Kent Gallery Improvements to Preserve Collection, Enhance Viewing Experience

Nearly a year after shuttering its doors, the Rockwell Kent Gallery at SUNY Plattsburgh will reopen to the public with a new Kent exhibit and improvements meant to make the space safer for the collection.

A grand re-opening held Feb. 13 at the gallery in the second-floor corner of Feinberg Library welcomed visitors back, who found new lighting, an artwork -friendly skylight and a PBS Kids Mobile Learning Lab, which will invite visitors to examine the past, evaluate the present and envision the future of the Adirondacks and the climate through an artistic lens.

For its part, the gallery has created a new exhibit that showcases Kent’s deep connection to the North Country and Adirondacks, where he made his home from the 1930s until his death in 1971 at age 88.

The Learning Lab, located to the immediate left as you enter the gallery, will offer specially developed educational activities and thematically related books for use by all visitors, including families and pre-K to 12 classrooms.

Most Complete Collection in United States

The Rockwell Kent Gallery, the most complete collection of the artist’s work in the United States, with more than 5,000 catalogued artworks, objects and ephemera, was closed to visitors at the end of spring semester 2024 in order for crews to be able to take a number of conservatory measures that will preserve the pieces that are on display and to allow them to be suitably hung.

Tonya Cribb, director of the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, which includes the Kent Gallery, said it was necessary for work to be done on the skylight, which for years had been allowing UV light to stream — or “rake” — across Kent’s paintings that hung on exhibit. Massive scaffolding had to be erected, taking up a large portion of the gallery.

She said that an assessment conducted through the Collections Assessment Program determined the artwork was being exposed to an exorbitant amount of light.

“In order to preserve the artworks in this collection, the recommended light exposure for oil paintings is 150 lux and should only be on display for six months at a time. The light that was flowing across the surface of our paintings at the time of our assessment was 550 lux —five times more light than what is recommended for preserving these invaluable works,” Cribb said.

Cribb said that prolonged periods of ultraviolet exposure have caused the Kent paintings to darken.

“Additionally, the excessive amount of daylight increased the temperature in the gallery in the summer. The rapid temperature fluctuations cause the paintings to swell and contract, creating fissures across the surface and pulling at the edges,” she said.

The raking sunlight made it difficult to properly view the paintings as well. As a result, “the professional conservator and historic architect recommended that the skylight be enclosed in their 2019 assessment. We hope that the closed skylight will prevent difficulty viewing as well as help mitigate the temperature in the summer so that we can make the paintings last as long as possible.”

Work crews also installed railing that will allow paintings to be hung without needing to drive screws or nails into the wood-paneled walls and removed theater lighting that also caused excessive heat and UV rays.

Cribb said the current display of Kent’s North Country art “is a nice focus that works with our (Plattsburgh Next) strategic plan to better engage the region and the installation of the PBS mobile learning lab, which focuses on environmental issues in the North Country such as climate change and invasive species,” she said.

Learning Lab ‘Great for Homeschoolers’

“PBS will create lesson plans, set up tours with local schools. Some of or volunteers will host events and take visitors through the gallery, but this is a space for anyone. We want them to come in and use the materials provided,” Cribb said. “It’s a great resource for homeschoolers.”

A TV mounted to the wall within the learning lab space will have a film featuring Rockwell Kent on a loop with closed captioning, “which will be a nice bit of information,” Cribb said.

“We’re grateful Mountain Lake PBS reached out to us. It gave us a chance to refresh and reinvigorate an underutilized corner of the gallery and will be a wonderful collaboration and connection between art and science,” she said. “Rockwell Kent’s work touches upon so many areas.”

Cribb said areas of art — commercial and print design, engraving, lithograph, block printing, painting, textile design and more — are obvious.

“But his work touches on politics, political science, history, English, and so much more,” she said. And with Kara Jefts, the university’s new museum collections manager, faculty have a contact person to reach out to if they’re interested in reaching across the aisle for co-curricular work.

“The whole point of having a collection on campus is for faculty and students to use it,” Cribb said. “I welcome that collaboration.”

For more information on the Rockwell Kent Gallery, its collection and more, contact Cribb at 518-564-2478, email [email protected] or visit https://www.plattsburgh.edu/plattslife/arts/art-museum/index.html.

Faculty and students wishing to see how the museum can benefit classes, contact Jefts at 518-564-2496 or email [email protected].

— Story, Photos by Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs; Scaffolding Photos Provided