The Expanded & Transformed Bruce Museum is Set to Open April 2! | Stamford Moms

The Bruce Museum will open its newly renovated and expanded building on April 2, 2023, following a transformative $67 million building project that more than doubles the size of the Museum. The centerpiece of the New Bruce is the addition of a three-story, 44,000 square-foot new wing that will provide expansive exhibition galleries, a new entrance and lobby, and public amenities including event spaces, an auditorium, and café. Designed by the award-winning New Orleans and Washington, D.C. architectural firm EskewDumezRipple, the new building will open directly onto Bruce Park and will feature a delicate, striated facade of cast stone and glass inspired by the surfaces of Connecticut’s rock quarries.

As a regional world-class, multi-disciplinary museum that brings art, science, and natural history together, the New Bruce triples the Museum’s capacity to show its art and science collections and temporary exhibitions in spacious, modern galleries, while adding state-of-the-art education and community spaces and added storage capacity for its growing collection. The creation of adjacent galleries for art and science will for the first time afford visitors the opportunity to move easily from one to the other, a spatial arrangement that will enable curators to create synergy among art and science exhibitions that enhance understanding and learning and underscores the Bruce brand, as a meeting point for art and science.

A revitalized park landscape and entry plaza designed by landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand will direct visitors into a naturally illuminated first floor, which will be open to the public free of charge and will include a new Museum store, auditorium, restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, and flexible spaces for public and private events. The Museum’s outdoor campus will feature landscaped walking paths and inviting spaces for relaxation and contemplation.

Bank of America is the lead inaugural year partner of the New Bruce.

Bruce Museum Board of Trustees Co-Chairs James B. Lockhart III and William J. Deutsch commented in a joint statement:  “We are overjoyed to announce that opening day for the New Bruce is nearly here. There are so many people to thank, from the Long-Range Planning Committee to the Building and Campaign Committees who have shepherded the construction and fundraising, to every Trustee, volunteer, and the many donors who supported this vision. The New Bruce will provide engaging art, science, and education programming for the community.  For all of those who have given their time, their financial support, and their talent, we are so thankful.”

“We are thrilled to be able to welcome the public to the New Bruce this spring,” said Robert Wolterstorff, the Bruce Museum’s Susan E. Lynch Executive Director and CEO. “Our vision for this new space is to excite, educate, and invigorate the spirit and imagination of our visitors, and to serve our community through the joy of experiencing art and science up close. My profound gratitude goes to the many people–our Board, staff, volunteers, patrons, architects, and designers–who are bringing their talents and work to make this dream a reality.”

“Our interest in this expansion for the Bruce Museum grew from a longstanding belief that art and architecture play an essential role in enriching the lives of those who experience them,” added Steve Dumez, Principal and Design Director of EskewDumezRipple. “Informed by our experience exploring the landscape of the Connecticut coast, and the belief that great architecture should celebrate its context, the New Bruce takes its inspiration from the geology of the region. Hopefully such inspiration will similarly inspire its community and future generations to explore the complex relationships between art and science.”

“We believe that access to art, science and natural history is crucial for building a thriving community – the New Bruce will be a vital resource and space for museumgoers and community members to gather and learn,” said Bill Tommins, President, Bank of America Southern Connecticut. “As longtime partners of the Bruce and lead inaugural year partner of the New Bruce, we look forward to seeing the impact the New Bruce has on our community and beyond.”

At the heart of the newly expanded Bruce Museum is the 13,000-square-foot William L. Richter Art Wing, which includes a 4,500-square-foot gallery for changing exhibitions and five new galleries for the growing permanent art collection. In March 2022, the Bruce announced that it had received a promised gift of a major collection of European and American art—ranging from French and American Impressionism to the works of Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Andrew Wyeth, and others—as an anonymous bequest, the largest gift of art in the Museum’s 112-year history. Selections drawn from the collection of 70 works, as well as two outstanding works on paper by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse – a bequest by the wing’s namesake, William L. Richter – will join works focusing on American and European Impressionism, Modernism, Surrealism, and contemporary art, as inaugural exhibitions in the art wing. The new art installations will be curated by Margarita Karasoulas, the Bruce’s Curator of Art.

