As ordained by Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson on Wednesday, September 16 is officially Santiago Calatrava Day in Milwaukee. The Spanish architect was in town this week to close a year-long celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Quadracci Pavillion.
Calatrava designed the white-winged structure that was added to the museum in 2001.
Museum officials say the architecture has bolstered the collections inside the museum.
Signature wings open and close over the Milwaukee lakefront, green grasses abound, and fountains spring up along the lawn under an elegantly futuristic bridge between the Quadracci Pavillion and Milwaukee’s downtown. Countless engagements, weddings, quinceaneras…. and selfies… have taken place here.
Marcelle Polednik is director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. She says the Calatrava building addition to the museum has its largest gallery.
“It's 10,000 square feet, which is more space than we had ever had before,” she recounts. “And it is our landmark exhibition gallery in the museum. So, we certainly have that. And we've benefited by acquiring a major piece of real estate to exhibit works of art.”
Polednik notes the pavilion has added a major collection display area, a space to host major events, many outdoor spaces, a large-scale auditorium and a restaurant. But she says the intention behind the pavilion was to do more than allow the museum to exhibit more objects, but really to create a focal point for the community where they could gather.
“And that's truly the I think over-arching principle of this particular building, is that it's a magnet for community dialogue for community participation, and a symbol of aspiration and hope for Milwaukee.”
Polednik adds that the collection of art at the museum inspired the architecture, and that the rotating collection inside lives up to the building’s grandeur. Collections have included retrospectives of major American photographers, European master painters like Degas and Picasso, modern large-scale works that address themes of race and the relationship between art and personal identity, and much more.
READ: Milwaukee Art Museum's Calatrava celebrates 20 years as a Milwaukee symbol
“I think our next major effort is to find new narratives in the collection that allow our community to really build their connective tissue with the work that we do inside these extraordinary buildings,” she says.
Polednik says the Quadracci Pavillion has drawn more visitors to the museum and inspired more philanthropic engagement. “It has certainly put us in a different stratosphere when it comes to the work of art museums. And, also, it's given us a platform, if you will, to be able to really serve the community in new ways. So, it's amplified all of the work that we do exponentially,” she says.
According to Polednik, the extra space allows the museum to offer programming that helps people in the city connect with art that comes from all over the world. And, if there’s one caveat, it’s that it takes a great deal to conserve and preserve the building.
“It's an all-white structure inside and out. It is custom,” she details. “It’s a singular building and so everything that happens to care for it means that we have to make sure that we are preserving the historic and singular aspect of this building.”
For his part, Santiago Calatrava, the building’s architect, said he’s impressed with how the building has been maintained. “Entering in the museum, [this week] it was for me like the opening day. It is so well preserved, so beautifully preserved and so much cared. You see, that's very important, isn't it? It means respect for to the work and respect to all the people who has been working here,” says Calatrava.
In honor of Santiago Calatrava Day, there is free admission to the museum today, Friday September 16.
