Erie Art Museum
Encyclopedia
Erie Art Museum is an art museum in Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

 with a collection of over 7,000 objects, including American ceramics, Tibetan paintings
Tibetan art
Tibetan art refers to the art of Tibet. For more than a thousand years, Tibetan artists have played a key role in the cultural life of Tibet. From designs for painted furniture to elaborate murals in religious buildings, their efforts have permeated virtually every facet of life on the Tibetan...

, Indian bronzes, contemporary baskets, and many other categories. The museum hosts 18 to 20 visiting exhibits annually and shares parts of its collection with national and international partners through traveling exhibits.

The museum entrance is situated on East 5th Street between State and French Streets. The 2010 wing connects five historic buildings into a single complex:
  1. The Old Custom House, a Greek Revival building constructed in 1837-39 of Vermont marble
  2. The Cashiers House, a Greek Revival townhouse also completed in 1839
  3. The Bonnell Block, a Greek Revival commercial building built in 1840 that houses the Erie County Historical Society
  4. The Erie Art Museum's Holstein Gallery and Frame Shop, also housed in the Bonnell Block building
  5. The Old Pumper House, the oldest surviving fire house in the city, originally built as a marble works in 1850


The museum publishes a monthly eNewsletter on its main website.

The museum has hosted an annual blues and jazz music festival at Frontier Park since 1992.

History

The Art Club of Erie was established in 1898 and met in the then-new Erie Library on Perry Square
Perry Square
Perry Square is one of the series of city squares planned by famed surveyor Andrew Ellicott in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. The park diverts the flow of 6th Street for two wooded city blocks bisected by State Street, which separates the city's eastern and western halves...

 in downtown Erie. The Art Club moved to the Watson-Curtze Mansion in the 1940s. In 1956, the club raised money and found a home of its own in the Wood-Morrison House, adjacent to the Curtze Mansion. The new place was soon known as the Erie Art Center and had a professional director by 1968. The center became the Erie Art Museum in 1980 when it moved to the Old Custom House on State Street. The Ashby Printing Company building was purchased the same year and became the museum's annex.

In 1992, the Erie Art Museum became a part of the Discovery Square corporation, which invested $5 million in the development of a city block of museums, including the creation of the expERIEence Children's Museum in 1995 and the renovation and expansion of the Erie Art Museum and the Erie County History Center. Current plans are for the History Center to grow from 2000 sq ft (185.8 m²) to 14000 sq ft (1,300.6 m²), and the Art Museum to grow from 4000 sq ft (371.6 m²) to 16000 sq ft (1,486.4 m²). Although this plan was later abandoned, the Erie Art Museum completed an extensive renovation and expansion project, reopening in October 2010. The project created the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....

(LEED) certified building in Erie, Pennsylvania.

External links

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