That’s So Metal

The Metal Museum reopens this month in its new Overton Park campus.

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Features

The Metal Museum is making something of a quantum leap this month. It’s still a singular institution, doing for the metal arts what nobody else is quite able to achieve — in fact, there’s no other museum quite like it, anywhere. But, as executive director Carissa Hussong puts it, “We’re just bigger. A lot bigger.”

When she took over, more than 18 years ago, what was then called the National Ornamental Metal Museum offered classes, had an informal residency program, saw artists coming and going, exhibited art, had youth programs, and presented tours.

It’s grown during Hussong’s tenure, refining and expanding where it could. But its beloved location limited its growth. Nearly 50 years ago, the museum acquired a site on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River that is possessed of a breathtaking view, verdant grounds, and historic buildings that have housed offices, galleries, and metalsmithing projects. Since opening in 1979, the museum has built a global reputation.

But it’s had difficulties achieving its potential. And in September, after a $35 million capital expansion project, it is opening a new facility in what was the Memphis College of Art (MCA) building in Overton Park, also known as Rust Hall.

Making the Move

Leaders of the Metal Museum had pondered expansion well before the demise of the art college, which closed in 2020. Even when Hussong began at the museum, discussions were underway about  improving accessibility at the riverfront facility, adding an elevator, acquiring much-needed additional space, and more. The museum hired an architect to come up with some answers.

The result was a plan to create two buildings on the bluff that would have cost $60 million. But it would have changed the character of the location — and nobody was certain that people would come. Fantastic as the bluff site is, getting to it has been legendarily difficult. Visitors approaching it from the expressway all too often missed the exit and ended up in Arkansas. [Editor’s note: I have done this. Twice.]

All of which was weighed when, in 2017, MCA made the fateful decision to close. But the idea to take over the space was not instantaneous. “It wasn’t my idea that we consider this building,” Hussong says. “It was suggested to me by Jackie Nichols,” founder of Playhouse on the Square and principal of LEaR Mentoring, a nonprofit consultant. “My initial reaction was absolutely no, we can’t leave the bluff. That’s not an option. And it took me exactly two weeks to realize that we would actually be solving a number of different problems.”

Acquiring the building in Overton Park would allow the museum to keep the bluff location and use it for an artist-in-residency program for metalsmiths at a high level. Being off the beaten path had its benefits because “it’s an incredible place away from the city and you’re five minutes from Beale Street, but it feels like you’re hours away in some ways,” Hussong says. “It could feel quaint and old and fun and funky, but we could take the museum to the next level in this location.”

As for the potential new location, the museum had the advantage of having already planned for an expansion. “It was kind of easy to look at this building and know that it was a similar size to what we were looking for,” she says. “And the way that the building was shaped and laid out, it was very easy to fit our program into it.”

So what was it that Hussong was looking for? “We wanted collection storage that was laid out in a way that was safe for the artwork and safe for our staff,” she says. “And we needed more space because we certainly had been given a lot more artwork in the last five years than probably the previous 20.” 

That was on the checklist, and of course additional gallery space that would not be cramped and limiting. “It will allow us to show more work and give work the space that it deserves,” she says. “Throughout the building, there’s a lot more space to show pieces from our permanent collection.” That includes not just the three changing gallery spaces but also lobbies, walkways, and outdoor spaces.

Expanding Education

Educational outreach is the most significant area of growth for this new iteration of the museum. Space in the blacksmith shop and foundry on the bluff is so limited that projects, such as commissioned work being done during the week, had to be deconstructed to allow for weekend classes, and then put back together on Monday. The 25-foot mosasaurus statue now at the Pink Palace was crafted and assembled during Covid when there were no classes; otherwise it couldn’t have been done.

That inefficiency will go away with dedicated areas in the Overton Park facility. The new space for metalworking is three times the size of what was available on the bluff site. And now, if there’s a need for a blacksmith class while there’s a sizable project going on, enormous cranes can be used to move the construction to the side and easily repositioned.

