By Aubrey Miller
Penn State hosted a ceremony on Friday afternoon to symbolically break ground on the university’s new Palmer Museum of Art at the Arboretum.
Construction for the 71,000-square-foot building actually broke ground in July and the new facility is expected to open in the fall of 2023.
The Palmer Museum has a permanent collection of more than 10,000 works of art, including a renowned collection of American art. The existing Curtin Road museum allows for only 3 to 4% of the collection to be displayed at any one time, and the new museum will allow for the display between 7 and 8% of the works.
Originally constructed in 1972, the museum was renovated and expanded to 50,000 square feet in 1993, thanks to a multi-million dollar gift from longtime benefactors James and Barbara Palmer. The museum will continue to bear the Palmer name at the new location.
In addition to a need for more space, Penn State officials have said the existing museum’s aging systems pose a concern for preserving works of art, and its location on central campus makes it less accessible for guests due to a lack of nearby parking.
At its new location the Palmer Museum will be integrated with the Arboretum, continuing to serve as an educational space with a diverse set of learning opportunities.
“The Palmer Museum has long been one of the region’s cultural treasures, and one of its most distinguishing characteristics is the collection of American art,” Penn State President Eric Barron said. “I have no doubt that the new Palmer Museum at The Arboretum at Penn State will strengthen and sustain the aesthetic experience at Penn State, and it will become a destination for art lovers, scholars, families and community members.”
Museum Director Erin Coe spoke on Friday about the significance of the new facility for the university.
“The museum has significantly outgrown its facility, and the Palmer’s programmatic and outreach footprint has grown right alongside those expanding [art] collections”, Coe said. “That is why we celebrate today the groundbreaking of this dynamic and vibrant new building.”
More than 50 donors helped fund the project. Rich Bundy, director of development and alumni relations, recognized Keiko Miwa Ross, a State College resident and the 2020 Penn State Philanthropist of the Year, for her donation of $7.5 million to the development of the new Palmer Museum of Art. Ross has donated over $14 million to Penn State, and her museum commitment allowed construction to begin.
The lobby of the museum will be named in her honor.
To date, more than $20 million in philanthropy has been raised toward the museum’s $85 million budget. According to plans approved by the university Board of Trustees in May, up to $62 million of the project’s cost will be funded by borrowing. Annual debt service of $4 million will be paid for from the university’s share of Big Ten media revenue, which is more than $50 million each year. When the conference last negotiated an increase in its media rights deals, university presidents agreed each school should use $4 million annually for difficult-to-fund campus projects.
Coe shared her vision and goals for the “world-class museum at a world-class university.” She looks forward to having an art museum ready to meet the needs of visitors, as well.
“With the Arboretum, a cultural destination and epicenter, the new Palmer will seamlessly integrate art, architecture, and nature” Coe said.
The new is designed by Allied Works, some of their projects include the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
The new Palmer Museum will have two wings clad in local stone. The larger wing on the west side is for the galleries and museum support spaces, while the east wing will have administrative and educational facilities.
The wings have open space between them offering a view directly into the Arboretum and are connected on the second level by an enclosed walkway.
The building will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, aligning with Penn State’s efforts in sustainability.
“Our team was immediately inspired for the opportunity to bring the Palmer and its extraordinary collection to this landscape, to engage the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens and the surrounding Arboretum”, Allied Works’ Chelsea Grassinger, the project’s architect, explained. “We were compelled to exponentially knit together the museum and Arboretum, connecting people to landscape, landscape to art, and art to light.”
College of Arts and Architecture Dean B. Stephen Carpenter II, dean of Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, said the history of the project’s land can’t be forgotten.
“We acknowledge and honor the original caretakers of these lands and strive to understand and model responsible stewardship,” a statement made in collaboration with the Indigenous People Student Association and the Indigenous Faculty Alliance at Penn State. “We also acknowledge the long history of these lands and our place in these histories”.
The current Palmer Museum of Art, which celebrates its 50th year in 2022, will remain open until Penn State’s new location is completed. Although its Curtin Road museum will close, the building itself will still be used for unannounced university purposes.
StateCollege.com’s Geoff Rushton contributed to this report.
