The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art received a $270,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, which will be used for a new Collections and Learning Gallery.

The project will be completed in two phases, starting with the creation of storage units.

Laura Child, the museum development director, said the gallery will be located on the site of the original Museum of Art.

A full remodel of the former museum space will cost approximately $1 million and include instruction and presentation areas, accessible collection storage, and exhibition display cases to show the glass and ceramic collection. Child says she hopes to receive more grants and donors.

The museum submitted a proposal to the Henry Luce Foundation in the middle of March and received verbal notification in early July that they had been awarded the money, she said.

“This grant will support phase one of the project that includes the purchase and installation of easily accessible storage units,” Child said.

The new Collections and Learning Gallery will allow the museum to present selections from the permanent collection in open storage, she said, and make it accessible to students, staff, faculty and the community.

Child said these storage units will protect print, painting and photographic collections. The museum collection totals over 4,000 fine art objects, and includes works by Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Kara Walker, Jim Dine, Roger Shimomura, Deborah Oropallo and other modern and contemporary artists.

“We want to bring these pieces out of the dark and get every single student through the doors instead of just admiring the outside,” Child said.

Ryan Hardesty, Curator of Art and Exhibitions, said the old museum is the perfect space to create the storage system.

The space already has some of the necessary security systems, with motion and sound security, he said, and will also allow for temperature and humidity controls to preserve the art.

Child said they hope to have the space open by January 2019. Until the museum can hire a guide, the gallery will be open through appointment only.

“This space provides us with opportunities” she said “for our student interns to work with the art through protecting and framing pieces.”