George Kinghorn, Zillman Art Museum executive director and curator, describes the features of the new expansion, which adds 48 percent more gallery space to the museum. It volition open up to the public on Saturday. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

Afterward a long 18 months of worry, turmoil and depressing pandemic news, when something good happens, it can feel like a sliver of sunlight in a sky full of dark, foreboding clouds.

That'due south what Zillman Fine art Museum executive director and curator George Kinghorn hopes the new expansion for the Academy of Maine'south contemporary art museum is for downtown Bangor: a ray of calorie-free in a globe that can experience a little grim sometimes.

"This is something good. This is something optimistic," Kinghorn said of the expansion, which opens to the public on Saturday. "This is something that Bangor can be proud of. I know we're pretty proud of it ourselves."

George Kinghorn is the executive manager and curator of the Zillman Fine art Museum in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

The expansion — announced in Apr 2020 alongside a $1.3 1000000 gift from longtime Maine arts patrons Donald and Linda Zillman for whom the museum was renamed — was recently completed, and added 5 new galleries on the main floor of Norumbega Hall. Information technology increases the museum's gallery space by about 50 percent, and creates continuity between both of the museum's entrances — from Harlow Street and Hannibal Hamlin Park. Museum supporters raised another $300,000 to finish the project earlier this year.

Kinghorn said that he and his staff and lath of directors at the museum take had the goal of expanding the museum since he first came to Bangor in 2008, though in reality information technology was something that had been discussed even equally early as the museum's relocation from UMaine's Orono campus to Bangor in Dec 2002.

"From twenty-four hours ane that was something we knew nosotros had to attain," he said. "Downtown Bangor has grown so much in that time, and nosotros had to grow along with it."

The new expansion features an attractive drinking glass entryway on the main flooring and five galleries spread out along the building's northeast wall. While structure was originally planned for fall 2020, pandemic-related shortages in labor and materials pushed its start to 2021.

The lower-level galleries were able to stay open during that time, though the Zillman was closed for a catamenia of time during the early on days of the pandemic and maintained restricted hours during other periods. Information technology is now open for its regular hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays with mask-wearing required.

"This allows united states of america to do so much more than with our infinite, in terms of exhibitions and in terms of offer programming," Kinghorn said. "It makes the museum even more of a destination."

With such a major addition to the museum now open, the fine art on brandish this fall had to match the new free energy permeating the space. With that in listen, the ix exhibitions now on brandish are some of the most intriguing, idea-provoking and, at times, entertaining that the museum has featured in some years.

"Monte II", carved woods by Anne Arnold, is on brandish in the Deighan-Porter Gallery of the new expansion in the Zillman Art Museum in Bangor. It will open to the public on Saturday. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

In the new galleries, "The Soul of It: Anne Arnold" features works from the sculptor and painter who in her later years split her time between New York City and Waldo Canton before her decease in 2014. The museum recently acquired two of Arnold'southward captivating animal sculptures, including a delightful wooden carving of her canis familiaris, a borzoi named Monte.

Also in the new galleries are other newly acquired works to the museum'south permanent collection, besides as a selection of photographs also in the museum's permanent drove. Rounding out the exhibitions in the new galleries is "tender land: Shona MacDonald," featuring the Massachusetts-based MacDonald'southward delicate paintings of water, rain and landscapes.

Downstairs, visitors to the museum are greeted past an enormous Hawaiian shirt created by San Francisco-based artist Sidney Russell, who in her exhibit "The Large Stitch" has fashioned huge manufactures of clothing out of painted canvas, sewn together and displayed on oversized dress hangers. Russell created two works, "The Hiking Boot" and "Backpack," specifically for her Zillman exhibition, paying homage to Maine'due south outdoor culture.

George Kinghorn, Zillman Art Museum executive director and curator, walks by the new drinking glass entryway on the main flooring to the museum'due south expansion, which opens to the public on Sat. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

Also in the downstairs galleries is "Sentinel the Birdie!" featuring over xl photographs by Czech artist Roman Franc, an exhibition produced in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic; "Futurity Possessive," featuring dramatic, slightly surreal paintings past Boston artist Emily Eveleth; and "Domesticated," photographs by Amy Stein meditating on the subject of habitat loss and climate modify, a holdover from the museum'southward spring and summertime exhibits. More than works from the permanent collection are as well on display downstairs.

For more data, visit zam.umaine.edu.

Emily Burnham is a Maine native and proud Bangorian, roofing business, the arts, restaurants and the culture and history of the Bangor region. More past Emily Burnham