Barbara Hillier’s new design for the James A. Michener Art Museum will create a showplace for Pennsylvania Impressionism and traveling exhibitions.
By: Ilene Dube
These words, inscribed outside the Nakashima Reading Room, seem to capture the spirit of the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., whose mission is to carry on the legacy of Bucks County’s artistic heritage. Just as the innovator of 20th-century furniture design describes bringing out the grain of the wood, the Michener Museum, with its collection of Pennsylvania Impressionism, brings out the "grain" of Bucks County’s pastures, streams, farmhouses and villages.
It’s hard to believe, but this institution, home to one of the finest collections of paintings from such Pennsylvania Impressionists as Edward Redfield, Fern Coppedge, Walter Baum and Daniel Garber, among others, has been around for only19 years. Its growth in that time has been explosive.
| "The love for the nature
of teak and walnut can best be obtained by working with the material; by cutting, planing, scraping and sanding the wood. The hours spent by the true craftsman in bringing out the grain, which has long been imprisoned in the trunk of the tree, are themselves an act of creation." George Nakashima |
Just a brief overview of the history: The original building served as the Bucks County jail from 1884 to 1985, when it closed and was placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings and Sites. In 1987 it was chosen as the site for the James A. Michener Art Center, named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who grew up in Doylestown and was active in the museum’s formation, both in fundraising and donating art (see box).
In 1992, the museum (it changed names to the James A. Michener Art Museum in 1990) expanded to the tune of $1.65 million, doubling in size. In 1995, it expanded again, thanks to a gift from Mari Sabusawa, Michener’s late wife, and in 2000, the Patricia D. Pfundt Sculpture Garden opened, re-creating the elements of the Bucks County landscapes that inspired so many artists: flowing water, boulder-strewn walkways and tree-lined paths. In 2003, the museum’s satellite facility in New Hope’s Union Square became a reality, increasing the opportunity to view works of the New Hope School.
In April, the museum announced a $10 million capital campaign for a new two-level gallery wing, event pavilion and renovation of a multi-purpose space into an education center.
"With the growth of the region’s populous and the increasing size and diversity of our audiences, we have outgrown our current space," Museum Director and CEO Bruce Katsiff said in a prepared statement. "The planned expansion addresses a critical need to expand our facilities in order to continue to serve the community and region."
West Windsor-based Hillier Architecture was selected to design the project. (Editor’s note: At press time, Hillier was set to announce a merger with London-based RMJM, to become RMJM Hillier. A spokeswoman for Hillier said the merger will not affect any of the company’s projects.) Barbara Hillier, a principal and one of the firm’s leading architectural and interior designers, has been selected design principal for the project. She looks forward to "raising the stature and visibility of the museum to the level it so much deserves."
The first phase of the expansion will create a wing that adds 5,000 square feet of space to the upper-level gallery to accommodate major nationally touring exhibitions. This will allow the lower level to be used for curatorial and administrative space, including storage, preparation and handling facilities. Of utmost importance to the project will be a new climate control system for the entire museum.
During the second phase, part of the Pfundt Sculpture Garden will be enclosed in glass to create an indoor event space for hosting large public programs and private events. This will link to larger classrooms, an orientation area, an expanded shop and café and, with an eye toward future Bucks County artists, a children’s gallery.
Ms. Hillier, who grew up in Philadelphia, was inculcated from an early age at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. "The great edifice that it is and it’s monumental and overwhelming, a temple of art that conveys the importance art holds for the public I don’t know if I was more taken with the art or architecture, which certainly exalts the art."
The Solebury, Pa., resident studied psychology at Temple University and even began graduate studies in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania before realizing that design was her true calling. She started working for the firm of her soon-to-be husband, J. Robert Hillier, in 1977, then returned to Arcadia College to study design.
For the Hilliers’ daughter, Jordan, 14, growing up in Solebury, "the Michener is her equivalent of the Philadelphia Museum of Art it’s her primary exposure to fine art," says Ms. Hillier.
Having traveled extensively, the designer has been inspired by some of the great buildings of the world, such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. "It’s uplifting and exciting with dramatic spaces that actually work it succeeds on different levels."
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim in New York, she says, is the antecedent of Frank Gehry’s design in Spain. It "succeeds in its own way it’s one of the most significant museums. Also, the new MOMA knits all of its spaces together with a common area that looks out on the outdoor sculpture garden. People are humbled by experiences (in these museums).
"There are great buildings that influence people’s ideas," she continues. "When you’re in an environment such as at the Vatican, or the wall in Jersusalem, or Central Park, those experiences connect us to art and design and architecture."
Her design for the Michener is more influenced by her travels to great museums of the world than to her childhood impressions at the PMA, she admits. Her focus was on simplicity. One of the challenges the museum had been up against was providing suitable spaces for traveling exhibitions.
"They have had inquiries from traveling shows with modern work, and it comes with stringent requirements on the borrowing institution for access, loading, climate control and a whole string. It makes sense fine art is irreplaceable," she says. "The Michener has been targeted as an ideal location, but it had to refuse because it didn’t have the right space and it decided these are important exhibits to have."
Her design for the gallery space is not symmetrical or square, but rectilinear, for improved viewing of larger work. It can be subdivided into three smaller exhibiting areas, and there will be a designated space for introductory films and videos.
"The Michener is expanding the way it sees itself, having the courage to show edgy exhibits like the current ‘Aging in America.’ The images are extremely provocative, and there’s an attraction to the repulsion of looking at them. Museums are no longer static collections, but introduce new works and media to bring modern interpretations to their constituents."
"Our art storage space alone will increase by a third," says Carol Nelson, the museum’s director of development. "Our programs have grown so strong we need to grow to meet the community’s needs. The new mechanical systems will cut our operating costs by allowing us to run more efficiently."
The expansion will improve flow, says Ms. Nelson, so visitors can circulate through new galleries rather than return through the galleries they’ve come. She looks forward to bringing in larger exhibitions, as well as jazz concerts, lectures and gala dinners in the new event pavilion.
Phase I is expected to begin in fall 2007, and during that time, as funds are raised for Phase II, it is hoped construction can begin on the event pavilion. "The idea is to create a space that’s not about architecture but occupying a piece of the garden, and it will be transparent," Ms. Nelson says of the pavilion.
If all goes according to schedule, Ms. Hillier expects the project to be completed by fall 2009.
And for those who cherish meditative moments in the Nakashima Reading Room, rest assured that this space will not be affected by the expansion.

