Navigation Menu
The Dennos Museum Center

A Growing Legacy: Sculpture from the Museum’s Collection

January 17 - March 28, 2009

The strength of a museum is measured in great part by the quality and size of its collection. The existing art collection of Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) that came to the museum in 1991 formed the base of the Dennos Museum's collection. Since 1991, the Museum's Inuit collection has more than doubled to around 1,100 works and the balance of non- Inuit art in the collection has also doubled to about 1,000 works.

The growth of our collection has put significant strains on our storage areas. Thanks to support from NMC we will be adding five new art storage racks to our collections area in January. To accommodate their installation we are bringing out of storage a number of sculptural works.

Under the title we have come to use for exhibitions from our collection, A Growing Legacy, we will present this special exhibition of sculptural and relief work.

The museum's collection was greatly enhanced with a significant gift from the Lannan Foundation in 2000, which includes both pedestal and large free-standing works. This exhibition will draw upon works from the Lannan Foundation as well as gifted works from individual artists from the region including Bill Allen, Dewey Blocksma, and Diane Carr.  Bob Purvis will create a new work to be gifted to the Museum especially for this exhibition.