The College of William and Mary’s newly-renovated art museum, the Muscarelle Museum of Art, will soon reopen for the first time since the fall 2022 semester. The community grand opening is slated to take place Saturday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m., showcasing brand new exhibits, a modernized architectural design and a new café.
Funded entirely through private donations and named after lead donor Martha Wren Briggs ’55, the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts adds over 42,000 square feet to the previous design, making room for three times as much exhibition space. The museum will expand from five galleries to 14.
Muscarelle Museum of Art Marketing and Events Manager Julie Tucker ’01 highlighted that the increased capacity will allow a mix of special exhibitions and permanent curations from the previous space to remain on-display throughout the year.
“In terms of exhibition space, we’ve gone from five galleries to 14, so we’ll have much more space to show art — it will be a combination of special exhibitions and permanent collection displays that will keep things interesting for visitors with something new to see all the time,” Tucker wrote to The Flat Hat.
The museum will include seminar rooms for study and research, as well as a library and study center accessible year-round to the campus community. Tucker expressed her enthusiasm for the Muscarelle’s new art education programs, which will support increased student engagement with the arts on campus.
“We have some wonderful new educational spaces so that classes and other groups can engage with the art,” Tucker wrote. “This was an integral part of the vision of our lead donor Martha Wren Briggs ’55 – that the visual arts be a part of every student’s experience at W&M.”
The museum’s Event Hall will host lectures, art-making workshops and special events for arts classes and the greater community, while the inaugural café and museum store will further enhance the student and visitor experience.
“Our café will be a really lovely, light-filled space for a coffee or lunch break,” Tucker wrote. “And we hope many classes will visit to engage with the art.”
The Muscarelle intends to collaborate with art and art history professors at the College to incorporate exhibition studies into their curriculums, enabling classes to visit regularly.
“We’re working hard to collaborate with faculty across the disciplines to incorporate a visit to the museum and study of our collection into their curriculum,” Tucker wrote.
Several new exhibits will make their debut next month, including original silkscreen prints by renowned artist Jacob Lawrence. Tucker shared that art history students at the College curated the exhibition last fall as part of a higher-level curatorial project class.
“We’ll have ‘Haiti to Harlem: Toussaint L’Ouverture & Jacob Lawrence,’ which is a series of 15 silkscreen prints by artist Jacob Lawrence providing a visual narrative of the Haitian Revolution,” Tucker wrote. “A group of W&M students in the Curatorial Project (ARTH331) created this exhibition last fall, and we’re thrilled to have it on view in the new museum.”
Notable works from the museum’s permanent collection, which had been temporarily housed in the Campus Center during renovations, will make their return to the galleries. These include original works from Georgia O’Keefe, mid-century abstract art and contemporary Native American pieces, among other exhibits.
Muscarelle student intern Sierra Manja ’26 has been working alongside fellow interns to launch Museum University Student Engagement, a volunteer-based student group aiming to boost engagement with the arts and the museum. All students can join the organization, which will be hosting an inaugural Jazz Night in late February, as well as an art-themed lecture series with guest speakers over the course of the semester.
Manja is especially looking forward to the addition of an original Michelangelo exhibit to the museum’s collection, which she feels will broaden the Muscarelle’s campus appeal.
“As an art history major, I am greatly anticipating the Muscarelle’s Michelangelo exhibit, ‘The Genesis of the Sistine,’” Manja wrote to The Flat Hat. “This display of Michelangelo’s early drawings and plans for his most recognizable masterpiece will intrigue a wide audience.”
Manja also shared her excitement for the Muscarelle interns’ brand new workspace inside the museum, which she hopes will enhance collaboration with full-time staff and further promote student engagement with the arts.
“The Muscarelle interns are so excited to collaborate in a new work space,” Manja wrote. “I think having a more permanent space will allow us to better connect with each other and our amazing staff.”
Rebecca Garber ’27 is a prospective studio art major. As a recent transfer to the College last spring, she’s greatly looking forward to having a new building focused entirely on the arts, recognizing the benefit for her and others’ artistic exploration.
“I transferred here last spring, so I haven’t had the opportunity to be on campus before the Muscarelle shut down,” Garber wrote to The Flat Hat. “I’m really excited to see how a dedicated art space will bring more life to the arts here on campus. Right now, art seems to be confined to Andrews Hall, so I hope the space provides more opportunity for students to showcase their work on a larger scale and incites more curiosity and passion for art in general.”
Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m., the College’s Board of Visitors will hold a Muscarelle dedication ceremony in the Glenn Close Theatre at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall. The Board will then receive a tour of the new building and hold a reception at the museum.
In addition to the Feb. 8 community grand opening, the Muscarelle will be hosting an open house for students Feb. 20 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tucker highly encourages all those interested in the arts to attend and take part in a wide array of activities.
“That event will be geared specifically for W&M students with a scavenger hunt, free refreshments, art activities, live music by student groups and more,” Tucker wrote. “We’ll have more details about this event in the coming weeks!”
