Museum reopens in IMU with art displaced from flood
Standing next to a larger-than-life oil painting of a dark-haired boy in an argyle sweater, Dale Fisher, the University of Iowa Museum of Art director of education, said he was excited to see some more art return home.
The museum reopened Tuesday after a month-long hiatus with roughly 50 art pieces in the IMU Richey Ballroom.
For the past two years, approximately 11,000 works of art have called the Figge Art Museum in Davenport home, displaced by the 2008 floods.
"You just can't believe what it means to have some of the collection back," Fisher said. "Just a few pieces is a joy to us."
UI officials appealed the Federal Emergency Management Agency's denial for funding to build a museum at a new location in July.
The painting by Grant Wood titled Plaid Sweater is just one recently returned painting to the gallery.
The museum closed for nearly a month to reinstall the partial collection in preparation for the school year.
Some pieces sitting in the IMU were sent to Davenport, where the majority of the collection remains.
The Stanley Gallery at the Levitt Center also houses part of the UI's African art collection.
Fisher said swapping current pieces with ones in storage is crucial to completing the museum's mission: presenting its extensive collection of more than 12,000 pieces to its various audiences.
"We have such an important collection with a lot of masterworks," Fisher said. "We need to have a lot of pieces to represent the different areas of the collection, the broad range of media and the many historical periods."
A 4-foot-tall ceramic piece, Snowmass, is a favorite of Fisher's because it reminds him of Jackson Pollock's famous Mural, which must be stored in the Figge Art Museum.
Though Fisher said he would love to have Pollock's roughly 8-foot-tall painting in the gallery, he is happy.
"To have a piece that works with some of the same issues and is similar in content is great," he said. "It is just a beautiful piece."
Though museum officials are in the process of finding a more permanent location, lead gallery attendant Chris Merkle-Carrasco predicts it will remain in the IMU for several years.
"It's unfortunate that the old museum is ruined," UI junior and art student Kelsey Miller said. "But it's great that the museum is keeping up its exhibit so students have a reference to go look at artwork."
Other art students are keeping a similar positive mentality.
"I'm glad to see that they're trying to get that part of campus back to life as soon as possible," UI senior Andrew Caturano said.
Merkle-Corrasco said he hopes students and community members will check out the new installment of local and well-known art.
The free exhibit features both international and local pieces.
"It's a cheap date," he said, with a smile.
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