UI Art Museums brings art to schools

IOWA CITY - When the University of Iowa Museum of Art lost its physical space on Riverside Drive in Iowa City - along with many other cultural venues, homes and businesses throughout Eastern Iowa - in the Floods of 2008, staff had to think of new ways to engage with the community.

The UI removed its arts collection from the building hours before it was flooded, but the former art museum on Riverside Drive was deemed unsuitable for artwork going forward.

One of the initiatives to come out of the tragedy of the floods was the art museum's outreach to schools throughout the state. Programming once offered at the museum now travels to schools and organizations.

This year, the K-12 School Programs set an record for student participation during the 2013-14 academic year. It brought art to more than 25,500 students, traveling to 98 locations in 16 communities and nine counties across Iowa.

Last year, the presentations reached 18,465 students.

'Getting out into the state of Iowa is a tremendous undertaking. Packing up nearly two dozen works of art, loading them into the van, and delivering the crates to a school represents the ‘work' aspect of the UIMA School Programs,” says Dale Fisher, UI art museum curator of education. 'Talking with the students, and other audiences, about art is the joy and reward for all the effort.”

Programs were held in the museum's backyard at elementary and high schools in Iowa City and as far away as schools and organizations in Spencer, Eldridge, Muscatine and Ankeny.

'The conversations led our young students to learn to see more when they look at art,” says Kim Bingham, art teacher at Prairie Trail in Ankeny. 'The UIMA teacher lead students through finding, measuring, pretending and describing activities geared to make them better observers of both art in the collection and the world around them.”

The program literally brings the art to the students.

'The students ... were immersed in a different cultural world,” says Brooke Jetmund, art instructor at Rock Creek Elementary and East Elementary schools in Ankeny. 'Being able to see and touch artifacts from the museum made a lasting impact on our students. The students were talking about their favorite parts of the presentation for months afterward.”

More than six years after the flood, the museum's exhibits are still housed in temporary locations:

' UIMA@IMU Visual Classroom, Iowa Memorial Union, Room 376, 125 N. Madison St., Iowa City

' Black Box Theater, Iowa Memorial Union, third floor, 125 N. Madison St., Iowa City

' Figge Art Museum, 225 W. Second St., Davenport

A visioning committee convened by UI President Sally Mason wanted to build the new art museum away from the river closer to campus. The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied UI appeals for funds to build a new structure, prompting officials to explore a public-private partnership for the project.

The UI did receive FEMA commitment to help restore the former Museum of Art building to its pre-flood condition, and administrators are planning that renovation.

The Iowa Board of Regents approved a request in April to invite interested developers and private owners of land near the center of campus to propose site layout options for the new museum. The proposals were due back to the university July 1 and are being reviewed by a team of stakeholders based on their ability to meet current and future art collection needs and proximity to the core of campus. Developers also will be rated based on their plans' multiuse options - like residential, business or commercial partnerships - financial capability to deliver on the project and experience with similar projects.

After identifying top candidates, UI officials will enter into a 'multi-month negotiation phase” with the chosen developers. This will include selection of a design team, completion of a design and establishment of a lease agreement, which will be presented to the board.

' Previous reporting of the UI Art Museum future plans by Vanessa Miller of The Gazette.