Museum hopes changes
will create a place for
the whole community 

PORTLAND — “Your Museum Reimagined,” the first collection of exhibits reflecting the Portland Museum of Art’s new focus on community involvement and interaction, opened on Jan. 22. The museum was closed for three weeks to complete the reorganization.

According to Jennifer DePrizio, director of learning and interpretation at the PMA, the reorganization focused on three goals: making the museum more accessible to the general public, reducing the image of elitism that some museums have, and creating interactive activities that will encourage museum visitors to discussions the exhibits with each other.

“One important approach is a change of hours which the museum is open. The goal is to broaden the membership base so that working professionals can come to the museum on their way home from their jobs. The museum will be open until 6 p.m., Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday and until 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday. PMA will remain closed on Monday and Tuesday.

There are more changes coming to the museum. DePrizio, who comes from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston, plans to bring in games and interactive activities for the public to share and experience as they look at exhibits. One idea she revealed was having artists explain works, instead of museum professionals on tape. This, she said, will cut the elitism atmosphere at the museum and introduce a personal perspective about works.

The museum also is going to have cocktails available to buy, and is planning to invite local bartenders periodically to create drinks named after paintings, DiPrizio said. Treasure hunts might be created, where partners, using a riddle,  have to  identify and locate a painting in a specific gallery.

The goal will be to to make the PMA a community gathering place to have fun and enjoy art, DiPrizio explained.

Three new and exciting exhibits have been designed to reflect the museum’s new goals. “Animal Menagerie” on the fourth floor will take your breath away and will be on permanent view to the public. The installation is outstanding. A wall has been taken down in the fourth floor gallery which opens up the entire space. Seventeen Bernard Langlais sculptures on different levels greet you as you step out of the elevator. You feel like you have entered an imaginary land.

Dahlov Ipcar’s “Blue Savanna,” an oil on canvas, can be seen nearby with its overlapping, prancing animals on a background of geometric shapes. Ipcar’s unusual style is distinctive, uplifting and original. This gallery focuses on the theme of animals in art. Other significant works, among many in this gallery include: “The Hare and the Tortoise” an oil on canvas, by Marguerite Thompson Zorach, “Frisbee” a beautiful oil on canvas by Will Barnet, and a new work titled “Migration” by Christopher Patch, which includes 37 magnificent bird creations made from paper mache hanging in space from the ceiling.

On the third floor is another exhibit which celebrates the museum’s new mission. “Duncan Hewitt: Turning Strange” is a modern sculpture exhibit in wood, mixed media and found objects. Hewitt, is a sculptor from Long Island, Maine. His works are so unusual,  that I can only compare them to works shown at the new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. They are exciting and important because they provide us different ways of seeing objects that are familiar, making them into works of art. Hewitt’s work titled,“Tacks,” which look like hockey skates, is amazing.

The first floor exhibit celebrating the museum’s new approach is titled “Masterworks on paper: Highlights from the Portland Museum of Art.” It reveals works on paper that have not been shown for many years at the PMA and have remained in storage. Seventy five works include creations by such famous artists as: Robert Indiana, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Jacob Lawrence, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein,  Alex Katz, David Driskell, Reginald Marsh, Peggy Bacon, Edward Hopper, William Zorach, John Marin, and Winslow Homer graphics, to name only a few. This exhibit will rotate occasionally to show more works on paper which the museum owns. Some works on paper can only be shown at intervals to protect them from light.

The museum’s total reorganization is expected to take two years to complete.

Some galleries will change, but the heart of the museum’s greatest works will remain the same as found in the Glickman Gallery on the second floor, including the powerful “Weatherbeaten” an oil on canvas by Winslow Homer, “Diana of the Sea,” an oil on canvas by Marguerite Thompson Zorach, N.C. Wyeth’s ”Dark Harbor Fisherman,” tempera on panel, “River Cove,” tempera on masonite, by Andrew Wyeth, “Matinicus” an oil on canvas by George Bellows, “New York- Paris” an oil on canvas by Stuart Davis, and “Hero and Leander” a sculpture in Indiana Limestone by Robert Laurent. These works are the stars in the collection at the PMA. There are many stars in the permanent collection, too many to list.

There are many ways to look at a piece of art. DePrizio said she wants to encourage individual perceptions rather than a “right way” or “wrong way.” 

But, her most important goal is to make the PMA a gathering place for the whole community.

An outstanding catalogue featuring works from the permanent collection, including 93 color plates and a history of the museum to the present day written by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr, is available at the museum gift shop.

                 Admission and hours

Adults, $15,  seniors, $13, students with ID, $10, children 14 and under,  free. 

Through  May, the museum will be open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., On Friday, from 4 to 8 p.m., admission is free. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
        Beginning May 30, PMA’s summer hours will be: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.