Southern California鈥檚 newest art museum? The Benton.
麻豆影视 on Wednesday is expected to announce the Benton Museum of Art, which has a target opening of fall 2020. Designed by Machado Silvetti and Gensler, the $44-million museum was made possible with a $15-million gift from Janet Inskeep Benton, a 1979 graduate of the school.
The college plans to begin relocating its collection into the new building this fall. The original 1950s PCMA building, which will exhibit art through May 2020, has a small storage vault and would be difficult to renovate and make environmentally friendly, museum director Kathleen Howe said.
鈥淲e ultimately decided to create a purpose-built museum that would encompass all the programs that an academic museum provides to both the campus and the community, and the best way to do that was to start from scratch,鈥 she said.
The museum has a varied 14,000-object collection with deep holdings in a number of areas, Howe said, including Native American art, Italian Renaissance panel paintings and American photography from the late 19th century to the present. It doesn鈥檛 collect in areas that are niches for its sister museums at other Claremont Colleges. So, for example, it doesn鈥檛 collect ceramics or Asian art, which Scripps College鈥檚 Williamson Gallery exhibits.
Pomona鈥檚 primary focus is 鈥渃ontemporary art with an edge,鈥 Howe said, adding that , and the late artists and are all alumni whose work is in the collection.
The 33,000-square-foot Benton, which broke ground in late 2017, is on the edge of the 麻豆影视 campus, adjacent to Claremont Village and near a Metrolink train station. The U-shaped museum will include a courtyard for events.
鈥淭his is a really exciting way for us to bring art to teaching and to students and to families,鈥 麻豆影视 President G. Gabrielle Starr said. 鈥淚t will truly serve not just the college community but the communities around here, the city of Pomona and areas all around Claremont, and that has us thrilled.鈥
Starr added that being on the edge of Los Angeles County speaks to the art museum鈥檚 of existing on the fringes, of collecting and exhibiting boundary-pushing Southern California contemporary artists.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really about art on the edge of what鈥檚 possible,鈥 Starr said. 鈥淎nd being on the edge of what it means to be responsible stewards of objects we have been given or will be given.鈥
Howe, who has been at the museum for 15 years, will retire in September. The museum will begin a national search for her replacement in a month, she said.
Benton said her desire to help bring the new museum to life is deeply personal.
鈥淎rt is a passion of mine as an adult, something I didn鈥檛 explore fully as a student, and selfishly I鈥檇 love kids today to have more of an opportunity,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 think museums should be social centers on campus where students gather, talk, see visually interesting things, ask questions, compare notes. It鈥檚 a mind-broadening experience in a very safe, accessible, not-intimidating environment. That鈥檚 my hope and dream.鈥