ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART OPENS TO THE PUBLIC ON OCTOBER 8

COSTA MESA, CA (September 28, 2022)—A new cultural landmark for modern and contemporary art, the Orange County Museum of Art, led by CEO and Director Heidi Zuckerman, will open in its new home on the campus of Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California on October 8 with a 24-hour celebration. Giving OCMA a more central location within Southern California than it has ever had before, the new building, designed by Morphosis under the direction of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne and Partner-in-Charge Brandon Welling, offers the museum increased exhibition galleries, dedicated education space, and open public areas with which to enrich the lives of a diverse and changing community through modern and contemporary art. Further advancing its public mission, OCMA will offer free general admission for the next ten years, generously sponsored by Lugano Diamonds.

After holding a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony on October 7, to be attended by civic and cultural leaders, OCMA’s 24-hour party for the public will begin at 5 PM on October 8. In addition enjoying performances, film screenings, art making workshops, and much more, the public will be welcome to tour the new museum and explore its inaugural exhibitions. These include the California Biennial 2022: Pacific Gold, a Fred Eversley survey, a project on landscape architect Peter Walker, a newly commissioned outdoor sculpture by Sanford Biggers, and an exhibition curated from OCMA’s permanent collection to honor the thirteen women who founded the museum 60 years ago.

Craig Wells, President of OCMA’s Board of Trustees, said, “I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate our 60th anniversary than by inaugurating this magnificent new building with ana round-the-clock open house for everyone, including the many new members we welcome in to our OCMA family.”

Lucy Sun, incoming Board President, said, “Heidi Zuckerman and OCMA’s curators have put together a brilliant and wide-ranging program to open our new home. These five exhibitions pay tribute to our illustrious past, while offering a glimpse of what people can expect from the new OCMA.”

“We welcome all to our new home,” Heidi Zuckerman said. “We believe access to art is a basic human right, and so our new building beckons the many communities of Orange County and beyond to come and explore and make art a part of their lives.”

According to Thom Mayne and Brandon Welling, “The OCMA design represents a new model for museums based on public, urban, communal spaces with strong connections between interior and exterior. Engaging the urban realm with a public stair and ‘storefront’ galleries, the design invites visitors through sunlit atrium spaces, open galleries and an expansive sculpture terrace. The strong relationship in the building between indoor and outdoor space will encourage visitors to immerse themselves in the celebrated climate of Southern California, where light, air, and space have influenced generations of artists.”

The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) has a proven reputation as an innovative art museum with a history of discovering and actively engaging with living artists at pivotal points in their careers. The museum has organized and presented critically acclaimed exhibitions that have traveled nationally and internationally to more than 35 venues. The museum’s collection of more than 4,500 works of art includes important examples of modern and contemporary art and artists inspired by or working in California, including: John Baldessari, Chris Burden, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Irwin, Catherine Opie, Charles Ray and Ed Ruscha. When the museum opens in its new building on October 8, 2022, California Biennial2022 (CB22) will be one of five inaugural special exhibitions in its new home as a celebratory nod to the museum’s rich history. Begun in 1984 at OCMA’s predecessor institution, the Newport Harbor Art Museum, and now being resumed after a hiatus, CB22 will be guest co-curated by Elizabeth Armstrong, Essence Harden and Gilbert Vicario and continues the museum’s six-decade history of presenting new developments in contemporary art and identifying emerging artists on the verge of national and international recognition. Heidi Zuckerman will also organize 13 Women, drawing from the museum’s collection and honoring the women who originally founded the museum. Additional opening exhibitions include Of many waters… a newly-commissioned outdoor sculpture by Sanford Biggers; Reflecting Back(the World), a survey of work by artist Fred Eversley; and Minimalist Landscape, a site-responsive project on landscape architect Peter Walker. For more information go to Ocma.art

 

OCMA.art Address: 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA 92626