Bruce Guenther, the nationally-renowned Chief Curator of the Portland Art Museum, recently lectured at the Fine Arts Center and had this to say about the new addition:
“The Fine Arts Center expansion is one of the most masterful and exciting remodeling projects I have seen in recent years. The new gallery spaces are beautifully proportioned and elegantly restrained in their detailing…a perfect setting for the collections.
“The sensitivity with which the Center and its important historic rooms have been restored and extended with the new addition speaks volumes to me about the value placed on heritage and the future for the arts in Colorado Springs.
“I congratulate the leadership of the Center and their architect, David Tryba, for bringing this venerable institution and its magnificent collections into the new century in such grand style.”
More Early Reviews
John Hazlehurst of the Colorado Springs Business Journal wrote on his blog: “Tryba’s addition is … both a subtle, perfectly rendered, and utterly sympathetic addition to John Gaw Meem’s great masterpiece and, amazingly, a transcendent piece of architecture in its own right.”
“Conclusion: a triumph that few of us could have imagined before Mike DeMarsche arrived almost exactly four years ago. Better still, it should cure the local arts community of Denver envy. The new FAC is an infinitely better, more user-friendly, and more beautiful building than the renovated Denver Art Museum … “
The front page banner headline of the Woodmen/Cheyenne Edition (July 20) was “In a word, spectacular!” Written by Dave Vickers, it begins with “Colorado Springs should get ready to be amazed.”