Renovated Met plans a vigorous schedule

Oct 03, 2008 (The Fresno Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NYT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The Fresno Metropolitan Museum, closed since the summer of 2005 for major renovation, is preparing to roar back with a busy schedule of exhibits.

The Met, at Van Ness Avenue and Calaveras Street, is scheduled to reopen Nov. 13.

Executive Director Dana Thorpe says The Met is a community museum that strives to infuse its galleries with dynamic science and fine-arts exhibits. She also wants to introduce children to the museum experience and hopes to establish collaborative efforts with other arts and cultural organizations in the central San Joaquin Valley.

The key, Thorpe says, is "knowing your mission, understanding the audience you're serving."

Exhibits are lined up many months in advance, Thorpe says.

The Met will install a blockbuster science exhibit each spring. That consistency will give schools a schedule upon which to rely, she says.

Summer will bring more experimentation with topical themes. Fall will bring fine-arts installations.

Here are some of the exhibits:

--Nov. 13-March 1: Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight. This traveling exhibit looks at the queries about the evolutionary theories surrounding prehistoric birds. The show comes from the Dinosaur Museum in Utah in association with the Fossil Administration Office in Liaoning, China, and the Liaoning Beipiao China Shihetun Museum of Paleontology.

--Nov. 13-August: Crossroads II: The Meeting of Art and Science. An exhibit on the exploration of art and science, and how the two connect, will include hands-on, interactive stations.

--March 28-June 14: Anna Richards Brewster: American Impressionist. This exhibit views the emergence of Brewster (1870-1952) at a time when women were breaking into the art world's professional and academic fields. At the turn of the century, she was one of the best-known American women artists.

--April 11-June 21: The Dutch Italianate: 17th Century Masterpieces From Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. The gallery is one of the oldest public art venues in England and is lending 40 paintings from the 1600s and 1700s by artists such as Aelbert Cuyp, Nicolaes Berchem and Karel Dujardin.

--June 27-Sept. 27: Bob the Builder-Project: Build It. This traveling exhibit based on the popular children's television char- acter comes from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The exhibit is "filled with colorful characters, sensational sets and imaginative, entertaining and inspiring teamwork the exhibit promotes 'green' themes from the popular television series."

--June 26-Aug. 30: I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art. This show from the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, N.Y., presents the tempting objects of delectability or overindulgence that have flowed into contemporary art. The artists include Wayne Thiebaud (born 1920), whose well-known paintings include images of cakes, pastries and candy. The New York Times last year wrote: "Do not visit this show before you eat lunch. The works on view include depictions of every type of dessert imaginable."

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