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Expanding museums


Courtesy Tacoma Art Museum

Tacoma Art Museum
[ Tacoma, Washington ]
The Tacoma Art Museum “is focused on Northwest artists and a variety of genres,” said project manager David Bonewitz. “The addition of the Haub Collection is where the West and Northwest meet.”

The Haub Collection was given to the museum by Erivan and Helga Haub and is a collection of 280 pieces of American Western art. The family also gave a contribution to build a 15,000-square-foot gallery and to expand the lobby to display the collection.

“The addition is a bronze-colored panel system, [creating] a sort of yin and yang with these light and dark colors coming together,” Bonewitz said. “The dark color of the addition relates to the historic palette of Tacoma. The original museum, historic Tacoma and the collections are the three influences of the design.”

The museum remains open as the expansion is being added. Collections include the Dale Chihuly glass collection, Northwest art and the Marioni Family Gift, which is a collection of about 400 pieces from Paul Marioni, a glass-art innovator.

“I certainly think the museum as it is today is exciting, but now that we’ve added the Haub Collection, I hope people are excited to see Western art. I hope it brings more interest to the museum. It’s a tremendous gift not just to the museum but to the community,” Bonewitz said.

The expansion is planned to open in October 2014.

www.tacomaartmuseum.org