KSU approved plans for construction of the Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art to begin June 2012.
The $3 million, 2,900-square-foot expansion to the northeast corner of the Bailey Center will house a permanent gallery of 134 original works by Ruth Zuckerman, the late wife of the primary donor. Circulating galleries of student and faculty work will also be on display throughout the year.
The facility is projected to be complete in spring 2013, and fully operational by fall 2013. A groundbreaking ceremony will take place in fall 2012.
Bernard Zuckerman donated $2 million to the expansion and the university provided an additional $1 million to the construction. The Atlanta-based architecture firm Stanley Beaman & Sears, Inc. created the model and blueprints chosen for the museum.
KSU Director of Museum and Galleries Dr. Teresa Bramlette Reeves said the only other fine arts museum associated with the University System of Georgia is the Georgia Museum of Art located at the University of Georgia.
“The museum will bring a prominence to our museum program at KSU,” Reeves said.
Reeves said she looks forward to her staff being relocated to the new facility but hopes to hire additional faculty and security if the operating budget allows.
Some students in the College of the Arts are excited for the future venue while some harbor concern for the department’s priorities.
Jared Campanella, a senior human services major, spent two years in the art program and looks forward to the future opportunities that the museum will bring KSU and the department.
“I feel overall it’s a great expansion,” said Campanella. “It will bring in people from the outside community to campus to check out the galleries.”
Holly Lacour, a ceramics major accepted to the program in 2008, agrees the new museum will benefit the program but has some reservations.
“I am extremely happy that there will be a better location to showcase our work. The showroom in the library’s basement doesn’t get enough foot traffic,” said Lacour. “But I feel like there should be a greater priority on improving class sizes and equipment.”
No classroom space is included in the museum’s expansion but according to Reeves, there will be rooms available for students to study works on location.
Reeves went on to state that there are plans to expand the Visual and Commercial Arts Building but that could be a couple years out at this point.
A gala will take place upon the official opening of the museum in fall 2013.
