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Questions and Answers
About the WAM Expansion and Campaign
Why does the Weisman Art Museum need to expand its building?
WAM must continue to expand its capacity to engage the creativity, intellect, and imaginations of students–and all its visitors–to achieve its vision. When WAM opened its Frank Gehry-designed building in 1993, the mission was to build an art museum that students could not ignore and was such a dynamic and inspiring building that it would put the university art museum on the map. The University and the Twin Cities recognize that the arts are a critical part of civic life and its citizens have provided tremendous support for cultural institutions. The University has identified WAM as a vital part of meeting its responsibility to create educated citizens who will continue to value the arts so our state will flourish far into the future. This building expansion ensures that WAM can carry out its responsibility for educating citizens who understand, learn from, and are inspired by art.
What is the purpose of the space you are adding?
All the space in the expansion will be public space; the largest space will be a wing with galleries devoted to the museum’s collection. WAM has five galleries and one of them is devoted to its collection. American Modernism galleries, a ceramics gallery, and a gallery for works of art on paper and photographs will be added. WAM has about 20,000 works of art in its collection but is able to show fewer than 100 at a time. Its first director, Hudson Walker (grandson of the founder of the Walker Art Center), believed that a university art museum should have a collection so students could develop deep relationships with works of art by seeing them over and over. WAM’s collection is worth these relationships but most of its works of art are locked in storage.
The American Modernism Galleries will have a permanent display of WAM’s paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, Milton Avery, Charles Biederman, and many other masterworks from the early part of the twentieth century–when American artists were emerging on the international avant-garde art scene.
The Ceramics Gallery will show rotating exhibitions of WAM’s 4,000 ceramics by masters such as Warren MacKenzie, Hans Coper, and Lucie Rie, as well as anonymous masterpieces by the Native American Mimbres people, ancient Greeks, Koreans, and Chinese.
The Works of Art on Paper and Photography Gallery will display rotating exhibitions from a collection of more than 8,000 works. Lithographs of Marilyn Monroe by Pop Art icon Andy Warhol may be displayed with Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s eighteenth-century etching of the Coliseum at Rome, or with twenty-first century medical and scientific imagings and visualizations.
How much new exhibit space for the collection is represented in this expansion?
The collection gallery wing will have about 6,000 square feet of exhibit space. The actual wall space will depend on how WAM uses temporary walls within that space, but the new space will have at least 442 linear feet of wall space.
If you need more space to show the art collection, why don’t you use all the current gallery space for the collection?
Because its current exhibit space is small, WAM has devoted most of its galleries to changing exhibitions to sustain the curiosity of visitors–so they will see something new each time they come to the museum. This limits WAM’s ability to use the collection for education and inspiration. Its expansion will more than double the space for its collection.
Are you adding any other space besides galleries for the collection?
Yes, WAM is adding a new wing for a visionary new program and a small café. The new Target Studio for Creative Collaboration will link the brilliant minds at the University and the innovators in the community with students, artists, and designers in a heightened experience of creativity for the benefit of everyone. The Studio will make the process of creative collaboration obvious to visitors through programs and exhibits, as well as inspire new ideas, art, and design. The café will be intimate. It will extend the visitor’s experience. A café is a part of going to a museum today. People will stay longer if there is a café where they can go spend time with their friends, talk about the art they’ve just seen, or discuss the book they’ve just read, and then go back and look at the art again. Through design and technology, the café itself will be a work of art.
Why is now the right time for WAM to expand?
WAM is an essential part of the arts explosion in the Twin Cities. Now that our community’s wonderful major arts institutions have finished their building projects, it is even more crucial for WAM, an institution that creates their audiences and launched the architectural invigoration in the Twin Cities, to complete its expansion.
Is Frank Gehry designing the expansion?
Yes, Gehry Partners already has completed the initial design, and it is an exciting concept. Although WAM’s expansion is a very small project for the Gehry firm today, it is rare that an architect gets a chance to design an addition to one of his own buildings and Frank Gehry is excited about the possibility this offers. WAM represents a turning point in Gehry’s career and this expansion will allow him to introduce his current design thinking into this landmark building.
Why did you choose Gehry to design the expansion?
WAM’s building is a work of art in its own right. Gehry, the original artist, is the one to design the expansion. WAM was the first art museum Frank Gehry designed. It is still the only one he has designed in the United States. Shortly after WAM opened in 1993, Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, catapulted him into rock-star status in the architecture world. Gehry Partners has already done conceptual designs and WAM has commissioned Gehry to take this project through design development and construction drawings.
When do you expect to break ground and open?
WAM plans to start construction within the year and open to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the"Little Gallery" at the University of Minnesota.
What is your fundraising goal for the expansion project?
WAM has a goal of raising $10 million in community support for its building expansion. Fundraising is expected to be completed by July 2008.
Who uses WAM today?
About 150,000 people visit WAM annually, half are from the University and the rest are from the community at large. About 13,000 are K-12 students. The audience is diverse in age, economic status, and arts awareness. Located on the campus of one of the two largest universities in the United States.
How does this compare to other museums?
WAM’s exhibits, diverse educational programs, and social events such as student dances, attract an audience that is larger than those of most university museums. WAM’s total attendance is lower than that of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center, but when calculated based on the number of visitors per square foot of museum space, WAM’s attendance is nearly twice as large as attendance for both institutions.
Will WAM still be a free museum after the expansion?
Yes, admission will remain free after the expansion. WAM’s commitment to accessibility means free admission for all.
Is WAM part of the University of Minnesota?
Yes, the museum is a unit of the University of Minnesota, operating under the auspices of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of the Twin Cities campus. WAM sits at the crossroads of the University, on the East Bank of the Mississippi River, on the main walkway between the library and the student union.
Does the University pay all its expenses?
No, the University provides about half of WAM’s annual operating expenses. The rest must be covered from fundraising or earned income. WAM’s annual operating budget is about $4 million. This is about the same size as the budget of the major museum in many smaller cities.
Will the University contribute toward the expansion?
Yes, University President Robert Bruininks and Senior Vice President and Provost Thomas Sullivan have provided a $2 million matching fund to help WAM complete its campaign. They also have given their assurance the University will provide funding for infrastructure upgrades and changes that are part of this expansion project. WAM was built entirely with private funds provided by more than 400 donors. Private funding frees WAM from the restrictions that are attached to legislative funding.
How can I support the WAM expansion?
Options for donating to WAM! The Campaign are available here. We appreciate all contributions!
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