Hannele Lahti of Manassas, Va., strolls through a Portland Museum of Art sculpture gallery recently. The museum will make improvements during its three-week January closure, including adding a gallery and a study room and displaying art in more places.
Detail of a bird sculpture by Bernard Langlais, whose work will be exhibited in the museum’s new fourth-floor Modern Menagerie dedicated to Maine artists and their fascination with animals. Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer
A retrofit of the Clapp House, an early-1800s museum-owned building on Spring Street, is expected to be part of a three-year strategic plan trustees are considering as part of a fundamental rethinking about how audiences engage with art. Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer
“Woman Flying” by Katherine Bradford graces the stairway from the cafe to the Great Hall at the Portland Museum of Art. A larger cafe is on the museum board of trustees’ wish list, as well as more public gathering space and parking, and a store that can be accessed more easily. Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer
Ron Harvey, left, Michael Hudak and Nancy Bixler restore sculpture by Bernard Langlais at the Portland Museum of Art. Artwork by Langlais and other Maine artists will be displayed in the new fourth-floor Modern Menagerie gallery when the museum reopens on Jan. 22.
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