MUNCIE, Ind. - More than $7 million in renovations to Ball State University’s Fine Arts Building beginning next May will involve important benefits for the 63-year-old Museum of Art.

The plans were developed to better preserve the museum’s multi-million-dollar collections.

Comparing the museum to a library that tries to prevent the destruction of its books, museum Director Alain Joyaux said a primary goal is to preserve art for future generations by improving humidity and temperature control in the facility.

The museum’s current space limitations indirectly undermine the preservation of the collection, which contains more than 10,000 works, Joyaux said. New work space and the addition of more storage and exhibition space will aid in protecting the art.

Expanding the exhibition area will provide more space to display the collection of Western art from medieval to contemporary times. The improvements also will permit the exhibition of the extensive array of furniture the museum owns.

The museum’s second floor will increase by nearly twice its current size, creating space for offices and a new location for the temporary exhibition galleries.

A better separation of the temporary and permanent galleries will allow the museum to install new exhibitions more inconspicuously, Joyaux said. The renovations will improve security and allow more flexibility of time for installation without interfering physically or aesthetically with the permanent collection.

The changes also will permit the museum to operate more efficiently. Although the renovation entails an initial high cost, Joyaux believes it will prove more cost-effective in the long term.

Included in the goal of efficiency is the addition of a print study room adjacent to the Francis F. Brown Study Room to store the museum’s 4,000 works on paper and make them more accessible.

The building’s basement and first floor will continue to be used as a work space, but the expansion will allow more room for researching, framing, crating and storing objects. The third floor will contain space for offices, and the current offices near the museum’s entrance will be converted for visitor use.

Finally, the building itself will be remodeled in such a way that no telltale signs distinguish the old from the new.

"When it’s all said and done and we do a grand reopening, it’s important that people feel the museum is all one piece," Joyaux said. "The building needs to be quiet and conducive to (the observer’s) awareness and ability to look at works of art."

The museum plans to remain open throughout the construction. Joyaux said it is impractical to close since the time it would take to crate the museum’s works for shipment elsewhere is prohibitive and there is no place in the area equipped to store a collection of that size and to monitor the humidity and temperature of its environment.

To keep some of the exhibition space open, the staff will have to "play a rearranging game," Joyaux noted.

"There will be a transitional period, and it will be difficult," he said. "Everyone will be affected. Huge parts of the collection will not be on view. We hope people on campus and in the community will communicate with us so we can make decisions based on the audience’s needs."

By Ted Buck, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about this story, contact Alain Joyaux at (765) 285-5242 or e-mail: ajoyaux@bsu.edu.)