’s experience that we’ve been mindful of since we opened in 2003 has to do with acoustics, especially in the Dwight and Helen Carlisle Lobby, Rotunda and the Grand Gallery, as well as our café,” Laufer said. “There is the swoop of the ceiling [in the lobby] and that is also in the other areas."
The museum's current structure results in some noises echoing, Laufer said.
"Not to mention the floors are marble and all the surfaces hard glass," Laufer said. "The sound just reverberates.”
Laufer said the museum team will fix the acoustics by lining some of the museum’s walls and ceilings in these public areas with a plaster-like sound absorbent product called Baswaphon.
“This product has glass beads in it which actually absorbs the sound,” Laufer said. “So that will, we hope, ameliorate the situation quite a lot.”
Laufer said the museum’s exposure to western light is also an issue being tackled before for the 2017 fall semester begins.
“The building has a wall of glass that faces west, and what you find is that at certain times of the year the glare of sunlight that comes in through these western windows is so strong that you almost have to wear sunglasses,” Laufer said. “Unfortunately, all of these repairs will necessitate scaffolding which makes it too dangerous for our visitors so the only solution is to temporarily close the museum.”
Laufer said the museum crew would use the museum’s closing as an opportunity to deal with storage space issues in the museum’s vault area, which they had not previously had the chance to fix.
“Another thing that came up, which has also been on our radar since we opened the building, is that our vault area needs more efficient storage equipment in order to make maximum use of the space and accommodate our collections growth over the last 14 years,” Laufer said.
The analysis of existing collections will provide the museum the chance to see what pieces need curating and conserving, Laufer said.
“Since the museum is going to be closed, we can move the vault items upstairs into the galleries and do careful analyses of our collections in terms of needed conservation and other curatorial and collection maintenance concerns," Laufer said.
Laufer said the final schedule is tentative, but plans to have the museum closed for the summer semester and open in the fall with a full schedule of exhibitions and programs.
“Nothing makes me more unhappy than to close the museum, but when you have to weigh all those factors and it comes time to get it done, summer is the best possible time to get it all done,” Laufer said.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
