When Brigham Young University caps construction on its new Museum of Art, it will constitute the largest art museum between Denver and the Pacific Coast and will house exhibitions, among other displays, from the university's 15,000-piece permanent collection.
Construction work on the 100,000 square-foot structure began in the spring of 1991, and directors and coordinators are set to open in October, 1993, with the museum's first exhibit, "The Etruscans: Legacy of a Lost Civilization" from the Vatican Museums, according James A. Mason, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications.The debut of the museum's collections, along with a formal opening, is tentatively scheduled for 1994.
Picturesquely situated with windows and views facing the towering Wasatch Mountains, the structure will be home to numerous galleries, ranging from C.C.A. Christensen's Latter-day Saint historical paintings to an Asian gallery with extensive jade art and ivory carvings.
Virgie Day, associate director of the museum, says, "Approximately one-third of the museum's space will be dedicated to the galleries, with the other areas used for public services and education as well as collection support."
The newest addition to plans for the museum include the Alice Dale Day and Claire Day Ord Memorial and Sculpture Garden and the Russell and Phyllis Marriott Gallery.
The sculpture garden will consist of a combination of trees, ornamental plants and art work to be located in the 100-foot breezeway between the Harris Fine Arts Center and the new building, said Mason.
The Marriott Gallery will be located near the Marian Adelaide Morris Cannon Gallery, the structure's major gallery, and will serve as an area for changing displays.
"The museum is basically a hybrid type, which serves the dual functions of a traditional university museum with a top-notch support and academic program, together with a public programming network that will serve the community as well," Day said.
The museum's architect, James Langenheim, is the designer of the university's Harris Fine Arts Center as well as the San Francisco Transamerica Tower and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Lighting design for the museum is being managed by LeMar Terry, lighting consultant for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Experts from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Getty Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Museums also have assisted in reviewing the BYU museum plans.
The museum's endowment, which includes more than $100,000 contributed by faculty and staff members of the College of Fine Arts and Communications, exceeds $15 million, Mason said.