(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
First look inside expanded Weisman Art Museum
The Frank Gehry-designed 1993 building re-opens Oct. 2
By claudepeck
September 21, 2011 at 9:55PM
View showing parts of two new skylit painting galleries at expanded Weisman Art Museum. All photos by Claude Peck for Star Tribune.
These photos, shot at a media walk-through on Sept. 21, show some of the new spaces created by architect Frank Gehry at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota.
The original Weisman opened in 1993 and soon became one of the Twin CIties' iconic pieces of architecture, known for the facade along the river made of curlicues of stainless steel.
The expansion, which opens to the public Oct. 2, includes 5 new galleries designed to showcase a greater number of pieces from the Weisman's collection of more than 20,000 art objects. Two galleries are devoted to paintings, one to ceramics, one to works on paper and another to collaborative projects.
The towering skylights in the new galleries create bright volumes with hardly a 90-degree angle in sight.
New cantilvered "lily pads," clad in brick,wrap the east side of the Weisman. Forms at top are skylights.
The main new feature on the north exterior is this large wavy form of stainless steel above the Washington Ave. foot bridge.
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