Category Archives: 5. Members

At Chazen Museum of Art, Submitted By Maggie Peterman.

Even the draperies are a work of art… if you enjoy the waltz, you will discover Petra Blaisse’s design for indoor architectural spaces at work in the Chazen Museum of Art lobby.

When closed, the 20-foot-high curtain covers the glass wall with a pattern designed in voile and felt. As it opens, it coils around a LED-studded column with the elegance of the leading man and lady in ABC’s hottest TV series “Dancing With the Stars.”

Russell Panczenko, the museum’s director and Rotary member, gave nearly 300 Madison Rotarians, their guests and prospective members a glimpse of this graceful dance step Thursday night during Rotary’s Special Autumn Fellowship Event in the new $43 million, 86,000-square-foot addition that opened to the Madison community less than a week ago.

Museum docents escorted small groups of visitors through the museum’s 10 new galleries and 22,500-square feet of new exhibition space.

Sporting a classic bow tie, Max Gaebler, a retired minister from the First Unitarian Society of Madison, praised the work of Boston-based architects Machado and Silvetti Associates, as well as display of artwork previously kept in storage.

“It’s so much bigger, so much richer in contents than it was years ago,” says Gaebler, who served the Unitarian congregation more than 35 years. “It now feels like a significant museum.”

Visitors were charmed by the Alexander Calder sculptures in Gallery 10, the Claes Oldenburg Typewriter Eraser in Gallery 12 and the Spirit Wall by an unknown Chinese artist in Gallery 15.
Few could resist the temptation not to touch the display of bottle caps and liquor wrappers a Nigerian university professor sewed together with copper wire.

“This is just amazing,” says Barb Kubly, who is in residential real estate and a prospective member. “It’s phenomenal.”

The museum also features the private collection of Simona and Jerome Chazen whose $25 million gift sparked the expansion.

“This shows you the Chazens really like color and the human figure,” Docent Sandra Loman points out.

One evening is not enough time to absorb all the exhibitions in the building featuring a two-story glass lobby with a limestone “carpet” and a 160-seat auditorium for films and lecutures.

“I’d like to spend more time just looking around,” says Rob Stroud, a Madison attorney and Rotary District Governor-elect. “There are some real interesting pieces here.”

Click photos to enlarge.