CREATIVITY

Sheldon Gallery Reopens After Renovation

		Sheldon's glistening travertine facade

After being closed nearly a year for renovations, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery reopened Feb. 15.

A new heating and cooling system and vapor barrier, and new gallery doors designed to control temperature and humidity comprised one major project. The second project was replacement of the massive arched east and west window walls. Thicker glass, required by code, necessitated installation of an additional bronze mullion to divide the larger upper glass areas into two panes. A refurbished auditorium, new security desk, new gallery walls and new welcome desk are additions to this long-awaited event.

The Sheldon's Museum Store reopened Nov. 15 with a new stock of fine art and a greater quantity of education materials. The Store had been closed for nearly two years.

The renovation was the first significant facilities upgrade in the gallery's 40-year history. The building, designed by Philip Johnson, was dedicated in 1963.

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden houses both the Nebraska Art Association collection founded in 1888, and the University of Nebraska collection, initiated in 1929. Together they comprise more than 12,000 works of art. This comprehensive collection of American art includes prominent holdings of 19th-century landscape and still life, American Impressionism, early Modernism, geometric abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, pop, minimalism and contemporary art.

With its graceful balance, arched porticoes and slender columns, the building design is reminiscent of ancient Greek temples and signals a transition from the International Style of architecture pioneered in the United States by Mies van der Rohe. The Italian marble travertine was quarried from the plains near Rome and moved in blocks to the Henraux Marble Laboratorio where it was cut to fit the puzzle design Johnson had inscribed on the back of each block. The pieces were cut so precisely that metal clips rather than mortar hold them in place. The large concave discs in the ceiling of the Great Hall are covered in gold leaf to provide added elegance as well as contrast to the marble surfaces. The relatively small gallery spaces are designed to provide an intimate encounter with the artworks shown, and to create distinction from the expansiveness presented in the Great Hall.

SHELDON