Aspen Art Museum Breaks Ground August 16 on New Shigeru Ban-Designed Building, Construction to Begin in Early 2012

ASPEN, Colo., Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Trustees of the Aspen Art Museum announces that on August 16, 2011, it will host an official groundbreaking ceremony at the corner of South Spring Street and East Hyman Avenue in Aspen to launch the construction phase of a new 30,000-square-foot Shigeru Ban-designed AAM building on the site. The new AAM facility will feature 12,500 square feet of exhibition space, an education classroom, museum shop, cafe, and a roof deck sculpture garden among other amenities. Construction of the facility will begin during the first half of 2012 with completion of the new Museum slated for late 2013. The AAM will continue its programming of internationally significant contemporary art at its current location throughout the construction phase of the new building.

The Board decision to proceed with the groundbreaking comes on the heels of the successful completion of the Museum's $20 million endowment portion of its capital campaign for the new structure, and the Museum's 2011 ArtCrush benefit week, which raised a record-setting $1.7 million toward AAM contemporary art programming. Total AAM capital campaign funds have now reached $46 million, toward the goal of $50 million.

Leading donors to the AAM capital campaign include: Eleanore and Domenico De Sole, Frannie Dittmer, Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson, Gabriela and Ramiro Garza, Diane and Bruce Halle, Soledad and Bob Hurst, Toby Devan Lewis, Nancy and Bob Magoon, Susan and Larry Marx, Jane and Marc Nathanson, John and Amy Phelan, Carolyn and Bill Powers, Allen and Kelli Questrom, Mary and Patrick Scanlan, June and Paul Schorr, and Gayle and Paul Stoffel.

The New Aspen Art Museum

Acting as a magnet for community activity, the Aspen Art Museum has been instrumental in bringing the city, its citizens, and Aspen visitors the work of acclaimed contemporary artists. Founded in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is a kunsthalle, or non-collecting museum for contemporary art and one of only four art institutions in Colorado accredited by the American Association of Museums and a leading voice in the intellectual discourse of international contemporary art. After nearly 32 years of operating in a converted, historic, hydroelectric plant on N. Mill Street, the Aspen Art Museum will re-situate the institution within a facility that will both increase the Museum's size and its abilities to appropriately present contemporary arts programming in all its incarnations. Construction of the new AAM is completely privately funded.

The new AAM will include key design elements such as a grand staircase along the interior of one side of the building, with mobile pedestals to exhibit art on the staircase; a "moving room" glass elevator; a woven exterior screen and roof structure that will marry interior and exterior spaces; and "walkable" skylights that will modulate the natural light in the main gallery and act as a main feature of the rooftop sculpture garden.

AAM MUSEUM HOURS:

Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Thursday's 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, noon to 6:00 p.m.

Closed Mondays and major holidays

Visit the AAM online: www.aspenartmuseum.org

AAM ADMISSION IS FREE courtesy of John and Amy Phelan

MEDIA CONTACTS:

FITZ & CO:
Meg Blackburn
212.627.1455 x225
[email protected]

aspenartmuseum
Jeff Murcko
Communications Director
970.925.8050
[email protected]

SOURCE Aspen Art Museum