Construction is Underway for New Stuart Wing, Home of Adkins Collection

Work is underway to build an entirely new gallery level for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and to renovate spaces created during the building’s original 1971 construction.  Designed by acclaimed architect Rand Elliott, this newest art museum enhancement project got its start in 2007, when the University of Oklahoma, in partnership with Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum, won the national competition for the Eugene B. Adkins Collection.One of the nation’s most important private collections of works by the Taos artists and by Native American artists, this remarkable collection was amassed by the late Eugene Brady Adkins, a member of Tulsa’s pioneer Brady family.

Mr. Adkins had a rare gift for identifying exceptional artworks and a great passion for collecting.  By his death in 2006, the Collection included 3,300 objects, with 1,100 two-dimensional works, 370 pieces of pottery, more than 1,600 examples of jewelry and silverwork, and nearly 250 pieces of other Native arts.

To properly display this collection, OU is adding a new museum level above the original museum building.  A grand staircase, being constructed just behind the west wall of the original building, will lead visitors from the first floor and the level below to the 8,300-square-foot Adkins Gallery.  After viewing the Adkins Collection, visitors can move up to the mezzanine level to view the new 4,500-square-foot Photography Gallery, where OU’s extensive and important photography collection, along with works on paper, will be featured in rotating exhibits that will continually offer viewers new works from the OU collections.

As part of this project, the University also will renovate and modernize galleries and spaces in the original 1971 building, including The Nancy Johnston Records Gallery for Special Exhibitions, where OU will be able to host outstanding national and international traveling exhibits.  Also in the project will be the renovation of “back of the house” spaces where displays are built and artworks restored, repaired and stored.

This project is made possible by the generosity of University donors, including OU Regent Jon R. Stuart, a self-professed devotee of American art, and his wife, Dee Dee, a member of the museum’s Board of Visitors, who made possible a $3 million lead gift from the Stuart Family Foundation.  Jon Stuart played an important key role in OU’s successful bid for the Adkins Collection.  In appreciation for the gift, the new addition will be named The Stuart Wing.

The new and improved museum spaces are expected to open to the public in 2011. The museum will be open and fully functional with exhibitions and programming throughout the construction process.

Note: these images are architectural renderings; actual design may vary.