CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four galleries at Krannert Art Museum that hadn’t changed in more than 50 years have been renovated.
When the museum fully reopens Nov. 17, the galleries will appear lighter and brighter, and they will provide a better atmosphere for visitors to view the artwork displayed there.
The $1.5 million project renovated four spaces in the summer and fall: the West Gallery (previously called the Asian Gallery), the Rosann Gelvin Noel Gallery and Annex, and the Light Court Gallery. The wall surfaces, flooring, electrical and lighting of those galleries hadn’t been changed since the museum was built in 1961.
The renovation work began after the museum’s closure in May and included replacing the incandescent lighting with LED lights. The project received significant support from the Student Sustainability Committee.
“It enables the museum to use far less electricity and the lights generate far less heat,” said Julia Nucci Kelly, the communications and marketing coordinator for the museum.
The new track lights and wall washer lights replace heavier, incandescent lights in the ceiling, and they provide much more balanced light in the galleries, Nucci Kelly said. LED provides brighter, more balanced light, enhancing viewing of the artwork, she said.
The galleries now have electronic controls to set the light levels lower or higher, depending on when the museum is closed or open, to save on energy costs. The upgrade replaces manual controls for the lights and large control panels that took up wall space in each gallery.
The renovation work included replacing walls and ceilings, and refinishing the oak floors with a lighter, natural stain. A lowered ceiling and the original gray slate floor were removed in the Light Court, as were large wooden doors that hid wall space when they were open. The renovations also included upgrades to fire suppression systems and Wi-Fi throughout the building, which will allow works with an online component to be installed wirelessly and will better support smartphones and tablets often used by visitors. Cushioned seating is being added in some of the galleries as well, at the request of patrons, Nucci Kelly said.
The renovated galleries now match the look of the African Gallery, which was renovated in 2012. The museum’s East Gallery received new LED lighting and refinished floors in 2015.
The museum has an ongoing five-year, $10 million fundraising initiative for renovations, programs and collection development. Thanks to donors and a gift-matching program by the University of Illinois, the museum raised enough money to fund this phase of gallery renovation work without loans, Nucci Kelly said. Donations over $5,000 are matched by the university, increasing the impact of significant lead gifts by Richard and Rosann Noel and Joan and Peter Hood.
In addition, last year’s Petals & Paintings fundraiser by the Krannert Art Museum Council raised a record amount. The council typically donates the proceeds to the museum’s education programs, but a large portion was also earmarked for the renovation project, bolstered by the university gift-matching program.
The four galleries renovated this year were the first phase of the project. The second phase will upgrade the lobby and the lower-level galleries.
When the renovated galleries reopen on Nov. 17, in addition to several new exhibitions, materials from the museum’s archive of works by the Guerrilla Girls will be installed on the entry wall into the galleries. The Guerrilla Girls – a feminist collective that uses art in the form of street posters and billboards to draw attention to issues of gender, race and equality in art and politics – had a 2014 solo exhibition at the museum.
Amy Powell, Krannert Art Museum’s curator of contemporary and modern art, said the entry wall is a flexible space that can display works related to timely topics. She wanted to have something related to the election, so she chose 15 items by the Guerrilla Girls from the 88 in the museum’s collection, as part of “Portfolio Compleat,” a compilation of the group’s projects that has entered museum collections in recent years. For an exhibition, the items would be reproduced on a larger scale, but these pieces will be displayed as study documents under plexiglass, “so it looks like the archive collection the museum owns.”
They include a 1991 print, “Missing in Action,” that lists what the country lacked, including national health care, no more discrimination, a cure for AIDS and an alternative energy policy. Another print, from 1996, is “Election year lottery. You gotta play to win.” Among the items it lists as the “Republican Prize” are no immigrants except really wealthy ones, no welfare except for corporations and no increase in the minimum wage. The “Guerrilla Girls Prize” includes an all-female Supreme Court, Joint Chiefs and Cabinet, and a defense budget donated to the NEA. Other prints reference the Rodney King beating and environmental issues.
Visitors will also see some changes in the African Gallery when Krannert Art Museum reopens. A recent acquisition by the museum – a large-scale drawing by Nigerian-born artist Victor Ekpuk – will be on view, paired with an indigo-dyed Ukara cloth from southeastern Nigeria on loan from the Spurlock Museum and a video of Ekpuk at work. The items will provide a window into the teaching philosophies of university artists in the years following Nigerian independence. The African Gallery will also include another new item, a brass divination bowl from the Yoruba culture of West Africa.