Museum of Art at USU to Celebrate 40th With Free Exhibits, Music, Food, Activities

LOGAN, Utah — The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University will celebrate its 40th anniversary on from 7-9 p.m. Saturday, March 19, and everyone in the community is invited to attend.

Attendees will be able to see two new art exhibitions and enjoy live music, food and a kid-friendly scavenger hunt with prizes. The event is free.

As the only museum in Utah focused on art from the western United States, NEHMA is proud to have provided exhibitions and programs to thousands, all free of charge, over the past 40 years. The museum will continue that mission, expanding programs with an additional research and education center facility being planned.

Two years after the museum was founded in 1982, the collection was established with 1,800 artworks — a significant part of which was given by the museum’s namesake, Nora Eccles Harrison. Since that time many purchase acquisitions have been made with Marie Eccles Caine Foundation and Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation funds as well as other donor support.

Two new exhibitions are on view. The first is “Looking Backward & Forward: 40 Years with NEHMA & What’s Next,” showcasing the evolution of the collection, with one work of art representing each year of the past 40 years of acquisitions. A wide range are artists are included, such as Beatrice Wood, Claire Falkenstein, Ed Ruscha, Hung Liu, Eduardo Carrillo and Uta Barth.

Another component of this exhibition focuses on “what’s next,” featuring artworks that will be gifted to the museum by George C. Wanlass, the great-nephew of NEHMA’s namesake, Nora. This grouping of artworks highlights 20 early Utah artists, such as Mahonri Young, Mabel Frazer, Jack Sears, Florence Ware, LeConte Stewart and Leo Fairbanks. The museum is also planning a new facility to expand ways to engage and learn with art, and information and concept designs are featured.

The second exhibition is “The Driek & Michael Zirinsky Gift,” with 19 contemporary artworks with an emphasis on women artists and younger artists from the northwest, in particular Seattle and Portland, as well as Boise, where the Zirinskys live.

These two exhibitions will be on view through May 7, but patrons can enjoy them as part of the 40th anniversary party with food and live music on March 19.

For more information about the museum visit https://artmuseum.usu.edu. Visiting the Museum is free of charge. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

NEHMA offers free visitor parking in the lot behind the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall. For public transportation, ride the Cache Valley Transit routes 1, 4, or the Green or Blue Loop and get off at the Fine Arts stop.