Kevin Canfield , Stephen Pingry
Gilcrease Museum won’t reopen for another two years, but the new building itself is a grand piece of art that Mayor G.T. Bynum was determined to showcase before he leaves office.
Friday, with a rich blue sky and a bright warm sun, was a perfect day to do so. “I think there was long a belief that we had a facility here that did not reflect the
majesty of the collection that we have here,” Bynum said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the near completion of the 95,000-square-foot structure. “And so today is a celebration of our community’s willingness to invest in itself and to leave things better than we found it for future generations.”
Founded in 1949 by oilman Thomas Gilcrease, the museum is recognized as having the largest collection of American art, documents and artifacts in the country outside of those owned by the federal government. The original museum building was small and grew piecemeal over time into a cramped, somewhat disjointed venue that never had the gallery space necessary to properly showcase the treasures it housed.
The new museum building will have three stories of exhibit space open to the public, including an outdoor terrace on top of the building. There are also three floors for archives, administration space and mechanical equipment that will not be open to the public. On the north side of the museum is an amphitheater.
Although the new building has a smaller footprint than the old one, it will have more exhibit space and incorporate high ceilings and massive glass windows and walls to create open and well-lit space for the artwork to shine.
Jame Anderson, vice president and director of cultural for SmithGroup, the lead design firm on the project, said visitors to the new museum will enjoy a whole new experience.
“Everything in this building is very focused on cardinal directions, on the sun rising in the east and setting. So like when you come inside, you know, you know you can go downstairs or you can go up,” Anderson said. “And so the hope is, not only is there the opportunity to present more of the collection, which is an experience all into itself, but it’s to make it intuitive and to make it easy, lessen the hurdle between a person and their experience with works of art.”
The $141 million project was funded with more than $90 million in city funding and $49 million in private donations.
Bynum thanked the public for their support of the project and made special note of the contributions made by philanthropies and others in the private sector.
“I hope the donors to this museum know how grateful our city is for your generosity and that you take pride in what you have helped us build,” Bynum said. “This (would not be) standing behind us in the beautiful, world-class way that it is if we had not had donors step up in a historically significant way.”
The new museum building northwest of downtown was built on the site of the old museum and is designed to highlight the natural beauty of the Osage hills that surround it.
Marla Redcorn-Miller, Osage Nation Museum director, said the Osage Nation was proud and grateful to be part of Friday’s ceremony.
“The Gilcrease Museum has really reached out to not only the Osage Nation but also the others in Oklahoma to make sure that that story and that narrative that is put through really reflects all of the different constituencies that are here and the indigenous contingencies that you know that are represented in the collection.”
Brian Lee Whisenhunt, executive director and CEO of the Gilcrease Museum, said the museum plans to host community activities and workshops from May to November next year, with the exhibition installation beginning late 2025.
“We really thought it was important that they (the public) understand and appreciate this beautiful new setting for our collection and understand that it belongs to them and have a sense of place, a sense of belonging, a sense of what the museum will be,” Whisenhunt said.
No one was more instrumental in getting the new museum built than Susan Neal, the former executive director of the Gilcrease Museum. In addition to her regular administrative duties, Neal spearheaded the effort to raise private dollars for the project.
“It’s very emotional for me, and it’s just overwhelmingly happy — a very happy time,” Neal said after touring the building. “And it’s just beautiful. It’s already beautiful, but I think as soon as you see people in there and the art in there and hear kids in there, that is really going to be beautiful.”
The Gilcrease family was represented at Friday’s celebration by Thomas Gilcrease’s grandson, Thomas Gilcrease Denney, who praised the new museum building and thanked Tulsans for their commitment to keeping his grandfather’s vision alive.
“I do know that he wanted it here, to be at this location for posterity,” Denney said.
“And he wanted it preserved intact for posterity. That was his goal and objective.”
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