865-7672
The Palmer Museum of Art is a dramatic postmodern building-the last completed by the world-renowned architect Charles Moore-and is the most prominent visual arts facility on the Penn State University Park campus.
In 2003, the museum opened its largest gallery and a new print study room-both part of a $1.4-million renovation to the original museum building, constructed in 1972. Now, with eleven galleries, a 150-seat auditorium, Museum Store, and outdoor sculpture garden, the Palmer Museum is one of central Pennsylvania's principal cultural institutions and a unique educational resource for University students, faculty and staff, and the local and regional communities.
The Palmer Museum presents an exciting schedule of exhibitions and events each year. Special temporary exhibitions offer works of art by world-renowned artists from all periods and from both public and private collections. In summer 2009, the museum will host the exhibition Face of Asia: Steve McCurry Photographs . McCurry, a Penn State graduate ('74) and distinguished alumni, is an award-winning photojournalist best known for his haunting portrait titled Afghan Girl . This exhibition, which was organized by the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film with support from the Eastman Kodak Company and Nikon, Inc., concentrates on McCurry's extensive work from Asia, including images from India, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and, most recently, Tibet. Although tied to the places and people of Asia, McCurry's haunting photographs take us beyond their vivid locales, providing a glimpse of what he calls the "broader landscape" of the human condition. The featured exhibition in fall 2009 will be Leaded: The Materiality and Metamorphosis of Graphite , including artworks by seventeen contemporary artists who utilize the physical nature and characteristics of graphite and pencils as content in their two- and three-dimensional work. In spring 2010, the Palmer will feature an exhibition of the multi-layered work of contemporary artist Lesley Dill, who, for the last twenty years, has consistently explored the human form, sensory experience, language, and their interactions. Dill uses bronze, photography, poetry, thread, wire and paper to sculpt her figures and build her tapestries, producing work that might be characterized as both ephemeral and spiritual. For more exhibitions visit the museum's Web site.
Admission to the museum is free, as is admission to most of the museum's programs and special events, including films, gallery talks, performances, workshops, and lectures by national and international artists and scholars. A full schedule of events is updated regularly on the museum's Web site.
The Palmer Museum's permanent collection is displayed in eight galleries and is nearly comprehensive in terms of world cultures and time periods. The first-floor galleries feature a collection of ancient coins, a fourth-century mosaic from northern Africa, stunning examples of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old Master painting, and European, Asian, and North and South American ceramics from antiquity through the twentieth century. The museum's second-floor galleries feature American paintings, sculpture, and works on paper from the eighteenth century to the present. Exceptional examples include a large, highly detailed, nineteenth-century still life by the Bucks County painter Severin Roesen; exquisite nineteenth-century landscapes by George Inness, John Kensett, and William Trost Richards; and an impressive range of twentieth-century paintings and sculpture by artists, including Marsden Hartley, Richard Diebenkorn, Red Grooms, and Marisol. The collection continues to grow in these areas, primarily through the generosity of the museum's donors and members.
The Palmer Museum of Art is open to all students and the general public free of charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4:00 p.m. Schedules of exhibitions, programs, and events are available in the museum lobby and online at the museum Web site: www.palmermuseum.psu.edu. Call 814-865-7672 for more information.