I had an epiphany at the NC Museum of Art today.  I realized just how much “ownership” I’d taken of the museum.  What an audacious thing to say!  But there’s good reason for my feelings.

Today is the last day that the NCMA’s galleries are open. The museum will still be operating, but in a non-traditional manner through community outreach and in the fantastic artwork of the grounds in the park of the NCMA.  The reason for this is that the museum is expanding with a spanking new building (still under construction).  The sculptures, paintings and all treasures will be carefully crated and the artwork moved to their new locations.  As a docent-in-training I’ve been attending classes at the museum since January.  Every week our docent group tours different parts of the museum and studies the pieces and the periods.  So I have expectations on how the museum is to look and what pieces are to be where.

So with the galleries closing, the museum took on a quite different appearance today.  Many pieces had been removed already, galleries were closed and some emptied of their treasures.  Even the museum shop was pretty much barren of stock, today being the last day it would be open.  Prices were slashed! 

So I realized just how much ownership I felt … things were out of order and I felt unsettled.  I wouldn’t get to see some of my favorite pieces for months.  I was surprised that I felt like this … I hadn’t expected to!  Next Tuesday our class will meet again in the museum, but this time we’ll be in the existing auditorium viewing slides instead of in the galleries viewing the actual pieces.  I guess the opening of the expansion (April, 2010) will be even sweeter as we get to see our treasures revealed in their new home.  We’ll get to rediscover them all over again.  In the meantime, I must come to grips with the fact that “MY” art and “MY” museum are not as they were!

Click link below to see a spectacular slide show of NCMA expansion …
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncma/sets/72157614316369587/show/