Regents Receive Update on University of Iowa Museum of Art Replacement Plans

University of Iowa officials briefed members of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa Facilities Committee today, Tuesday, Sept. 10, on progress toward soliciting ideas and potential partners for a new home for the UI Museum of Art (UIMA), which was displaced from its building along the Iowa River by the 2008 flood.

“The University of Iowa Museum of Art—like Hancher, the School of Music, the School of Art and Art History, the Department of Theatre and other programs—has done an outstanding job conserving its collection and continuing to provide exhibits and activities that serve the campus and community, despite lacking a permanent facility,” UI President Sally Mason says. “But the museum is a significant cultural and academic resource for students, for Iowans, and for the entire art world, and I’m committed to finding a new, permanent home for its collection.”

A Request For Information (RFI) issued by the UI in July garnered 10 responses from private developers and landowners outlining ideas for a mixed-use facility. A Museum of Art Core Team will review the information and, working with museum consultants, use it to develop a Request for Proposals that identifies building and program priorities, and lays out a vision for the new UIMA home.

The Museum of Art Core Team is composed of nine members of the campus and community, including UIMA Director Sean O’Harrow, UI Provost P. Barry Butler, College of Dentistry Dean David Johnson, Iowa City attorney and UIMA Advisory Board Chair Jim Hayes, and Interim Associate Provost for Outreach Linda Snetselaar.

O’Harrow says the new project presents exciting opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and unique partnerships.

“Losing the former building was a national tragedy, but out of this disaster I see the unique opportunity to create an art museum for the 21st century,” he says.

“This is a chance to rethink not only how we present art and educate from our collection, but also how to better integrate art into the academic life of our campus and the cultural lives of Iowans. This is a very exciting time for our institution and the public in Iowa, because largely as a result of our challenging situation, we are working at the cutting edge of arts education and museum development in the country. This sort of opportunity only comes by once in a generation, if that."

The former UI Museum of Art facility was completed in 1969, although the art collection predates the museum by several decades. Its holdings, considered by many as one of the top university collections in the United States, comprises more than 14,000 works of art, including some of the world’s most important works of art, such as Beckmann’s triptychKarneval, Motherwell’s Elegy to the Spanish Republic, no. 126, and Iowa’s most famous painting, Pollock’s Mural (currently undergoing conservation work at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles).

Since the flood of 2008, the UIMA has made efforts to display at least a portion of its holdings at several temporary locations, including in the UI Iowa Memorial Union’s Black Box Theater, in the IMU’s Richey Ballroom (redubbed UIMA@IMU), and at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. Numerous other institutions across Iowa are hosting UIMA exhibitions and art as part of the UIMA’s Legacies for Iowa collections sharing initiative.

More information on all of these opportunities can be found at the UI Museum of Art website.

In August 2009, Mason announced the formation of an Envisioning Committee for the museum. Composed of community members, UI faculty, and UI students, the committee was charged with evaluating best practices for university and college art museums and thinking about how the museum can best serve the needs of its constituents moving forward. The committee delivered its recommendations in early 2010 (see recommendations here.

Read more about the UI's ongoing flood recovery and renewal efforts here.