Racine Art Museum facts for kids
| Racine Art Museum and RAM's Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts | |
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| Established | November 16, 1941 |
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| Location | Racine, Wisconsin |
| Type | Contemporary craft |
| Visitors | 60,000 per year (2017) |
| Public transit access |  Ryde Racine |
The Racine Art Museum (RAM) is a cool place in Racine, Wisconsin, USA. It's actually two museums in one: the Racine Art Museum and RAM's Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts. This museum has the biggest collection of modern craft art in North America. It holds over 9,500 amazing art pieces. These pieces are made by artists from all over the world.
The museum's main goal is to show, collect, and save modern art. They also want to teach people about it. They believe that craft art, like pottery or weaving, is just as important as paintings and sculptures.
Contents
How the Museum Started
A Gift to the City
The museum began thanks to Jennie E. Wustum. She was the wife of Charles A. Wustum. When she passed away in 1938, she left their house and land to the City of Racine. She also left some money. Her wish was for the city to create a public art museum and a park.
The property was about 12 acres large. It was located near the edge of town. The house was a beautiful brick mansion. It had a special dome on top called a cupola.
Opening Day
In 1940, the city created a special group. This group was called the Wustum Museum and Park Commission. Then, in 1941, the property officially became the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts.
The museum opened its doors on November 16, 1941. Sylvester Jerry was chosen as the first director. The very first art show featured 96 paintings. These were all made by artists from Wisconsin. After that, they showed modern prints from a gallery in London. They also displayed watercolors by artists from the Midwestern United States.
Early Art Collection
The museum's permanent collection started with a big gift. It received 294 artworks from the Federal Art Project. This project was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA helped artists during a tough time in history.
The collection included textiles, paintings, and photographs. Many of these works were by artists from Wisconsin and New York. Sylvester Jerry helped arrange a long-term loan for these artworks. Famous artists like Mabel Dwight and Rufino Tamayo had works in this collection. Photographers like Brett Weston and Berenice Abbott were also featured. The museum still shows these WPA works sometimes. The most recent show was in 2017.
Focusing on Craft Art
In the 1980s, the museum started to focus on craft art. They wanted to show works by American artists. A very important supporter was Karen Johnson Boyd. She gave the museum over 1,750 art pieces. In 1991, she donated 200 items. These included works by famous artists like Wendell Castle and Dale Chihuly.
Because these donations were so high quality, other collectors also started to give art. This helped the museum build the largest collection of modern craft art in North America.
The Downtown Museum
Expanding to a New Building
In 2000, the museum grew even bigger. It opened a new location in downtown Racine. This new building was an old bank. The M&I Bank of Racine donated it to the museum.
The old bank building was built in 1874. It was updated by architects from Chicago. They added a cool, see-through shell around the top two floors. This shell was made of clear acrylic panels. They were placed 18 inches away from the building's stone walls. During the day, you could see the stone colors through the panels. At night, the panels lit up!
More Space for Art
The new building made the museum much larger. It went from about 15,500 square feet to 40,000 square feet. This new space included a sculpture garden. It also had an art library. Large windows at the front were used to display art. The inside of the building was completely changed. It became a huge space for art shows. There was even a tall gallery for very large art pieces.
The updates cost $6.5 million. A large part of this money, $2.7 million, came from S.C. Johnson of Racine. Extra money was used to improve the original museum building. That first building is still used for art classes and local art shows.
What You Can See: The Collection
RAM's permanent collection has over 9,500 artworks. These are by artists known around the world. Some famous names include Wendell Castle, Dale Chihuly, and Albert Paley.
Here are some of the types of art you can find:
- Ceramics: There are over 1,500 ceramic objects. This includes works by artists like Ruth Duckworth and Toshiko Takaezu. The museum also has over 500 ceramic teapots! These teapots were made from the 1950s to the 2000s. It's one of the biggest teapot collections in the United States.
- Fibers: The museum has over 450 fiber art pieces. Many of these are like sculptures. They use weaving or basket-making techniques. You can see works by artists like Lia Cook and Claire Zeisler.
- Glass: The glass collection includes art by Dale Chihuly, Harvey Littleton, and others.
- Metals: There are over 1,200 metal artworks. Artists like Arline Fisch and Albert Paley have pieces here.
- Wood: This section includes carved wooden bowls and furniture. A special piece is a desk by Wendell Castle. It was shown in a famous art exhibition in 1969. Other artists include John Cederquist and Norm Sartorius.
- Handmade Books: This collection features books made by hand. Some are printed with old-fashioned letterpress machines. Others use a printing method called offset lithography.
