Hilbert Museum officially reopens its permanent location to the public with new amenities, art collections
The Hilbert Museum of California Art reopened its doors to the public on Feb. 23 after over two years of construction to triple the museum’s space and add new amenities, including a museum café, a mosaic and a courtyard. Congresswoman Young Kim (left) and Hilbert Museum founder Mark Hilbert were both in attendance at the reopening. Photos by EMI THOMAS, Staff Photographer
After over two years of renovations, the Hilbert Museum of California Art has officially reopened its doors with many new features, exhibitions and art collections to offer Chapman students, faculty and Orange community members.
The Hilbert Museum recently reopened to the public on Feb. 23 at its original 167 N. Atchison St. location after having been temporarily housed at 216 E. Chapman Ave. for the duration of its construction. Since its expansion, the museum expanded to 22,000 square feet from its original size of 7,500 square feet, and it features new amenities like a museum café, a research library, a courtyard for patrons and a large mosaic lining the outside of the museum building designed by well-known California artist Millard Sheets.
“The new amenities help to add so much to the experience of people coming to a museum because they’re able to have a place where they can sit down and relax and talk about the artwork they’ve seen,” Hilbert Museum Director Mary Platt told The Panther. “Even being able to expand into a whole other building has been a dream come true for my staff and I.”
According to Platt, 1,800 people registered to attend the museum during its operating hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 in order to view the new exhibitions and attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Posters of the newly renovated museum grounds were also given out to attendees to commemorate the opening day.
Over 100 patrons attended the grand reopening ceremony, which featured speeches from trustees, the Orange Chamber of Commerce, City of Orange Mayor Dan Slater, Hilbert Museum Founder Mark Hilbert and U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-40). Many speakers, including Slater, paid homage to the Hilbert family for their dedication to the museum and California narrative art over the years.
“The Hilberts have collected so much art that they’re able to bring in for different exhibitions in order for there to always be something new and exciting at the museum. So watch out, Santa Ana and Laguna Beach, because Orange is now on the map for places to go to for art.”
(From left) Mayor of Orange Dan Slater, Kim, Hilbert and Museum Director Mary Platt all participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony at the reopening.
Currently, the museum has nine different exhibitions that span 26 galleries for the public to view, including Millard Sheets, Eye Dazzlers: Marvels of Navajo Weavings from the Hilbert Collection, Mary Blair’s Wonderland: Imagining Disney’s “Alice” and California Art from the Hilbert Permanent Collection, among others.
According to Platt, the exhibitions in the museum will undergo “Rubik’s cube scheduling,” meaning that the artwork will be switched out every five months to welcome in new paintings, illustrations and displays for the public to view.
“What people are seeing at the museum is only a fraction of our collection. We normally have about 300 pieces up at a time, and the rest is in storage,” Platt told The Panther. “Having our exhibitions rotate every few months allows patrons to be able to come back to the museum at a later time with new artwork to see.”
Another piece that frames the museum’s exterior is “Pleasures Along the Beach” by Sheets, which was a partnership that the artist did with a Home Savings and Loans Bank in Santa Monica in the 1960s. The large, colorful mosaic showcases the buoyant beach lifestyle in both Santa Monica and many other parts of California.
“For most people, the mosaic is going to be the masterpiece that kind of leads them into the museum,” Platt said. “And from there, they’ll be able to see the nine exhibitions and also everything else that the museum has to offer.”
Platt and her staff are also in the midst of planning more events at the museum in the upcoming months, including spring and summer art installations, lectures from local artists in the community and art demonstrations.
The museum will also be partnering with Chapman’s Holocaust Studies program in April to display artwork for the 25th annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest. According to Platt, the artwork from the contest will be displayed in the museum up until July.
“My staff and I really enjoy collaborating with other units and departments at Chapman and we hope to be able to do more of that now because of the expansion,” Platt told The Panther.
Along with the exhibitions and upcoming events at the Hilbert, the museum’s close proximity to Chapman and especially to Dodge College serves as a key resource for students who are interested in film, design and the arts.
“Having a newly-expanded museum so close to Chapman is really exciting because I’ve always been a huge fan of art museums, and there’s so many talented artists just in Orange alone,” said Kari Lien, a senior double majoring in communication studies and creative writing. “One exhibition that I’m looking forward to seeing is Art of the Airwaves: Radios from the Hilbert Collection because I’ve never seen vintage radios, especially in a museum before. It just sounds really cool.”
In an effort to also teach more Chapman students about the arts, the museum is currently looking for students to volunteer as docents. As a docent, students would help work events happening at the museum as well as monitor specific exhibitions and chat with patrons.
“Students will get some training where they can learn about the art in the museum, so it’s really quite a cool thing to be able to do,” Platt said. “It helps build up students’ resumes as well.”
For more information about the volunteer opportunities at the museum, students can email hilbertmuseum@chapman.edu.
Currently, the expanded Hilbert Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free for all visitors, and online reservations are recommended.
To make a reservation or to learn more about the Hilbert Museum, visit hilbertmuseum.org.
“Having a newly-expanded museum so close to Chapman is really exciting because I’ve always been a huge fan of art museums, and there’s so many talented artists just in Orange alone.”
