Start of museum renovation marks artistic transformation

Greg Jenson/The Clarion-Ledger Jerry Host, chairman of the Mississippi Museum of Art's board of trustees, reviews concepts of the Mississippi Arts Pavilion on Thursday during a renovations ceremony in downtown Jackson.

The new digs of the Mississippi Museum of Art, once renovation of the Mississippi Arts Pavilion is complete, will be a key central piece of downtown Jackson revitalization, officials say.

"Our transformation of this building and the cultural district of downtown Jackson begins today," Jerry Host, chairman of the museum's board of trustees, said Thursday at a ceremonial groundbreaking. State, city and museum leaders were on hand for the event.

Interior demolition began immediately to turn the pavilion into a contemporary, airy gathering spot and exhibit space museum officials envision as "Jackson's downtown living room."

"This is a great example of the success we can have when there's cooperation between the public sector, the private sector and nonprofits," said Leland Speed, director of the Mississippi Development Authority.

The pavilion, which hosted four major international art and culture exhibitions, will become a full-time year-round art museum. The architecturally significant museum and civic plaza will unite the work from the Farish Street Historic District to the TelCom Center and coming Capital City Convention Center with the neighboring cultural buildings and the planned Capitol Green project, Host said.

The museum has raised more than $8 million of its $13 million goal in nearly five months of a capital campaign. That includes state and federal funding, commitments from the museum's board of trustees and "museum family" and donations from other lead donors.

The $13 million budget includes the interior and exterior building renovation, a city plaza/green space and money to add to the museum's operating endowment.

The museum kicked off the public phase of the campaign Thursday and will seek support from statewide.

The new museum's design creates more natural light, a higher volume of exhibit space and easy flow, museum director Betsy Bradley said, as well as a coffee shop spilling out onto a patio and garden.

A comprehensive exhibition from the museum's permanent collection, The Mississippi Story curated by Patti Carr Black, will "display the story of our people in our art," Bradley said, highlighting land, people, daily life and the culture Mississippi has exported to the world through expatriate artists. "The board made the decision, as stewards of art, there will be no admission to The Mississippi Story," she said.

The museum is scheduled to open next May with the ninth installment of the Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series.

Glave and Holmes Associates of Richmond, Va., and Dale & Associates of Jackson are the architects. W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. will oversee the project.

Jack Patterson, museum member and last year's Volunteer of the Year, applauds the arts project. "It'll restore our old Jackson," Patterson said. "Every culture we've got started with art. We might as well keep the thing going."

Museum member Faye Johnston of Ridgeland said it reminded her of the opening of the Kennedy Center, which she and her husband Dr. William Johnston saw in Washington, D.C. "It's contemporary, light, airy, refreshing. I can't believe this is in Jackson, Miss.," Faye Johnston said. "I think people will be so thrilled, particularly parents bringing their children, to have a place to sit down and see the art."

The art museum's exhibits and programs are growing in attendance, Dr. William Johnston said. "It's really a big part of our lives and I think this will help it be a big part of everybody else's life."

The city-owned Mississippi Arts Center, the museum's current location, will continue to serve as a public facility focusing on visual and performing arts, said Michael Raff, deputy director of human and cultural services for the city. The city will soon begin a survey of groups already occupying the building and others who've expressed interest.

Artworks remaining in the pavilion from Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange exhibitions will be moved out in time for construction. The art museum is working with the commission to secure the Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV for the museum complex but that has not been finalized, Bradley said.