The Addison Gallery of American Art is on track with its renovations. It will open to the public as planned for the spring of 2010. Michael Williams, Director of Facilities, said that the Addison project is currently running on budget, and construction is scheduled to be complete by “late next fall or early next winter.” Renovations on the Addison Gallery so far have been structural changes. An expansion of the Addison will make the museum 50 percent larger than beofre. But this expansion will not provide additional gallery space in the museum. The additional space will be used for a Museum Learning Center, which will be located on the second floor of the new wing and connected to the Elson Art Center. “The Learning Center is a traditional museum education center, which will allow students and scholars and visitors to study art when it’s not on display in the galleries,” said Williams. Brian Allen, Director of the Addison Gallery, said, “[The Museum Learning Center] will change the way the Addison uses its permanent collection for classes. [The Learning Center will allow] art from the permanent collection [to] be much more accessible to far more students.” The new Addison space will also be used for extra storage, loading docks, framing and matting pieces of art, handling areas and office space. The new storage areas and office spaces in Addison’s extra space will support the museum’s growing art collection and staff. The Addison renovation is unique in that it has a concrete structure, unlike most buildings, which have steel structures, said Williams. Concrete, which was a more common building material 30 to 40 years ago, is being used in order to match the material used in the original Addison and Elson structures, said Williams. Concrete also helps to make the building fireproof. However, concrete structures pose additional challenges in the preliminary steps of construction, since pipes and electrical conduits must be placed inside the concrete before pouring the concrete slabs, Williams said. “Although it sounds like the project is not very far along, actually it is quite far along because a lot of that [pipe and electrical] work has been done as part of the concrete work,” said Williams. Addison’s original galleries are also receiving upgrades. Williams said, “The galleries in the original museum are being refurbished, relit and new systems are being installed behind the walls, but they’re largely going to be what you’re used to seeing from before the renovation.” Upgrades will include new gallery lighting, fire detection and sprinkler systems, updated security systems, telephone and data systems, new bathrooms, new art elevator and restoration of interior finishes, said Williams. The Addison Gallery will still undergo substantial renovation in the upcoming months. Williams said that once the structure is in place, the window walls and steel screening have to be put in place and the mechanical systems have to be connected to the roof penthouse. During the museum renovations, some of the Addison’s artwork is traveling overseas. The majority of artwork is in storage, but around 200 pieces of art are on loan to American and European museums and about 70 are traveling in an exhibition titled “Coming of Age: American Art, 1850s to 1950s.” Some art from the Addison collection is still in use at Phillips Academy. Allen said, “We’re continuing to use the photography collection for classes at Phillips Academy and also classes in public schools in the region, so the collection is still active.” The Addison Gallery staff is making good use of the time they have before the Gallery reopens. “[The staff is] planning for exhibitions when the Addison reopens. There’s a lot of collection care like matting photographs and prints that has been deferred for many years, so we’re getting caught up on that,” said Allen. He added, “We have lots of exhibitions in the works. We’ve got a great [James] Whistler show that we’re doing with the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, and we’ve got a show called Maverick Modernists that will be traveling. Both of those shows will open at the Addison in 2010 and 2011.” Allen said that a Sheila Hicks retrospective is also in the works. Allen said that some staff members are also fundraising and working with the architects and the contractor on the building project.
