Apr
24

NCMA Begins New Chapter With Celebration

When You Go…
When venturing out to the NC Museum of Art’s Grand Opening Adventure , there are a few things you should know before going:

Wear comfortable shoes. There is a lot of walking, and some surfaces are not solid and stable. Be particularly careful when the long, winding paved path from the parking lots inexplicably becomes a gravel path. Many older patrons had difficulty in this section.

Take a camera. You can now take photos in the galleries. Don’t use your flash, though. Lighting is excellent in the galleries, so your photos will likely have better results using no flash anyway.

Preview the Grand Opening Program (.pdf). It has a complete schedule of events and highlights some key areas that should not be missed.

You will need a free, Timed Ticket to enter the new West Building this weekend. Tickets are completely sold out for the weekend with the exception of Saturday at 9pm.

Download the mp3 audio tour (121Mb) and Sound Track (21Mb) tour at home before you go . That’s right, you no longer have to rent those crappy audio players the museum offers. You can download the dialogue in advance and listen with your own mp3 player. Additionally the selected exhibits with audio commentary are accessible via cell phone. The call is a local call using normal minutes on your plan. Also be sure to charge your phone before entering.

Plan for Wifi . The facility has free wifi. Be sure to check in with Foursquare or and add #ncmaOPEN to your tweets.

Going during lunch? Plan on eating there. There is a food garden this weekend located between the West and East buildings, behind the giant tent. Vendors include Big Oak Catering, Chubby’s Tacos, Hereghty Heavenly Delicious, Neomonde, Only Burger, and more. They all take credit cards. Iris, the Museum’s new restaurant, is not open during the Grand Opening Festival.

Ladies and Gentlemen….your new N.C. Museum of Art! IMG_8446 Excuse me. That isn’t right. How about this?

IMG_8447 Oh! My bad. How about this?

ArtMuseum Pardon me! There has apparently been some sort of malfunction. I now present YOUR new North Carolina Museum of Art:

20100423-02 Yes. That’s actually it. After 3 years of construction, the museum’s new West Building is finally open. The 127,000 square foot building is the new home for the museum’s permanent collection. Designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners, the $72.2million, one-story building features 362 skylights as well as 50% exterior walls of glass to provide 65,000 square feet of daylit galleries. The building’s heating and cooling systems perform at 45% over ASHRAE standards, and its roof water runs to a 90,000 gallon cistern to irrigate gardens and replenish pools.

20100423-29R There are five courtyards accessible from the galleries, and all are paved with loose grey gravel (so be cautious of unsure footing). The courtyards feature several black fountains in which lilies have been planted. While the design near the building is cold, stark, and industrial, the pattern fades as the properties approach the surrounding grass-covered landscapes.

The hallmark of the West building is the Rodin Court and Gardens, made possible by numerous generous contributions, none greater than those of Iris Cantor. The interior portion of this exhibit finds itself in large node connecting several galleries. Oddly the numerous displays of small Rodin pieces on waist-high platforms are reminiscent of a retail setting.

20100423-17 Elsewhere in the West building galleries holding American, Judaic, European, Classical, African, and Modern portions of the master collection can be found. Highlights include a new “spool of thought” on the Mona Lisa, three Monet holdings, the Standing Hanukkah Lamp, and the chilling “Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian” (Michael Richards, pictured ). Be absolutely sure that you read the placard for this piece.

The renovated East Building houses the box office, special events, offices, research library, auditorium, and three renovated and expanded exhibition spaces.

There are two schools of thought on the building’s daylit design. One is that a museum design should not distract the patrons and simply provide a framework for appreciating the works in an unbiased environment. By letting as much natural light in and providing a neutral interior, the colors of the works appear as they were intended, and allow a clear interpretation. In order to provide such a light system, a one-story design is used in a setting where land is abundant.

20100423-34 The other school of thought is that the house of great works should also be a great work unto itself, inspiring patrons as future artists no matter the current exhibition.

I tend to be in the second camp. While I personally am more inspired by kinetic arts, the one static art that moves me is architecture. How about the new Taubman Museum of Art ( photo ) in little bitty Roanoke, VA? Pretty inspiring, eh? I saw some works by some Picasso guy in the New York Guggenheim ( photo ) and was completely moved by the building, but can’t tell you much about the art on the walls. OK, that’s an exaggeration. However, it should help to explain how disappointed I am with this building. Clearly the building’s strength is its interior but, to me, it looks like a Crate & Barrel store (yes, Apple ripped them off). It is the coldest building complex I’ve ever encountered, and that includes N.C. State Biochemistry classrooms and several prison facilities in which I worked.