“We can bring in more guest teachers and demonstrators, host more conferences,” Hussong says. “It will allow us to bring in more apprentices and interns because that is a safety issue — we’ll be able to actually have two apprentices in each area as well as a lead metalsmith.”

In addition to the new metalworking facility, a dedicated education space will be eight times what the bluff facility had. A set of classrooms will accommodate learners from kindergarten to adults who want to get into other aspects of metalwork. School groups can do hammered bracelets or families can learn enameling, for example, in the multipurpose area. 

“It’s important because I do think of jewelry and smaller metals as fine metals,” Hussong says. “They’re more approachable to a lot of people and that is how a lot of people get started.” This expansion may also allow the museum to work with the University of Memphis exploring areas of metallurgy.

The new facility is also opening up the potential for the museum to work with other community partners. One of the elements of Rust Hall, MCA’s main building, that was retained is the auditorium, which has been upgraded and has already garnered the interest of programmers at Indie Memphis, the Overton Park Shell, and Opera Memphis. 

Bigger Is Better

The museum, since the days it was called the National Ornamental Metal Museum, has been known as a Mecca for the metalsmithing community worldwide. There is no metal institution quite like it, anywhere, and it has long enjoyed a global reputation. “At least 40 percent of our membership is from outside the region, which is very unusual,” Hussong says, “and most of our visitors are from out of town.”

Artists and collectors are following what the museum is doing “because we are showing the work on a regular basis and want to share it with other institutions as well,” Hussong says. “The library is going to become very important. A lot of museums have gotten rid of their library collections, but we hope to expand pretty rapidly over the next 10 to 15 years.”

“There were things that we gave up, some of which I am actually happy that we did. I’m happier with the way that it all came together. And I do feel like it’s a very respectful reuse of the spaces where we did bigger changes. I think we made those spaces feel grander, more welcoming, more light, just more inspiring.” — Carissa Hussong 

These enhancements are among many that Hussong points out will take the Metal Museum to the next level. One such area is for artists-in-residence. “Maybe you’ve just gotten your MFA and you are trying to start up your own business, but you can’t afford all the equipment and come someplace to live and work and start that first body of work. Or maybe someone is an artist further along in your career. You want to go someplace peaceful and work for a month,” she says, “but you can’t move your studio to a new place. Maybe you’re a blacksmith and know a little bit about casting and want to focus on that. An international artist can bring their favorite hammer and come and work in our studio. That artist-in-residency program is so critical in that it will allow us to have more partnerships nationally and internationally.”

The bluff location will still be used by the museum for its artist-in-residency program and it will have on-site metal studios. The 3.2-acre area will still be accessible for venue and event rentals. 

Finding the Money

When the museum was selected to take over the old MCA building, no other organization had the kind of backing and funding that could compete. As Hussong says of the funding, “In some ways it’s been a challenge and in other ways it’s been this incredible blessing.”

Several years ago, a gift from the Windgate Foundation set things in motion. The Arkansas philanthropy, which gets much of its funding from Walmart stock, made a grant of $2 million to start an endowment for the museum. “They have been so incredibly supportive of the museum since then,” Hussong says. During Covid the foundation advised organizations it supported to not lay anyone off. It was a priority to keep the arts groups functioning.

“When this project started, they committed $12 million to the campaign, which is incredible,” she says. “It helped us secure the building with the city. It helped funders realize that we had significant support that we could get there. And some of the foundations that came in early on did so with a strong commitment. The Assisi Foundation gave us one and a half million dollars, the biggest gift they’ve given. The Thomas W. Briggs Foundation was also incredibly supportive early on in a way that’s much larger than they usually give as well.” She also mentions the Community Foundation of Memphis and the Hyde Family Foundation as key supporters, among many others.

It was, Hussong says, crucial that potential funders see where the new facility would be and how it would help the larger community. “You have to come into the building to really understand it — especially in the beginning before we started construction and it was still a lot of small rooms with windows covered and the memory of the College of Art. Some people could really see the vision of what it would be like, to open up all of these spaces and be able to see the trees and the park and the light. During construction, people have really understood what we were trying to achieve.”

