Rockland’s Farnsworth museum unveils store and gallery expansion
Photo / Courtesy Farnsworth Art Museum
The Farnsworth Art Museum is set to open a new store and educational gallery called 365 in a building the museum acquired earlier this year.
Earlier this year, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland acquired a three-story, 12,000-square-foot building at 365 Main St., directly across the street from the museum’s main building.
After some updates to the building’s plumbing, electrical and security systems, the Farnsworth has rebranded the space as the 365 Design Store and Arts Gallery and plans to open it during Rockland’s First Friday festivities on July 11, from 5-7 p.m.
The campus expansion allows the museum to enrich its educational programs and create more opportunities for visitors to engage with the Farnsworth, Christopher Brownawell, the Farnsworth’s director, has said.
Locally referred to as the Burpee Block, the building dates back to the mid-19th century.
The deal closed through a private sale with the seller, Dowling Walsh Gallery, for $2 million.
Flexible space
The gallery will open with a show called “Animalia: Maine’s Illustrated Menagerie,” designed as an education exhibition from the Farnsworth’s learning and engagement team and featuring Maine illustrators such as Nancy and Scott Nash, co-founders of the Illustration Institute; Douglas Smith, illustrator of the original “Wicked” book series by Gregory Maguire; and Mary Anne Lloyd, chair of the Maine College of Art’s illustration department.
The gallery was designed to serve as a flexible space for community engagement such as public programs, art workshops and special events, the museum said.
The store highlights the work of local artisans from Maine and New England, with pieces by artists such as Charlie Jenkins and Terrill Waldman of Tandem Glass in Dresden, Alison Evans of AE Ceramics in Boothbay, Immodest Cotton in Bath and Antje Roitzsch in Lincolnville.
It will offer branded Farnsworth merchandise, framed prints, lighting, textiles and décor inspired by the museum’s art collection and the Maine coast.
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