Greeting visitors at the opening of the expanded Bruce Museum will be a completely new permanent exhibition of minerals, showcasing stunning specimens from around the world in elegant vitrines with ultramodern lighting; the Permanent Science Galleries, a suite of seven permanent natural history galleries that take visitors through the story of nature’s cycles, from woolly mammoth tusks to butterfly wings; and a new Science Changing Exhibition Gallery that will open with a special exhibition on penguins and thereafter will feature rotating exhibitions. The new science installations will be overseen by Daniel Ksepka, Curator of Science.

A new Sculpture Gallery adjoining both the William L. Richter Art Wing and the science wing will provide a spacious, light-filled interior with expansive views of the Long Island Sound.

The new state-of-the-art Cohen Education Wing will provide a dramatically enhanced educational experience for more than 50,000 schoolchildren each year and will welcome lifelong learners of all ages with a wide variety of programming.

The Bruce Museum will welcome the public to a day of free admission and grand opening festivities on Sunday, April 2, 2023. Pre-opening week will include special celebrations, tours and events for donors, corporate and community partners, and previews for Bruce members.

Launching in concert with the Bruce’s new spaces is a new brand identity developed by Pentagram, the world’s largest independent design consultancy, as well as a new website conceived by Fabrique, a Dutch digital design agency specializing in strategy, design and development. Find out more at www.brucemuseum.org.

About the Bruce Museum 

Located in Bruce Park overlooking Greenwich Harbor, the Bruce Museum is a community-based, world-class institution that offers a changing array of exhibitions and educational programs to promote the understanding and appreciation of art and science.

For over a century the Bruce Museum has delighted and engaged its visitors by presenting exceptional exhibitions in art, science, and the intersections between the two disciplines. Ahead of its time when textile merchant Robert Moffat Bruce (1822-1909) conceived of the Museum and bequeathed the building to the Town of Greenwich in 1908, the Bruce Museum is at the heart of contemporary efforts to bring together art and science, and technology and creativity, creating moments of discovery and dialogue. The first exhibition at the Bruce Museum took place in 1912 and featured works by local artists known as the Greenwich Society of Artists, several of whom were members of the Cos Cob Art Colony. Their works formed the nucleus of the Museum’s art holdings and continue to be a strength of the collection, which has expanded to focus on global art from 1850 to the present. Other strengths include Ancient Chinese sculpture, Native American Art, the Hudson River School, modernist works on paper, and photography. Parallel development of the natural sciences includes strengths in the mineral and avian collections. In all, the community, through its generosity, has built the Museum’s varied collections of art and natural science to over 30,000 objects.

In 2019, the Museum, which is accredited by the American Association of Museums, broke ground on the New Bruce project, which doubles the size of the museum and triples the exhibition spaces.  The New Bruce features state-of-the-art exhibition, education, and community spaces, including a changing gallery for art and five new permanent galleries in the William L. Richter Art Wing; a changing gallery for science; a permanent science exhibition, Natural Cycles Shape Our Land; three classrooms in the Cohen Education Wing; and a café, an auditorium, and grand hall. When the outdoor spaces are completed in summer 2023, the New Bruce campus will feature a sculpture-lined, landscaped walking path and inviting spaces for relaxation and contemplation—natural enhancements to Bruce Park and an anchoring connection to Greenwich Avenue.

About EskewDumezRipple (Architect for the New Bruce)

Established in 1989, EskewDumezRipple (EDR) is a national architecture, interiors, and urban planning firm recognized for producing innovative projects grounded by a strong understanding of context, culture, and environment. With offices in New Orleans and Washington, DC, and projects in over 20 states and on two continents, the firm’s work spans typology, from institutional, civic and cultural, and higher education work to mixed-use, commercial, and hospitality projects.

As a result of their efforts, EskewDumezRipple was recognized with the 2014 Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor bestowed on a practice by the American Institute of Architects in recognition of significant contributions to the profession.

Building upon the legacy of founder Allen Eskew, the firm strives to engage the world as he did—with humility, charm, and a deeply personal commitment to design as craft.

About Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,900 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATM and award-winning digital banking with approximately 56 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Press Release from The Bruce Museum

Join The Stamford Moms Network Community

Stay up-to-date with what is happening in-and-around the Stamford community with local events, community highlights, and exclusive deals.