New Erie Art Museum Opens to the Public this Weekend

The newly remodeled Erie Art Museum is celebrating its grand opening this weekend, October 23 & 24. The new facility is a major upgrade for the Erie art scene.

Sited on 5th Street, the new addition connects the Museum's five historic buildings, tripling the gallery space. The new space will enable the Museum to showcase its permanent collection of over 6,000 objects, some of which has never been on public display.

The expansion also includes a new gallery for temporary exhibitions, a 250-person performance space, an outdoor sculpture garden, a public meeting space at a new unified, fully accessible entrance, a café and gift shop. Portions of the Museum will be available for private rental, providing a unique location for wedding receptions and other special events. The finished project drastically redefines the museum as a recurring destination for the community as well as visitors from across the region.

Head down to 5th and State this weekend and check out all the activities and exhibits. It's free!

The Museum will have free admission for all during its opening weekend October 23-24, 2010. Visitors can enjoy tours of the exhibit, watch artists demonstrate jewelry making, figure drawing, Asian watercolor, Indian embroidery, and throwing clay on the pottery wheel. There will also be art-making projects for children, live music and dance performances.

Exhibitions on view:

Hidden in Plain Sight: Art Treasures from Regional Collections
October 23, 2010 – April 3, 2010, In the Main Gallery
Great art from collections in northwest Pennsylvania and southwest New York, this show features masterworks by painters as varied as Jasper Francis Cropsey, Angelica Kauffmann and Paul Jenkins, a collection of American Regionalist painters including Thomas Hart Benton and Peter Hurd, portraits by John James Audubon and Gilbert Stuart, drawings by Benjamin West and Norman Rockwell and many other outstanding works.

Auto-Intervention: Paintings by Chris Mars
October 23, 2010 – January 23, 2010, In the Bacon Gallery
Through his work Chris Mars seeks to "create a voice for the voiceless," using his paintings to express his deep, personal connection to those with mental illness through a lifetime of watching his own brother's struggle with the effects of schizophrenia. Sponsored in part by Stairways Behavioral Health in celebration of their fiftieth anniversary helping those in the Erie community with mental illness.

Lee Rexrode
October 15, 2010 – January 15, 2011 in the Frame Shop Gallery
Lee Rexrode explores simplicity and clarity of ideas through altered wheel-thrown pottery in his new ceramic works. Rexrode's travels and teaching experience have reinforced this pursuit of formal simplicity. In 2001, a lecture tour to several Chinese institutions allowed him to research contemporary and historical Chinese ceramics—the inspiration for clay artists the world over for centuries. He has also traveled in Spain and Portugal, where he studied Iberian architecture and the unique ceramic tiles that adorn it. On his most recent sabbatical, he traveled in the United States, visiting outstanding collections and artist's studios.