TELFAIR MUSEUM, SAVANNAH

During my time in Savannah, I had my second visit to the new Jepson Center for the Arts at the historic Telfair Museum of Art (for fans of "the book" the Telfair is the home of the Bird Girl statue). I visited the museum with Donnie and Mark (my best friends and Savannah hosts), Tom (visiting from Provincetown), and Lenny (visiting from Asheville, NC). We had a great time… as you’ll see from some of my photos shot there. As for the museum, I’ll let their website tell the story…

Architect Moshe Safdie Designs a “Destination of Distinction” in Savannah’s Historic District

The Telfair Museum of Art opened its new 64,000-sq. ft., state-of-the-art building to the public in March 2006, ushering in an exciting new era for the “oldest public art museum in the South.”

The new building, the Jepson Center for the Arts, is the first expansion in the Telfair’s 119-year history and adds 66% more exhibition and educational studio space than previously available in the museum’s two c.1819 National Historic Landmark buildings in Savannah’s historic district, the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Owens-Thomas House.

An Expanding Museum for a Growing Community

Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, whose Salt Lake City Public Library and Peabody Essex Museum commissions opened to much acclaim in 2003, the Jepson Center for the Arts features two large galleries for major traveling exhibitions; galleries for African American art, Southern art, photography and works-on-paper; a community gallery; a 3,500-sq. ft. hands-on gallery for young people; two outdoor sculpture terraces, education studios, a 200-seat auditorium, café, and store.

“Moshe Safdie has helped the Telfair achieve its objective of creating a dramatic, modern, accessible museum building that is also an important work of monumental sculpture. He has met the challenge of creating a building that is decidedly ‘of its time’ while complementing the beauty and character of the 18th- and 19th-century buildings that are Savannah’s hallmark,” said Dr. Diane Lesko, executive director of the Telfair Museum of Art, in announcing the opening.

“While Savannah has its feet planted firmly in the past, and that is the undeniable reason for its appeal to residents and visitors, it is also the fastest growing city in Georgia. Telfair exhibitions, programs, acquisitions of artwork, membership, and visitation have paralleled the community’s growth – we mount nine to 12 exhibitions annually and have twice as many members now as we did seven years ago, for example – so the Jepson Center will allow the museum to more readily meet the needs of a vital city.”

Covered with glistening white Portuguese stone and consisting of two separate structures connected by glass bridges over a protected lane that is part of Savannah’s town plan originally conceived in 1733 by Georgia’s founder General James Oglethorpe, the building has a soaring, light-filled atrium and sweeping, three-level staircase that provides access to its expansive galleries.

The Jepson Center has a total of 14,000 square feet of additional exhibition and studio space that permit the Telfair to mount temporary exhibitions that are considerably larger than has been possible in the landmark Telfair Academy. The Academy has been the museum’s principal venue for presenting fine arts; the Owens-Thomas House is a historic house museum and exhibits many works from the Telfair’s decorative arts collection.