The Transformation

The idea was to repurpose what had been designed by modernist architect Roy Harrover to be a college of art. It opened in 1959 as the Memphis Academy of Arts and had several additions through the years. LRK Architects Designers Planners got the contract to change the building into something that would serve the museum while retaining the spirit and character of its origins.

Architect Krissy Flickinger, a senior associate at LRK, was deeply involved in transforming the facility. “The reason that I love working on existing buildings, especially historic ones in general, is that delicate dance, as I call it,” she says. “It’s a balance of old and new, of making sure that you’re honoring the building that you have and then making it ready for the future. You don’t want to cause any harm to it, but you have to be able to make it what you need, what its new use is going to be.”

“This is one very special, challenging project, but what we have collectively created is going to be transformative for this site.” — Ritchie Smith

Flickinger continues, “An unwavering commitment from the beginning from the museum was this idea of accessibility and inclusivity. The first place that you’re going to experience that is your main entry.”

This posed something of a dilemma. Visitors entered MCA by climbing massive stairs to reach the main lobby. The secondary way was on ground level that served as a handicap entrance and was cramped, utilitarian, and unattractive. 

“We wanted to expand the ramps on either side of that main entry staircase, which is iconic,” Flickinger says. “This temple on the hill that was designed back in the 1950s was symmetrical. We don’t want to jeopardize any of that. We wanted to make this entry much more grand and obvious. Well, the park service wasn’t as on board with the ‘grand’ piece of that.”

The museum and LRK were pursuing tax credits from the National Park Service, which had stringent guidelines about accessibility, and disagreements ensued. But coolness prevailed and the groups reached a compromise. It’s a bit smaller than what had been proposed, but still larger than before and, as Flickinger says, “still very grand and very welcoming.” People can enter high or low and whichever way they go, they’ll end up in one of the two lobbies with reception desks.

Inside, visitors will find an abundance of light. The skylights on the upper area were redone and the area on the first floor has ample natural light coming in where it had once been largely fluorescent.

The notion of accessibility extends both within and without, giving Overton Park an easily navigable area. Outside, visitors can walk dogs through the site, and enjoy the sculpture path that encircles the building. Go around from the main entrance to the other side where the metalworking building has been added and they can look down into the shop and see artists at work. And then everything is just a few steps from the Overton Park Shell.

That outside area has been given special attention as well as inside the building. Ritchie Smith Associates is the landscape architect of record and has been associated with a host of projects around town. Smith and his firm worked with wHY, a museum design-focused architectural and landscape partner out of Los Angeles and New York. “This is one very special, challenging project,” says Smith, “but what we have collectively created is going to be transformative for this site.”

He notes the importance and dominance of the building, but also says that it “did not embrace the park in an open-arms way.” Smith references the entryway that was redesigned and says it is now much more inviting than in the past and connects to the park. 

“It’s not just a path; it’s a gathering area,” he says, pointing out that the entryway on the left now has seating where a group can comfortably gather for a presentation or just socializing.

“The big move is that the west entrance has an embrace with the park,” he says. “We relocated the utilities and now there’s an east-west connection coming from the building. And there’s a kind of rectangular lawn area that literally connects with the Shell lawn. When they don’t have that fence for concerts, it really breathes and gives the park more connectivity.”

Smith also points out the creation of “meadows with native grass, wildflower planting, ferns, pollinators. And there are four distinct areas that have that treatment versus just regular grass or turf grass.”

Most distinctively, 14 sculptures have been added to the site, one of which is the Ted Rust Ikon piece, designed by the longtime MCA president, that stood in front of MCA for years. “We wanted to create more walks to invite people into the site and around it,” Smith says.

Hussong, on the eve of the grand opening of the museum on September 5th, contemplates the journey. “There were things that we gave up, some of which I am actually happy that we did,” she says. “I’m happier with the way that it all came together. And I do feel like it’s a very respectful reuse of the spaces where we did bigger changes. I think we made those spaces feel grander, more welcoming, more light, just more inspiring.”  

The Metal Museum’s grand opening in Overton Park is scheduled for September 5th, and the museum will open its new doors to the public on September 11th.