Here's a first look inside the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, which opens in August

When visitors enter the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, they’ll be greeted by a vibrant, geometric abstract mural titled “Surrounding” by artist and educator Odili Donald Odita.

Just past the mural are elevators to access the second and third floors of the museum, which includes exhibition space and classrooms.

Across from the elevators is the lightwell, an unroofed space that visitors can step into and look up at the open skies. Its glass walls bring the outdoors into the museum.

Along with the lightwell, large glass windows in the lobby also bring in light to the first floor.

The Press-Citizen visited the 63,000-square-foot museum Tuesday as part of a tour for media.

Lauren Lessing, director of the museum, told members of the press about its facilities, upcoming programming and its opening weekend.

The $50 million museum will open Aug. 26. The previous museum of art, located at 150 N. Riverside Drive, was evacuated during flooding in 2008.

“I am just unbelievably honored to be the director that gets to open the doors, and welcome people back in to experience this art collection that belongs to the people of the state of Iowa,” Lessing said of that 14-year gap.

Using the lobby at the Stanley Museum of Art to ‘draw people across our thresholds’

Odita’s mural “Surrounding” is in response to Jackson Pollock’s 1943 “Mural."

Pollock’s “Mural” is one of the museum’s best-known pieces of art.

Odita, a Philadelphia-based artist, was present Tuesday with three assistants who were working to complete the mural in the next week.

He discussed his approach to art, his experience as a teaching artist and the value an art museum has within a university and for students, irrespective of their educational pursuits.

“Just the idea of a businessperson who is interested in a certain kind of history or certain culture might be able to come here and just get a little bit more information that helps them find their own academic pursuit,” Odita said.

The mural is not a permanent artwork at the museum.

All the light that comes from the large glass windows at the lobby can break down a piece of art’s pigment, Lessing explained. Artworks like Odita’s will be displayed in the lobby on a semi-permanent basis.

This series of public art in the lobby, like Odita’s, is called “Thresholds.”

“The whole point of ‘Thresholds’ as a series is to draw people across our thresholds, to make them curious, to bring them in, to engage them in the space, to animate the lobby,” Lessing said. “The very first thing people see when they come into the building is something that really grabs them, engages (them) and welcomes them to the new museum.”

Classrooms, moveable walls, outdoor terraces: What's inside the Stanley Museum of Art

The museum has more than 16,500 square feet of exhibition space and 2,200 square feet for outdoor gallery space.

On the second floor to the left when stepping out the elevators is the Larry D. and Rita K. Hunter Gallery. Walls within the exhibition space can be moved to adjust the layout of galleries with its 12-foot-high ceilings. There are rows of lit, enclosed spaces with glass fronts called visible storage which will be used to display collections safely.

On the right side of the second floor from the elevators is more space to exhibit the museum’s art collection, including the DeWolf Family Gallery. There, “Mural” will be housed.

The third floor of the Stanley Museum of Art include two outdoor terraces that overlook downtown Iowa City.

The museum also has classrooms, including a laboratory, that the museum expects university students and faculty to be using as early as next semester, Lessing said. The laboratory can hold about 30 students, and the classroom 40 students, the museum director said.

There will be three sculptures that will be installed outside the museum, including in Gibson Square Park as well as one at the UI Main Library, Lessing said.

“We have a very close relationship with the library. There will be a lot of flow back and forth with students and faculty of programs,” she said. “So I thought it would be a lovely thing to have one of our public sculptures installed on the library itself.”

The location of the Stanley Museum of Art at 160 W. Burlington St. puts it in a position for collaboration with surrounding university facilities like the College of Education, the UI Health and Wellness Center, the UI Main Library and more, Lessing said.

The front of the building can be used as a space for performances or theater. Lessing said the museum has been in conversation with Riverside Theatre about holding an installment of Shakespeare in the Park there.

The lobby will also hold programming.

It has an acoustic ceiling and an integrated hearing loop system, which provides clear audio to benefit people who wear hearing aids. There will also be audio tours for people with low vision.

What we know about the Stanley Museum of Art’s opening weekend in August

The inaugural exhibition “Homecoming” will encompass the entire second floor and runs through July 2025, featuring pieces from the Stanley Museum of Art’s permanent collections as well as some loaned artwork.

The museum’s inaugural catalog will feature Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnae’s responses to the museum.

D.K. Nnuro, curator of special projects at the museum, is commissioning educator and literary artist Tameka Cage Conley to create a poem in response to sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett’s “Harlem Woman," Cage Conley told the Press-Citizen in March.

Catlett was one of the first three master of fine arts graduates from UI, and the first African American woman to receive the degree.

The UI Stanley Museum of Art August opening will be part of a weekend-long celebration, including a public ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. Aug. 26.

That will be followed by performances by three local bands, Lessing said. Those bands have been selected by the Stanley Campus Council, the museum’s student-run advisory board. Friday night will be a celebration for the whole community but driven by students with them in mind, Lessing said.

All weekend, curators and volunteer docents will give tours of the museum.

On Saturday and Sunday, there will be activities geared toward families, including a performance by the Cedar Rapids Opera on Saturday afternoon. Food trucks will also be present.

The museum will remain free to the public.

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: A sneak peek inside the University of Iowa's new Stanley Museum of Art