As the Gregg Museum prepares to move to its new location at the old chancellor’s house on Hillsborough Street, museum administrators explore ways to take full advantage of the new opportunities such a location presents.
Last week, San Francisco-based artist Peter Richards came to visit N.C. State and the Gregg Museum’s new location to share his experiences and ideas for the use of the museum’s new location at the request of museum director Roger Manley. During his week-long stay, Richards taught students about sculptures he worked on, brainstormed possibilities for the new site, toured the North Carolina Art Museum and presented some of his thoughts to students and staff.
“The intent was to give [students] a sense of how somebody like me works and how I respond to certain situations and the kinds of questions that I ask,” said Richards. “And so I was trying to get them to raise their own questions and make their own observations.”
Manley said he felt that Richards would be a great artist to explore the new site and share ideas with students because of the thoughtful way he approaches problems.
“I met him several years ago when the city of Charlotte was creating a new arts center called the McColl Center,” Manley said. “Instead of just showing up and saying, ‘I know what to do, and I will tell you how to accomplish it,’ he is the kind of person who takes his time to listen to everyone, study a situation and gradually see a creative solution. I wish more people approached things that way.”
During his conversations with students, Richards said he thought about ways artistic installations worked with the sites they were constructed for and how each installation can complement the story of the location.
“I’m interested in making places too and not just sculptures,” Richards said. “I can go to my studio and I can make a big sculpture, and I can ship it and plop it right in the middle of the field and there’d be a sculpture. But then, what would it be about? Would it be about the land that it’s sitting on or would it be about my studio and what I was thinking about while I was in my studio?”
Richards was able to share his ideas with more than 50 students and faculty over the course of his stay. As everything is still in planning stages, it isn’t yet confirmed that Richards will be a part of the construction of a sculpture for the new museum site.
Fundraising for the museum’s landscaping projects is ongoing. According to Manley, museum administrators need to raise another $1.9 million to meet its goal of $7.9 million to fund the creation of sculptures and landscaping of the new location. Manley said the construction will take a year and a half and will begin as soon as the museum receives enough money.
Zoe Starling, curator of education resources at the Gregg Museum, said she was excited about what Richards shared concerning the possibilities of the new museum site.
“We’re going to be in a place where we can be a gateway to the downtown arts scene because we are on Hillsborough [Street],” Starling said. “Having art on the ground is only going to make the university more visible and more accessible to students in the community.”
