MSV Unveils Plan to Increase Changing Exhibition Space

New Strategy Will Bring More and Larger Changing Exhibitions to the Shenandoah Valley

Winchester, VA., 3/28/12…The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) has unveiled a plan that will allow the Museum to bring more and larger changing exhibitions to the Valley beginning in 2013.

According to Executive Director Dana Hand Evans, the MSV Board of Directors this month endorsed a new space usage strategy that will shift presentation of changing exhibitions from the current Changing Exhibition Gallery into the considerably larger space which now displays the fine and decorative arts collection of MSV benefactor Julian Wood Glass Jr. Concurrently, the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Collection will be presented in rotating exhibitions in what is now the Changing Exhibition Gallery; these displays will change yearly and be focused on a variety of different themes.

In the seven years since the MSV galleries were opened in 2005, says Evans, the Museum has presented a total of 18 different exhibitions in its Changing Exhibition Gallery. These exhibitions, organized by the MSV or other museums or institutions, were limited to the 1,300-square-foot size of that space. Now, by converting the 2,250-square-foot Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery into the Changing Exhibition Gallery, the MSV may expand the size of the exhibitions it organizes and access the greater number of exhibitions that are available for presentation in larger spaces.

At the same time, according to Evans, the current Changing Exhibition Gallery is perfectly suited to smaller, focused exhibitions that could be drawn from the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Collection. The various topics the collection suggests for exploration in an exhibition are literally endless, says Evans, who envisions that many of these displays may travel to other venues in Virginia and beyond after their opening presentations in the MSV.

“We’ve been searching for a way to make the Museum benefactor’s collection of fine and decorative art more engaging and relevant to today’s visitors, and at the same time we have been frustrated by our inability to bring the many wonderful larger displays that are available into the Valley,” says Evans. “This new strategy,” she concludes, “solves both challenges.”

While the schedule to implement these MSV gallery changes is still being finalized, it is estimated that the first changing Julian Wood Glass Jr. exhibition will open in the MSV in February of 2013. The current Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery will close on January 1, 2013, and the first major changing exhibition will be presented there in early summer of that year.

On display in the MSV Changing Exhibition Gallery through June 10 is Surviving War, the first half of a two-part exhibition, An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia. The exhibition was made possible by the Virginia Historical Society in partnership with the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The second part of this exhibition, Waging War, will be on display in the current exiting Changing Exhibition Gallery from August 3 through December 2, 2012.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV complex—which includes galleries, the Glen Burnie Historic House, and six acres of gardens—is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Museum galleries are open year-round; the Glen Burnie Historic House and surrounding gardens are open seasonally (now through October 31 in 2012 and April 2 through October 31 in 2013), and nearby Rose Hill, also part of the MSV, is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on the third Saturday of the months April through October for battlefield tours. Admission—which includes access to the gardens and the galleries—is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. The Museum is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members, and it is free to all every Wednesday from 10 a.m. until noon. The Glen Burnie Historic House is now closed until 2014 for a comprehensive preservation project. Additional information is available at www.ShenandoahMuseum.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235 –END–

Julie B. Armel
540-662-1473, ext. 225
armel@shenandoahmuseum.org