courtesy of Seth Harrison of Midlothian

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts experience begins the moment you step out of the parking deck and onto the grounds. The view of the gracefully sloped lawn with its sculpture garden and water features is just one of many aspects that make a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts a unique and special experience.

That experience is further enhanced by the new gallery wing, which opened in May 2010. The $150 million dollar project, which had been 10 years in planning, is the first addition to the museum since 1985.

The exterior and grounds have been completely revamped, and a new 600 space parking deck has been added. Reflecting pools, shade trees, perennials and walkways accent the landscape, while access from the main building to the Pauley Center, which houses offices and classrooms, has been improved. The sculpture garden itself will contain VMFA’s outdoor collection, as well as hosting traveling exhibits. VMFA Director Alex Nyerges believes that it’s a big step up from before the expansion.

“We had a sculpture garden before, but it was more of a concrete jungle. It wasn’t very friendly,” Nyerges said.

Inside, the museum gained a total of 165,000 feet of new space, 53,500 of that in the form of gallery space. The addition also included a new entrance and three-story atrium, a restaurant and café, as well as a new gift shop, education center and library.

This new space allowed VMFA to acquire several new works, some designed with the space in mind. An example of this is Splotch #22, an acrylic on fiberglass work by American artist Sol Lewitt. The sculpture, which stands over seven feet tall, is a prominent feature in the atrium.

Despite the increased gallery capacity, the museum rotates approximately 20 percent of its art on display every year. This is due to the sensitivity of some of the art, especially works on paper, to light and the environment.

“Our general guidelines are three months out, four years in the dark,” said Nyerges.

The exact conditions required for each piece vary, due to age, material and condition. The museum maintains an extensive conservation department to maintain the items in the collection.

“Everything we do is state of the art, but everything that we do is reversible and documented,” said Nyerges.

Using reversible processes ensures that if a better restoration technique is developed in the future, the artwork can be more easily returned to its original condition.

The rotation of the collection also means that visitors will be able to enjoy a different selection each time that they visit.

“Permanent galleries is a misnomer,” said Nyerges. “We prefer to think of them as ‘collection galleries.’”

The new wing has brought enhancements to the work environments of some museum staff as well.

“I came out of a cave with bars on the windows,” said Nyerges of the original 1936 director’s office that he formerly occupied. “It was like being in a prison.”

Visit the new fourth-level office space, and you will be greeted with wide, spacious hallways, modern fixtures and furniture, and large windows. Those windows, however, have created a challenge.

“The office spaces are the only spaces in the museum not designed with the art in mind,” said Nyerges.

Due to the windows, the offices are exposed to intense light. Nyerges noted that the museum staff is still deciding what sort of art will be displayed on the sun-drenched walls.
The museum also used the expansion and reopening to refine some of its procedures, such as security. Moving the security force to an in-house operation allowed the museum to move from the traditional unformed officers standing guard to more casually attired “museum associates” who mingle with the visitors and provide directions and guidance while ensuring the security of the art. According to Nyerges, this concept is a relatively new one.

“Many museums do not have very forward-thinking security,” he said. Gradually, the trend for more personable security staff is being more widely adopted.

Although the museum has a number of paid staff, it cannot function without its large volunteer base, drawn from the City of Richmond and surrounding areas.

“We can’t do it without volunteers,” Nyerges said.

Volunteer positions range from docents, who lead tours through the museum, to The Council of VMFA, which organizes fundraising events as well as provides staff for the museum gift shop. Ten percent of active Council members, as well as over 20 docents, live in the Midlothian area. The museum also has multiple internships available to students, even in fields reaching beyond art, such as marketing and communications.

This substantial volunteer base is a large part in enabling the museum to be free to the public. The museum is also supported by its membership, which has doubled since November, reaching 17,000. The museum’s current goal is 25,000 members.

What is striking about a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is the attention to details that might otherwise be overlooked. The Best Café, for example, presents food arranged far more elegantly than one might expect for casual dining.

“We’re an art museum,” said Nyerges. “Everything has to meet a very high standard.”

Most visitors will find that the museum has something of interest to them. From Native American art to Art Deco, the museum has something for everyone. It is an encyclopedic collection.

“The cornerstone is that we represent 6,000 years of history. We literally have it all,” Nyerges added.