Corridor Buzz - The Premier Source of Arts & Entertainment News and Information for the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor

UI Museum of Art to host fundraiser Saturday

By Loren Keller

The University of Iowa Museum of Art may be gone for the time being but its supporters aren’t.

If anything, says the UI Foundation’s director of development for the museum, support for the museum since the June flooding forced it to close has been stronger than ever.

“In a way you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s not there any longer,” says Pat Hanick. “Although the museum is not gone, we’re about as close to being gone as you can be and still have a presence. I think that has really motivated people to voice their support.”

Museum advocates and aficionados will gather for the UIMA’s fifth annual “Museum pARTy!” fundraiser from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the hotelVetro, 201 S. Linn St. in Iowa City.

The event will feature hors d’oeuvres, music by the Diplomats of Solid Sound featuring the Diplomettes and remarks by UI President Sally Mason. Tickets are $100.

Last year the event raised a record $173,000, according to museum and UI Foundation officials. The museum has about 600 contributing patrons and relies on non-university financial support for about 40 percent of its annual budget.

Despite the closing of the museum in June and the relocation of its collection to alternative venues, including the Chicago Conservation Center, the museum will feature two exhibitions on the UI campus this year, including “Eye Witness: Daniel Heyman's Portraits of Iraqi Torture Victims” at the Old Capitol Museum, opening Nov. 1, and “Two Turntables and a Microphone: Hip-Hop Contexts and the Photography of Harry Allen” this spring at a location to be determined.

The museum is also moving forward with its K-12 education program that will bring artwork to schools, its partnership with the UI Nonfiction Writing Program and its Elliott Society lecture series at the Old Capitol Museum, as well as an effort to restore 39 pieces of African art from its collection that are being stored in Chicago.

Speculation about the museum’s future — including the idea of the UI possibly selling its famous Jackson Pollock painting “Mural,” valued at $140 million — has been widespread since the flooding in June, Hanick says, but little has actually been decided.

“People are very concerned, they’re very interested and they want answers,” she says. “Of course we don’t have any answers at this point but we’re encouraging everyone to stand by our side. We’ll eventually be able to figure all of this out.”