Hilbert Museum continues renovations, holds honorary ceremony for expansion process

Chapman’s Hilbert Museum is estimated to reopen to patrons and visitors in early 2024, following a wave of renovations to add more exhibits and expand the museum’s floor space.

Chapman University’s Hilbert Museum of California Art continues to undergo renovations to expand the building and its art exhibits by early 2024, showcasing the expansion process so far at their groundbreaking ceremony Feb. 15.

Due to renovations that will take approximately one year to complete, the museum and its various exhibits are currently located at its temporary location at 216 E. Chapman Ave. in Orange, according to Hilbert Museum Director Mary Platt. The Hilbert Temporary opened to the public on Dec. 10 and currently follows the same hours of operation as the museum’s permanent location — Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

“So far, we’re really enjoying being here at the Hilbert Temporary,” Platt told The Panther. “When I first saw the building, I was a little bit doubtful since it was a former bank building, and it was hard to imagine it coming to life as an art gallery. However, Chapman did a fantastic job of renovating the space to make it feel much more like an art museum.”

The groundbreaking for the new location was on Feb. 15. Photo courtesy of Chapman University.

Currently, the exhibit to be showcased at The Hilbert Temporary is “All Aboard,” curated by Platt, which consists of 40 pieces of paintings by California artists that depict trains, train stations and people in trains. The exhibit has drawn lots of attention to the museum due to the different variations in artwork and will be on display until May 6, according to Platt.

“I was a little worried because (‘All Aboard’) is a specific topic. We normally have more diversity of subject matter in our exhibitions,” Platt said. “However, this (exhibition) has been extremely popular, and we have been getting awesome attendance, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. Last Saturday, we had over 140 people in attendance.”

With the success of the Hilbert Temporary, Platt also detailed how construction for the Hilbert Museum’s permanent location led by hired contracting company CDG Builders has been going so far.

“Hilbert Museum founder Mark Hilbert and I did a hard hat walkthrough about a week and a half ago to view the progress of the museum so far,” Platt said. “(CDG Builders) have been working on it and fenced off the site right before the holidays. It's shaping up, but there is nothing completed yet. The good news is since we aren’t constructing buildings from scratch, it isn't going to take as long as building something from scratch.”

According to CDG Builders, work on the Hilbert renovations and expansions began in January, and construction is estimated to be completed by the end of 2023. 

“What the Hilbert Museum is currently in the process of doing is a big step in the right direction for the arts community in Orange,” said Angelique Acuna, a 2022 Chapman alumna with a film studies and art history degree, who now works as an administrative assistant in the university’s Center for Global Education. “I admire the time and dedication that the Hilbert Museum staff are putting into this project, and I can’t wait to see the final product once renovations and expansions are all completed.”

Current construction consists of plumbing work for the museum café, as well as wires and cables being placed underground. A few of the walls in the north building have also already been framed so further renovations to the museum can commence.

“It’s super exciting to be hearing about all of these renovations being made to the Hilbert, especially the small café area and the courtyard where visitors can just sit and relax,” junior business administration major Jessica Miyasato told The Panther. “While I didn’t attend the museum as much as I would’ve liked to before, I’ll be stopping by a lot more to check it out once (the museum) reopens.”

To culminate the beginning of the construction process, the Hilbert Museum held a groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 15 at its construction site for patrons and donors to attend. 

“The ceremony was really amazing — we had a huge turnout,” Platt said. “It was probably the most-attended groundbreaking that I've seen during my time at Chapman. A museum has people who are fans and patrons, and we also had a lot of supporters from Chapman attend, so it was really thrilling for the groundbreaking.”

The ceremony itself lasted an hour long, consisting of remarks from Chapman President Daniele Struppa, Orange mayor Dan Slater and Hilbert Museum co-founders Mark and Janet Hilbert. A short reception followed to ring in the official groundbreaking, where photos were taken showcasing the four speakers standing at the construction site with shovels as confetti fell around them.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Platt told The Panther. “This is almost eight years to the day that the Hilbert Museum of California Art opened, and it has been a lifelong dream of Janet and Mark Hilbert to expand the museum. We are so delighted and excited that it’s happening.”