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Curator's Corner

A New Museum and a Return to Form

Dayne Rugh, Director, Slater Memorial Museum
Welcome everyone to Slater Museum's new website, and thank you to all of our great supporters and friends who have helped usher in a new era to the museum's history beginning in 2023. Since being closed for over a year and a half due to our roof restoration and gallery renovations, we are excited to finally bring the museum back to NFA and the public.
 
For those who were previously familiar with the museum and its spaces, you will immediately notice the more open and airy nature of our galleries. When redesigning the spaces, it became important to approach our new design concepts with the goal of literally opening up spaces within the building. As the building itself features massive vaulted ceilings and ornamentation, we wanted the natural architectural wonders of the building to be better seen and appreciated while viewing exhibitions and artwork. The stunning brownstone fireplace within the Sears' gallery is a work of art in and of itself when you first enter the room! Coupled with intricately designed archways, wood carvings, and more, now is the chance to become reintroduced to many imposing and carefully hidden details that you may have not seen before in each of the rooms.
 
Much of the exhibition philosophy that went into planning these rooms stems from the goal of "returning to form" and evoking the majestic essence of rooms seen in museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and many more that feature world-class collections of artwork. The spaces are not only more open, but they also become more flexible in accommodating visitors and larger groups, particularly NFA classes. Navigating through the rooms you'll see additional details that are designed to protect our irreplaceable works of art including low-profile q-cord stanchions.
 
I anticipate that many will be excited to return to Slater to see familiar sights and new faces alike and we welcome everyone to come and experience this one-of-a-kind gem in Connecticut and the country!
 
Dayne Rugh's signature

 

 
 
 
 
Dayne Rugh
Director, Slater Memorial Museum