LITTLE ROCK — The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum will open on Sunday after nearly four years of work to move the collection into an expanded facility.
The museum’s new home on Rogers Avenue spans 16,000 square feet. The space was donated to FSRAM in January 2009 by Arvest Bank. The regional museum concept evolved from an Arkansas Association of University Women project that began in 1948.
It would later move into the Vaughn-Schaap House as the Fort Smith Art Center in 1968.
The cost to renovate the new building was about $3 million, museum director Lee Ortega told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in December.
The museum’s debut will feature a display of works from the museum’s permanent collection and a traveling exhibit called “The Secrets of the Mona Lisa,” based on a scientifi c analysis of the famous painting hanging inthe Louvre museum in Paris.
Among the events that will be staged at the FSRAM are exhibits, artist-led workshops, fi lms, concerts and more.
A gala event on Saturday will provide the first look inside the museum and will feature akeynote address by Pascal Cotte, the French scientist and art researcher behind the traveling Mona Lisa exhibition.
The museum will open to the public for the first time on Sunday.
Whats Up, Pages 19 on 01/18/2013