This art museum was designed by Korean architect Kyu Sung Woo, and it opened in October 2007 and got its name from donors Jerry and Margaret Nerman. It was in 2003 when the couple pledged the amount of $1.5 million to help fund the construction of a contemporary art museum on JCCC’s campus. It was realized with the Johnson County Community College funding plus the help of other benefactors in the area.
The design was an elegant minimalist and clad in Kansas limestone, which is the most common stone found in Kansas composed of the mineral calcite. The Museum’s permanent collection includes art from the Johnson County Community College’s Permanent collection and the works gifted by the Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation, art from the JCCC permanent collection, gifts by the Barton P. and Mary Davidson Cohen Charitable Trust.
Nine Expansive Galleries
The museum has 2-levels, and there are ten expansive galleries to house temporary exhibitions, including the permanent collection. There are also two classrooms, a museum store, a new media gallery, Cafe Tempo, Hudson Auditorium that has 200 seats, preparation spaces, and art storage.
They also designed the museum to include two lobbies with the impressive Cantilever Entrance, which boasts of a beautiful structural element. There are 60,000 dazzling bulbs of white LED plus glass and metal Atrium Lobby.
Highlights
The Nerman Museum displays the core of the museum’s permanent collection, which was the Oppenheimer Collection. The collection includes major paintings, works on paper, ceramics, and monumental sculptures lain across the campus grounds. Every year there are newly acquired works of arts, diverse paintings, and changing exhibits within the Permanent Collection Galleries, which enables visitors to witness different perspectives of the famous collection.
There are tours, lectures, visiting artists’ presentations, activities for the entire family, children’s art class, and films.
Those who have children ages 5 to 7 can learn in the art class called early exploration, while those between the age of 8 to 11 can join the more advanced art lessons. They get learning from instructors about basic techniques, principles of design as it guided them on how to express their ideas through art.
There is a different schedule for every day of the week, and the museum is closed on Mondays.
The Nerman Museum Store features jewelry, art toys, unique, contemporary gifts, and other living items. Not only does the store sells works of art by local, national, and international artists, but they also carry one of the largest contemporary art book selections in the region.
Many people who have the chance to see the Nerman Museum have found it to be an architectural masterpiece, while the displays inside are all awe-inspiring and thought-provoking for many.
The Museum has received national and international recognition because of the many art collections, architecture, exhibitions, and educational programming since it opened in 2007. The exhibitions of Nerman’s museum were also ranked alongside famous art institutions that include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Los Angeles County Museum Art in California, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
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Check out Johnson County Arts And Heritage Center