Jepson Center for the Arts

The Telfair Museum of Art opened its new 64,000-sq. ft., state-of-the-art building to the public in March 2006, ushering in an exciting new era for the “oldest public art museum in the South.”

The Jepson Center for the Arts, is the first expansion in the Telfair’s 119-year history and adds 66% more exhibition and educational studio space than previously available in the museum’s two c.1819 National Historic Landmark buildings in Savannah’s historic district, the Telfair Academy and the Owens-Thomas House.

Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the Jepson Center for the Arts features two large galleries for major traveling exhibitions; galleries for African American art, Southern art, photography and works-on-paper; a community gallery; a 3,500-sq. ft. hands-on gallery for young people; two outdoor sculpture terraces, education studios, a 200-seat auditorium, café, and museum store.

Covered with glistening white Portuguese stone and consisting of two separate structures connected by glass bridges over a protected lane that is part of Savannah’s town plan originally conceived in 1733 by Georgia’s founder General James Oglethorpe, the building has a soaring, light-filled atrium and sweeping, three-level staircase that provides access to its expansive galleries.

The Jepson Center for the Arts has a total of 14,000 square feet of additional exhibition and studio space that permit the Telfair to mount temporary exhibitions that are considerably larger than has been possible in the landmark Telfair Academy.

Education is a vital element of the Jepson Center for the Arts. In addition to expanded studio space, a teacher and docent resource center, a community gallery, and the auditorium, the Jepson Center features a unique, two-level hands-on gallery especially for children and their families entitled ArtZeum. Designed to answer questions such as "What is art, anyway?" "Why do we make art?" "Why do we care so much about art?" And "What does art mean to me?" the gallery uses works from the Telfair’s permanent collection and examples of Savannah architecture to challenge novice viewers to question their assumptions and explore “big ideas” about art.

Based on extensive community research and created in collaboration with Hands-On! Inc., creators of W5 in Belfast, Ireland, ArtZeum features major commissioned works by glass artist Therman Statom and computer-video artist Jennifer Steinkamp.

The upper gallery includes a freestanding sculptural installation of architectural elements; interactive media experiences with video/audio clips of artists speaking about what is important to them, the process of making art, and the nature of art itself; a public art game using Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, one of the most controversial and lauded examples of public art in America; and a magnetic sculpture wall.

A dramatic entry to the lower gallery is provided by Phantasmagoria, an imaginative and challenging work from the Telfair’s collection by the well-known Expressionist painter Robert Beauchamp. Two nearby activity walls dramatically frame the protected painting and allow visitors to create their own shapes that will, over the course of the day, create new artwork that changes from moment to moment. At another exhibit a work from the collection, a Chinese robe for example, introduces visitors to the concept of symbolism in art, and a nearby activity invites visitors to design a symbol that reflects their own cultural traditions, their familes, or their values.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Stop by the Telfair Café in the Jepson Center for a quick bite or a leisurely lunch.