After four long years of rebuilding and restoration,
the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
opened its bronze doors to the public Sunday.
More than 5,000 people streamed into the museum,
which cost $14.2 million to revamp.
“This is a social place as well as an educational
place,” museum Director David Turner said. “The
real joy is seeing the spaces filled with people.”
A masterpiece in its own right — museum Board
President Susan Papé called it “a pearl in the midst of
campus” — the museum is now 63,180 square feet,
more than twice its original size.
It has several galleries, including a 4,000-squarefoot
space dedicated to changing exhibitions.
From now until May 1, Andy Warhol’s “Dream
America” exhibit will grace the walls of this
gallery. A Technicolor Marilyn Monroe is
the first thing visitors see as they walk up
the stairs leading to the gallery. The exhibit
also highlights Warhol’s other
renowned pieces from the “Mick
Jaggers” to “Muhammad Ali.” The
exhibit is on tour through seven
states and includes more than
100 screenprints from the
Jordan Schnitzer Family
Foundation.
Other galleries
are dedicated to Chinese,
Korean, Japanese,
American and
European art, opening
up new worlds
and rich histories.
“We just think
there’s going to
be many reasons
for you to
come and
come back often,”
Turner
said.
Visitors
were only
able to see a
portion of
the Japanese
art at
the opening.
The
Chinese and
Japanese galleries
will be
fully installed
in time for their
own opening in
the fall, Turner said.

“We’re going to be the only university in the United
States that has a space allocated to Korean art,”
Turner said.
Gertrude Bass Warner, who bequeathed more than
3,000 works of Asian art to the University in 1921,
welcomes the visitors in the museum’s main hall —
Warner’s portrait hangs by the main information
desk. Warner’s contribution inspired University administrators
at the time to construct a building that
would house these works; construction began in
1929 and the museum was officially opened in 1932.
Visitors at the opening each took in the art in different
ways. Some gazed in reverent contemplation
and some even took notes. Others pointed at the
pieces and shared thoughts with friends. One mother
patiently explained some of the European paintings
to her eager daughter.
“The two portraits of the officials are just magnificent,”
Doug McCarty, a Eugene resident, said as
he looked at some of the Korean pieces. “I’d like to
own them.”
While the museum started with just one collection,
its holdings have multiplied expansively, which is
one of the key reasons why a renovation was vital,
museum spokeswoman Katie Sproles said. She added
that the museum now has three times the storage
space it had before.
Apart from sheer size enabling more display and
storage, the improved facility will allow museum
staff to diversify the exhibits. The Changing Exhibit
gallery has movable walls, a high open ceiling and
data ports that allow the incorporation of innovative
set-up designs.
Larry Fong, the associate director and curator of
American and regional art, said it is now possible to
display large pieces.
“We never had the space to do that,” Fong said.
“One of the elements of modern art is that things
got big.” He added that the high walls not only allow
for larger pieces but also stacking different
pieces, as is evident in the
Warhol exhibit.

In addition, the integration of climate
control into the revamped building allows
the museum to show more delicate
pieces that require special conditions.
“That’s really important for the stability
of the art, the preservation of the
art,” Fong said.
Also, the inclusion of technology
such as wireless capabilities makes
the museum more accessible to
multi-media exhibits.
Different rooms in the museum are
named in honor of several key donors
who contributed to the renovation. The
museum itself was renamed last May in
honor of University graduate Jordan Schnitzer,
who gave more than a million dollars toward
the reconstruction.
At the opening, Schnitzer said it was the first time
during his 30 years coming to the museum that he
had seen “a crowd waiting to get in.”
“We must now spread the word and reach out to this
campus, reach out to the community and reach out to
the state and bring people in,” Schnitzer said, adding
that it is vital for the museum community to continue
working to allow the institution to reach new levels of
“outreach, cultural awareness and stimulation.”
Aside from about 750 individual donors, the state of
Oregon also allocated $6.36 million in state-serviced
bonds toward the building’s construction.
University President Dave Frohnmayer said in an
e-mail statement that without the support of numerous
benefactors the expansion would have been an
“unfulfilled dream.”
“Now doubled in size and upgraded substantially
in every respect, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
… will resume its place as a magnet to this campus
for people of all ages and cultural interests and serve
as a centerpiece for renewed vitality of the arts and
humanities,” Frohnmayer said.
The museum is committed to reaffirming its
educational mission and offers programs that serve
this purpose.
“As an art museum, we are an educational institution,”
Director of Education Lisa Abia-Smith said.
“We have to appeal to how the visitors learn.”

In the novel Interactive Discovery Gallery, visitors
can engage in hands-on activities that help them explore
the art and the art-making process. Visitors can
look at different pieces of art, try to pick out objects in
the piece and describe its mood, and then write their
reactions. Or they may try to make a sculpture or write
a poem inspired by the art. The gallery also has folders
with artist biographies, works and pictures.
“Its intention was to let people become a part of
the art,” Sproles said.
Adjacent to the gallery is a studio and lecture hall
that will help facilitate other educational activities and
classes. Visitors may also take tours led by specially
trained “exhibition interpreters.” Originally, the museum
had docents who shared facts about the art, but the
new interpreters will instead encourage dialogue about
the pieces, Abia-Smith said.
The art pieces also have interpretive labels that
hopefully will help generate discussion, Turner said.
Leslie Buck, visiting from Berkeley, Calif., said she
appreciated these labels as she looked at some of the
European pieces.
“I like the way they have a lot of history and explanations,”
Buck said. “That really helps you understand.”
Abia-Smith said the museum also offers teacher
training and professional workshops for K
-12 teachers
to help them determine how they can use the museum
to enhance their curricula. In addition, the museum
will have talks, lectures, music
and other activities related to the art.
“We’re trying to design programs
that are not just visual arts but are
multidisciplinary,” Abia-Smith said.
University students will also benefit
from the museum’s reopening. The
museum has classes, practicum and research
opportunities and other resources.
Starting in May, Masters of
Fine Arts students will display their
projects in the museum for the first
time in four years.
The museum has also dedicated
the Focus Gallery to show off works
related to different curricula, Turner
said. On display this term, “Colorful
Lanterns at Shangyuan” is a Chinese
scroll painted during the mid- to late-Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) that depicts a market scene. The scroll
comes to the University in collaboration with a
conference arranged by history professor Ina Asim.
The scroll has more than 2,000 different images,
Turner said. A digital reproduction of the scroll will
allow people to sift through the images and labels
will provide more information.
“It’s the first recorded image of the East with
someone with eyeglasses,” Turner said.
Junior Alishiya Halaney can testify to the connection
between art and the classroom.

“I like the Andy Warhol exhibit because I studied it
in my art and gender class, so I can relate to who he is
and what he was about,” Halaney said. She said the
class explored some of the controversy surrounding
Warhol’s work and its relation to pop culture.
After four long years of waiting, many hope that
University members and the community will come to
the museum to “see. think. do.”
“I think museums are wonderful places to lose
yourself,” curator Fong said.
Allan Price, vice president of University Advancement,
echoed these sentiments.
Quoting Pablo Picasso, he said, “Art washes away
from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

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