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The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (FAC) is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado College.
The center uses a thick red outline of a square as its logo.
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FAC history
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center was founded in 1936 by Alice Bemis Taylor, Elizabeth Sage Hare, and Julie Penrose, with the intention of creating a center for a museum, art school and performing arts venue for the growing city. The building was designed in a unique combination of the Pueblo and Art Deco styles by New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem. In 1940, Meem earned a Silver Medal at the Fifth Quadrennial Pan American Congress of Architecture. The building is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
At the original Grand Opening in April 1936, Martha Graham danced barefoot on stage; art icon Alexander Calder executed stage design for an operetta; and Frank Lloyd Wright lectured on the new building. Art luminaries Boardman Robinson and Robert Motherwell were early teachers at the art school.
FAC Main
The FAC Main includes:
- The main gallery, displaying many permanent collection Spanish Colonial and Native American art pieces of the Southwest in addition to other permanent works and traveling shows.
- The Performing Arts department's SaGāJi Theatre, featuring the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company, which produces a regular schedule of dramatic works.
- The Deco Lounge and Cafe 36, dining destinations.
- The Bemis School of Art, offering art education to the local community.
Notable pieces and exhibits
- After the outstanding success of the visiting Chihuly glass exhibit, the FAC decided to buy several pieces of glass sculpture for the permanent collection, including several chandeliers and pedestal pieces.
- The FAC Main houses one of the largest collections of Native American and Southwest Spanish Colonial art. The collection has been given a permanent home on the main level with the expansion of the museum.
- Notable artists within the FAC permanent collection include, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O'Keeffe, Richard Diebenkorn, Walt Kuhn, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg, John James Audubon and Ansel Adams.
Renovations
In 2006, the FAC began a construction project to expand the galleries by 48,000 square feet (4,500 m2), taking the total facility from 88,388 to 132,286 gross square feet. During construction, the Center's exhibits were partially moved to the FAC Modern facility. A sum of $28.6 million was raised nearly entirely from private funds to renovate and expand the facility. The addition was designed by award-winning architect and Colorado Springs native David Owen Tryba. As a child, Tryba learned to ride his bike in the FAC parking lot while his mother served the institution as a docent. As a teenager, Tryba learned to drive his first car in the very same lot on West Dale Street.
Renovations of the existing Taylor Museum facilities were also included in this project, which was concluded in 2007, although to date the performing arts sound system has not been replaced. Following a large advertising campaign, the "Extremely Grand Opening" was held in early August 2007.
FAC MODERN
The Fine Arts Center has a downtown satelite venue, the FAC MODERN, which opened in April 2006. Located in the South Tower of the Plaza of the Rockies, next to Pioneer Park in the heart of downtown, the FAC MODERN includes three gallery spaces that feature a regularly changing exhibit of the permanent collection and traveling works of modern and contemporary art. The FAC MODERN is adjacent to NOSH and the offices of COPPeR.
External links
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Coordinates: 38°50′45″N 104°49′34″W / 38.8458°N 104.8262°W
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