An undertaking three years in the making, the freshly constructed North Carolina Museum of Art West Building in Raleigh opens its doors to the public at a free Grand Opening Festival, April 24-25. Adding 127,000 square feet of daylight-rich galleries to the museum’s already sizable campus, the construction also consists of four acres of landscaped sculpture gardens, reflecting pools, and a fully renovated pond. Supplemented by more than one hundred recent acquisitions, the museum’s permanent collection features works spanning 5,000 years, including a Picasso canvas and twenty-eight Rodin sculptures, the largest in the American south. Eye-catching works from renowned sculptors like Roxy Paine and Ursula von Rydingsvard, and a spiraling elemental work by sculptor Patrick Dougherty, watch over the elegant museum restaurant and manicured grounds. NCMA’s expansion seems to put it on par with the best mid-level metropolitan museums in the country.
Supporting the Grand Opening Festival are a wealth of musicians, artists, dancers, and craftspeople, to include the Carolina Ballet, Martin Luther King All Children’s Choir, Tift Merritt, Dendy DanceTheater, and a symphony concert. The festivities will cap with a fireworks display on Saturday night.
Tickets are required to tour the museum. All other festival events are open to the public. Find more information at ncartmuseum.org.
