Tacoma Art Museum celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony with some 300 supporters and the community to kick off the museum’s transformative building expansion project. Construction begins in late October on the approximately 16,000 square foot new wing and building renovation. The new wing will provide a home for the Haub Family Collection of Western American Art, double the museum’s gallery space, provide greater art experiences for visitors, and increase the museum’s role in downtown Tacoma. Award-winning architects Olson Kundig Architects will design the expansion and renovation.
Tacoma Art Museum Director Stephanie A. Stebich and Board President Steve Barger were joined by U.S. Congressman Derek Kilmer, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, City of Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland, Connie McCloud from the Puyallup Tribe, and members of the Haub family in marking this historic moment for the 78-year-old institution.
“This is a remarkable moment for the museum,” said Stephanie A. Stebich, Director of Tacoma Art Museum. “We are taking a historic step toward connecting Tacoma’s past and present through art. This extraordinary project is proof of our community’s dedication to the arts and we are honored to be able to create a gathering space where we can all meet and share art moments for generations to come.”
The groundbreaking ceremony stepped away from the customary shovel and hardhat formalities and instead made the art the centerpiece, bringing key stakeholders in the project together to literally raise the art in the same fashion of an old-time barn-raising. Guests were also treated to roping lessons and the dulcet tones of the Crazy Horse Cowgirl Band before heading into the museum to hear from lead architect Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architects, Art Collectors Christian and Liliane Haub, Tacoma Art Museum Director Stephanie A. Stebich, and Haub Curator of Western American Art, Laura F. Fry. The panel discussion, titled Building the Museum. Building the Collection. was an opportunity for the community to hear first-hand why Western American art is important in the Northwest and how the new wing will help strengthen Tacoma’s place in the national art scene.
“The arts are one of the great economic engines in our state,” said Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. “This is a great economic investment for our state. It means 135 construction jobs. It means 10 permanent positions at the museum. It means 20 percent more projected visitors making investments right here in the state of Washington. The Seahawks are a great economic engine. Boeing and Microsoft are great economic engines, but it’s great that we have a new economic engine right here in Tacoma.”
Many people have joined in to help realize the museum’s building project. Not only has the Puget Sound community contributed individually and collectively, but the museum has also received federal support of $150,000 through the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the City of Tacoma. Tacoma Art Museum was recently awarded $2 million from the State of Washington Building for the Arts program to support this $15.5 million building expansion project. The City of Tacoma has also been very supportive with a $400,000 grant. The addition of this grant along with many other generous donations leaves the museum $500,000 left to raise to fund the project. Public and private support is critical to this project’s success. The museum is committed to working as good stewards of these funds.
One of twelve organizations selected to receive funds by the Washington Department of Commerce, the funds will amplify the museum’s economic impact by $1.5 million annually for a total of $5.9 million. The projected increased visitor attendance will translate into a host of local economic impacts such as increased patronage to neighboring businesses, other cultural institutions, transit, and parking, totaling $24.50 per person on average. The funds from Building for the Arts only adds up to 16% of the total cost of the capital projects it supports. The remaining 84% is invested by private individuals, businesses, foundations, and local governments.
The museum’s expansion integrates with other local civic projects including Tacoma’s Pacific Avenue Streetscape and the Prairie Line pedestrian and bike trail.
Design and Construction
Construction of the $15.5 million project will begin in October, with expected completion in fall 2014. Along with award-winning architect Tom Kundig, who is also the architect for the museum’s plaza redesign project, other members of the project’s team include Murase Associates as the landscape architecture firm, Sellen Construction as the project’s construction company, and Bonewitz Project Leadership as project management.
The project will create a welcoming lobby and more than double the gallery space. It will also include a new family interactive gallery, a sculpture hall, and a visitor orientation room. Changes to the existing museum will include a new entrance from the parking level, a faster elevator from the parking level, and improvements to the cafe and museum store. The museum’s outdoor plaza will also be transformed with a tall, gracious canopy that will arch over both the existing museum and the new wing. Outdoor, public art installations will be woven into the areas surrounding the museum.
The museum is incorporating sustainable methods for the construction and design of the addition including: recycling of site debris, energy efficient design, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and conservation of resources through use of materials with recycled content.
The Haub Family Collection of Western American Art
The Haub Family’s donation of approximately 280 works of Western American art, announced in July 2012, will transform Tacoma Art Museum into one of the leading museums in the country featuring Western American art.
Bringing the Haub Family Collection of Western American art is a chance for the museum to share an integral piece of American art history with the Puget Sound. It will broaden our definition of “the West” and open our eyes to the Northwest’s rich and complex place in the American West.
The museum currently has two works from the collection at the museum on view in Sitting for History: Exploring Self-Identity Through Portraiture. The rest of the works will be coming to the museum in the future. Around 100 of those works will be on view in the new wing’s opening exhibition.
The Haub Collection of Western American art is unrivaled in its scope, and contains artwork spanning from 1820 to today. The collection includes prominent 19th century artists who shaped our views of Native Americans, mountain men, cowboys, and pristine American landscapes, including George Catlin, John Mix Stanley, Thomas Moran, and Frederic Remington. From the 20th century, the collection includes artists who brought modern art movements west and who explored western history and American identity, such as E. Martin Hennings, Georgia O’Keeffe, Tom Lovell, and John Clymer. The collection also includes many artists who are active and working today. Contemporary Native American artists William Acheff and Kevin Red Star take a fresh approach and portray American culture in a modern light, and pop artist Bill Schenck uses humor and satire to challenge long-held assumptions about the American West.
In finding a home at Tacoma Art Museum, the Haub Family Collection will establish the only major museum collection of Western American art in the Northwest region. It will enable the museum to fully explore the art history of the West and also integrate the Western and Northwest collections. Together, these collections will offer a comprehensive understanding of the Northwest region as part of the expanded history of the West and will illuminate how that broad history has shaped regional artistic responses.
