SEATTLE, Oct. 24, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Once popularly known as the city of destiny, Tacoma, Washington is reclaiming its name when it comes to art. The city now has the highest concentration of art and history museums in the state, including the Washington State History Museum, the Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Art Museum among others. The new Haub Gallery at the Tacoma Art Museum—an addition designed by award-winning architect Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architects—will double the size of the Museum and house one of the largest collections of Western American Art in the United States.
The Haub Gallery will house iconic works by acclaimed artists such as George Catlin, Frederic Remington, Tom Lovell, Georgia O'Keefe and Bill Schneck. The collection, which spans the breadth of American Western Art from the 19th-century to contemporary works, was donated to the Museum by Ervian and Helga Haub.
Kundig is particularly known for his iconic work in the American West. On the occasion of his Award in Architecture from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Academy noted, "Tom Kundig's realizations have re-introduced an architecture of intensity of detail and material focus. In a world of broad-brush gesture and detail banality, Kundig's works pose a richness of material, color and texture of detail which demonstrate the life force of architecture's experiential dimensions."
Stephanie A. Stebich, Director of Tacoma Art Museum, exclaimed, "We are thrilled by Tom Kundig's elegant and sensitive design. He has envisioned beautiful new galleries for the spectacular Haub Family Collection as well as gracious new visitor entry spaces. He has given the museum a more prominent street presence along our city's main thoroughfare, and has been respectful of the award-winning 2003 Antoine Predock building." Stebich added, "We will be better able to share the story of Western American Art as an integral part of Northwest and American art history."
Construction of the museum expansion started earlier this month, and is expected to be completed in 2014. In addition to new galleries, the 16,000 square foot expansion will include a sculpture hall, an expanded lobby with a new visitor services desk and a visitor orientation room.
The Tacoma Art Museum will be the only Pacific Northwest institution to hold a Western American Art collection of this caliber.
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