Pages are turning quickly on the Tampa Museum of Art's somewhat tumultuous recent history. Understandably eager to move onward and upward with their new building/new branding initiative — and now, new executive director — hardly a week passes without the TMA dropping a nugget of news that's indicative of the institution's determination to reclaim public enthusiasm. (See my column two weeks ago about the TMA's latest exhibit, Site Matters, devoted to proposals for site-specific sculptural installations at the new building; public input wanted.)
Last week, the museum announced — perhaps somewhat incredibly, given the current economic climate — that the most generous individual donors to its capital campaign, Dick and Cornelia Corbett, had raised their contribution from $2.5 to $5 million. The eye-popping sum earns the couple naming rights to the new building, which will be called Cornelia Corbett Center. On Friday, museum officials held a "topping out" ceremony to celebrate completion of the new building's steel frame with Tampa mayor Pam Iorio and architect Stanley Saitowitz, among others.
In September, the museum named a new executive director, Todd D. Smith, who most recently held the same position at Charleston's Gibbes Museum of Art. At the Gibbes, Smith — who is a candidate for a Ph.D. in art history at Indiana University, Bloomington — oversaw the acquisition of both traditional and contemporary American works of art and established an award for living Southeastern artists. Bay area art devotees may get their first introduction to Smith's accessibility and engagement with contemporary issues when he curates Rock Your Medium at Florida Craftsmen (Jan. 30-Apr. 3, 2009), a showcase of Sunshine State artists who use traditional craft media in fresh, innovative ways. (To see the call for entries, go to artsqueeze.com.)
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2008.