The American Art Program is pleased to support a project at the Art Museum of West Virginia University which will create dedicated gallery space to display works from its permanent holdings. The reimagined space will feature rotating installations of collection strengths and highlights such as original prints, contemporary ceramics, works by American Modernist Blanche Lazzell, and pieces by self-taught Appalachian artists.

The Art Museum of West Virginia University will soon transition one of its two galleries into a dynamic, rotating installation of objects from its nearly 5000-object permanent collection.

The museum was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation’s American Art Program to make the change from its current model, which features temporary and traveling exhibitions in both galleries.

“At present, the museum has no year-round space dedicated solely to exhibiting works from its collection,” said Museum Director Todd J. Tubutis. “The intent of this project is to provide an opportunity for visitors to regularly engage with the breadth of collection holdings while also establishing a flexible, interpretive framework that situates specific artists and artworks in larger social, cultural and art historical contexts.”

The project will begin later this year with a projected opening in late January 2021. It will transform the 2,500-square-foot McGee Gallery into three distinct sub-galleries: the Deem Print Gallery for thematic displays from the museum’s sizable holdings of original prints, a space dedicated to American Modernist and West Virginia native Blanche Lazzell, and a third flexible area for displays of collection area highlights, recent acquisitions, faculty and student curatorial projects, or thematic responses to current events.

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