The bleak exterior unfortunately appears to have been stricken with the overwhelming bashfulness that besets this city’s architecture. As we drive our visitors around Raleigh, we will have to omit this $75M investment as it can only be appreciated with a significant investment of time and energy.

While the West building certainly earns the spotlight as the primary facility in the grounds, there is an extreme visual disconnection with the 1970’s era East Building. By no means should the museum have felt that they were locked into the existing visual theme (colors, materials, proportions, etc.). However, the West building should have carried some new reinterpretation of the East building, no matter how minor, in order to tie the complex together visually. The architect missed a fine opportunity to make this a stronger complex than it is.

That said, the overwhelming response from dozens of patrons I encountered was that the facility is a success. The West Building is a result of an incredible amount of work by a talented crew. It is a quality building that affords patrons a quality experience on par with the country’s best art museums. For the entire State of North Carolina, it is a fantastic book with an unfortunate cover that should not be missed by its people and their visitors.

Mar
23

Artsplosure Lists Partial Music List

artsplosure The 31st annual Artsplosure celebration will take place on May 15th and 16th in downtown Raleigh. The organization lists on their website some of the acts they already have lined up for the celebration. So far they have listed: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Charlie Musselwhite, The Iguanas, Tinsley Ellis, Maurice Brown, The Explorers Club, Sachal Vasandani, Sharon Little, Pimps of Joytime, Mel Melton & The Wicked Mojos, Greg Gelb Band, and Thinkopation. More signings are to come!

Feb
09

NCMA Rodin Lecture is Tomorrow Morning

Just a reminder that David Steel, Curator of European Art for the N.C. Museum of Art, will be hosting a free lecture entitled “New Rodin Acquisitions”. Dr. Steel will discuss several of the highlights and behind-the-scenes insights on the entire installation process of the pieces. The lecture is at 10am at Jones Auditorium at Meredith College. Doors open at 9:30am.

Nov
05

Art Museum Sets Opening Date

The North Carolina Museum of Art has officially set the date for the opening of its new, 127,000 square foot package of butter sticks museum. As expected April 24 is the big date for its opening. The current building is being renovated to house special exhibitions, an expanded box office, and facilities for NCMA’s family and public programs.

Sep
18

Designbox Running Exhibit Trio

A couple of weeks ago three interesting exhibits began in the area:

Paul Friedrich

Onion Head Monster Poster Exhibition
Thru October 4, 2009

Colony Movie Theater, Six Forks and Millbrook

9 new posters featuring the cartoons of Bus Champion, All-Time Monster Champion and most recently Bug Champion, Paul Friedrich

The Conquerors

Thru October 24, 2009

Artspace
In association with local artist Paul Friedrich, Artspace presents The Conquerors, an exhibition showcasing cutting-edge American artwork. The Conquerors features the work of five nationally known artists exhibiting for the first time in Raleigh: Mark Bodnar, Mari Inukai, Liz McGrath, Bill McRight, and Bonnie Brenda Scott. These artists are recognized as dynamic leaders of the Lowbrow painting style from the pages of Juxtopoz and Hi Fructose magazines.
Originating in California in the early 1980′s and currently moving towards the East Coast, Lowbrow is a rapidly spreading underground art movement that combines traditional painting subject matter with modern ingredients of underground comics, hot-rod culture, and punk rock. The Conquerors reflects current trends in the Lowbrow genre from the East and West Coasts.
Images at http://www.artspacenc.org/gallery_two.html

2 BIT SHO

Thru October 4, 2009
2 Bit Sho features work by artists from and inspired by the the Triangle’s game industry. Designbox, along with Spark Plug Games, artists Adam Capps, Chris Norris and Paul Friedrich have recruited local gaming artists for a 2 Bit Sho. The exhibit features video game inspired works and pieces by artists currently working in the Triangle’s video game industry. Never before exhibited in Raleigh, author/collector Dave Ellis will be displaying 5 vintage game consoles from his collection. DJ Scoplecopter has composed exclusive "chip tunes" inspired by video games for the show’s music.

curated by Adam Capps, Chris Norris and Paul Friedrich [db]

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