Not Your Usual Museum Experience July 2, 2006

Mr. Imagination at a demonstration on opening day. Photo by Michael Mansfield.

From Eye Level's command center here in the recesses of the Luce Foundation Center yesterday, we were amazed at the surge of energy and people in our halls.  After months of walking through quiet halls and listening to the echoes of our own footsteps, welcoming people into the building was truly a thrill.

Eager to hear what some of our first visitors thought about the museum, I chatted with some locals in the artist demonstration rooms.  When I asked Melissa Hinkson, from Arlington, Virginia, what the most exciting thing about her visit had been so far, she replied, “Just walking in the door!”  Hinkson and her two children have been anxiously awaiting the museum’s reopening, and her children were busy creating bottlecap artwork with the artist Mr. Imagination.  Adults were enjoying the activities as well: beside Hinkson’s children was Washington, DC resident Jason Johnston, an admirer of Mr. Imagination’s work.

In the lobby, staff and volunteers greeted crowds of eager visitors.  One visitor said the warm welcome was “not your usual museum experience.”  Neither, it would be safe to say, were the puppets singing Motown in the brand new Luce Foundation Center or the crowds listening to live jazz on Noguchi couches in the Lincoln Gallery.

On opening day, the museum was about a lot more than the art: it was the music, the entertainers, the artists, and the people we’ve been creating this for all along. 

Stay tuned to Eye Level as we post photos of our opening days.

• Mr. Imagination, Smithsonian American Art Museum