At a ribbon cutting ceremony held Friday evening, the Bergstrom Mahler Museum of Glass in Neenah unveiled its renovated gallery, which is a partnership with lead contractor Miron Construction.
The new gallery provides a modern space for larger exhibits, Executive Director Amy Moorefield shared with more than 150 gathered for the celebration. The first exhibit in the space, which features new acquisitions to the permanent collection, is called “Our Time to Shine, YOUR Time to Shine” and is named in honor of the “Our Time to Shine” community donation campaign that made the gallery possible.
Additional named spaces announced at the event include the Bergstrom Automotive Family Lampwork Gallery, the Jewelers Mutual Interactive Gallery and the Robert and Kathleen Brost Entrance Lobby.
Kathy Brost, who is also the current chair of the museum’s board of directors, said the renovation is the result of communities coming together.
“I’m just so excited,” Brost said. “We saw an o
utpouring of support, not only from our local community – including some of the founders of the museum from way back in 1959, but also from the donors, the patrons, the glass artists throughout the nation. I have had the pleasure of attending several internationally acclaimed glass art shows, and I can tell you the glass art community loves this museum.”
In addition to the ceremonial purple ribbon cutting by glass artists, donors, staff and board members, Moorefield also announced that donor Gordon Park of Chattanooga, Tennessee has made a gift to name the museum’s glass studio and to fund a vault expansion starting this fall.
“We’ve quietly been working with about eight to 10, actually more, donors now who are interested in placing their collections with the museum, and we’ve started running out of room,” Moorefield said. “This amazing gift is going to allow us to double our footprint in our collection vault, and it’s very exciting.”
