It's roll-out week for the freshest face in town, the new Glass Pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art.
And it's only fitting that such a piece of finery be imbued with laughter, conversation, and good vibrations by thousands of well-wishers during its nascent days.
About 1,400 major donors attended snazzy soirees yesterday and Tuesday night. A cocktail party for 2,400 museum members will be at 7:30 tonight. Tomorrow and Saturday, members can have a look-see during regular museum hours. Nonmembers who want a sneak preview are welcome both days and can purchase a membership for minimum fees of $35 to $75.
The grand opening of this museum-cum-studio will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday. Inaugural remarks will be delivered by George Jones III, head of the museum's volunteer board; Don Bacigalupi, museum director, and Georgia Welles, co-chairman of the campaign that raised the money.
Also speaking will be U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, state Sen. Teresa Fedor, Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak, and Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.
Joining the grand opening ribbon cutters will be children representing 13 school districts. In 2002, students from 129 area schools presented then-museum director Roger Berkowitz with $15,621 (some of it in penny rolls) for the pavilion. They echoed a 1908 effort by children who rose to a challenge by glass industrialist Edward Drummond Libbey, and collected $408 to help construct the museum's 1912 Neoclassical main building.
Once the ribbon is snipped, the glass doors will fling open and remain open until 5 p.m.
On display in specially designed cases and cabinets is a large portion of the museum's 5,000-piece glass collection, the oldest of which is 4,000 years old. The rest of the collection is stored in the basement.
Playing with fire in two hot shops, artists will engage in the mesmerizing craft of glass blowing. Visitors will be able to create a wire-and-glass-bead sculpture and to cover an object with glass beads.
Docents will stand at the ready to answer questions. A snack bar faces the original museum's classic but seldom used columned front, and the big red Stegosaurus by American sculptor Alexander Calder.
Among the highlights: the clear-glass chandelier-style sculpture by Dale Chihuly in the Monroe Street lobby; Vitrana, the colorful mural composed of 33 glass panels by Dominick Labino in the Glass Study Room, and the Libbey Table and Punch Bowl (1903-04), the largest cut glass in existence, made in Toledo to exhibit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.
Adjacent to the special-events room (called the GLASsalon) is a small courtyard with an ocular, a domed skylight, set into the ground to provide natural light for glass conservation work that will be done in a basement room directly below. The lower level also includes six rooms equipped for forming glass in various ways, mechanicals, offices, and a prep kitchen.
With 472 giant rectangular glass panels (13.5-by-8-feet) but no right angles in the building, the Glass Pavilion was six years in the making and under construction for 28 months. An estimated 425 people worked on the project, and about $20 million of its $30 million cost was spent locally. It was designed by SANAA Ltd., a Japanese architectural firm; Rudolph/Libbe Inc. of Walbridge was general contractor.
The inauguration of the Glass Pavilion will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, after which the building will open for tours and demonstrations. The event is free and open to the public. Thereafter, the new building will be open the same hours as the Toledo Museum of Art: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Mondays and major holidays. There is no admission fee. Parking is available behind the Glass Pavilion, north of Monroe Street at Parkwood and Woodruff avenues. Information: 419-255-8000 and www.toledomuseum.org.
Contact Tahree Lane at:
tlane@theblade.com
or 419-724-6075.
First Published August 24, 2006, 10:22 a.m.
