the cycle of delays

After much anticipation of the end of this dusty and dirty chapter in our museum history we have again been disapointed. We were told that all would be completed by May 25th. Now three days later, we are not unpacking boxes and getting organized. We are waiting. We are waiting on flooring for both the bathroom and the gift shop carpet. We hope that it will be done tonight.

furniture

The past few weeks we have stretched our minds and our ability to use tools in the construction of huge amounts of ikea furniture.

gift shop developments

Although it seems empty and bare it will all come together once the shelves are up. There are numerous wonderful products waiting to see the light of day.

library

Here are two of our fabulous summer students working away at installing our library.

it is the little things

Obviously the major stuff is complete in the renovation, but the small details are now coming together. Such things as the finishing carpentry, the light fixtures and the furnishings are now all being put into place. We are still on target for the May 25th completion and then our goal is to clean the place up and set up the gift shop. Then we will all focus our attention on the exhibition. It is the collections room that will be a onerous task. With a fully equipped collections and installation room set up an exhibition can take weeks to set up, but with everything in storage who knows how long it will take. We anticipate a formal opening in the middle of July, but a committee will establish the date and members will be informed.

countdown

The construction crew has informed us that they will be finished everything on May 25th. This has got to be the best news we have heard in a while. In our dreams the construction would be complete and we would open the door. Unfortunately we have some realities. Once the dust settles we have to piece this organization back together and create a museum. This will be no small task considering that our huge collection has been in storage since the fall.

more colour....

Just a few more photos to show the use of colour.

introduction of colour

There really has not been anything too exciting to report with the construction progress the past few weeks as it has been mostly such glamorous developments as electrical work and the sanding of drywall. Today we have our favorite painters back in from DEMAC. They are focusing on bringing some colour into our monochromatic space. Although the white is gorgeous, the introduction of punches of colour is really dramatic. We have a feature wall in bright red as well as walls in the galleries that are in a lovely lavender. Admittedly there was some hesitation around here with introducing colour to our classic yet modern space, but the colour evokes emotion and certainly drama.