An Expanded Glenstone Will Open to the Public on October 4, Offering a Six-Fold Increase in Exhibition Space and Another 130 Acres of Landscape

POTOMAC, MD, September 4, 2018 – Reservations to visit the new Glenstone Museum are now available and can be booked online by visiting glenstonestag.wpengine.com. Admission is free at all times. The new Glenstone, which includes an additional 50,000 square feet of exhibition space for modern and contemporary art, two cafes, a bookstore, and a total of 230 acres of landscaped meadows, woods, and streams, will open to the public on October 4, 2018.

As part of Glenstone’s effort to maintain a serene and contemplative environment for each visitor, visits are scheduled in advance. Reservations are now available for visits through the end of November. Additional tickets will be released on the first of every month beginning October 1 for the upcoming 3 months.

“After years of planning and building, we’re excited to reach this moment when we’re ready to share so much more of the Glenstone collection with the public,” said Emily Wei Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone. “We look forward to welcoming visitors soon to our fully realized vision of art, architecture, and landscape combined in a single experience.”

The highlight of the 240,000 square-foot expansion is a 204,000-square-foot building known as the Pavilions, designed by Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners. The Pavilions has 11 rooms, 9 of which will feature single-artist installations at the time of the opening. One room features a survey exhibition of works by 52 artists represented in the Glenstone collection, and another offers a view of the landscape. Artworks are also installed in the entry and the passage around a landscaped, 18,000-square-foot water court.

The inaugural installation at the Pavilions includes works by world-renowned artists as well as lesser-known contemporaries, all of whom made important contributions to post-war and contemporary art. Many of the living artists collaborated on the installation of their works at the Pavilions and continue to be closely involved with Glenstone.

Single-artist installations in the Pavilions include:

• – A five-panel painting by Brice Marden that highlights the arc of his practice and is the only commissioned work by the artist
• – Works by sculptor Martin Puryear, a native Washingtonian who was recently named to represent the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale
• – A large-scale wall relief by the Brazilian artist Lygia Pape
• – Paintings by On Kawara and sculptures by Cy Twombly, in installations that were among the last that the late artists oversaw

At the time of the opening, the largest room in the Pavilions features a carefully selected group of works that showcase major moments in art history over the last 75 years, including notable movements that developed in 1950s New York, 1960s Japan, 1970s Brazil, and 1980s Germany. The space features iconic post-war American artists such as Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, Ruth Asawa, and Jackson Pollock, alongside Japanese contemporaries such as Kazuo Shiraga and Atsuko Tanaka.

“We’re grateful to the artists, the members of our staff, and the extraordinary team of architects, landscape architects, and builders who have all worked so hard to create the new Glenstone,” said Mitchell P. Rales, co-founder of Glenstone. “With the depth and breadth of artwork at Glenstone, and the way the experience of the place changes season by season, we hope people will want to come back again and again.”

The original museum building, the Gallery, opened in 2006 and was designed by Charles Gwathmey. Its current exhibition, Louise Bourgeois: To Unravel a Torment, features nearly 30 works spanning a career that was informed by the artist’s experience as a schoolgirl in France and later developed in New York. The exhibition will remain on view through early 2020.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to walk the 230-acre site, which includes 10 monumental outdoor sculptures. These include:

• – Jeff Koons’s Split-Rocker, 2000, a 37-foot sculpture planted with more than 25,000 live flowering plants
• – Two iconic Richard Serra sculptures, Sylvester, 2001, and Contour 290, 2004
• – A sound installation by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, FOREST (for a thousand years…), 2012, that is tucked away in the woods near a stream
• – Site-specific sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy, Clay Houses (Boulder-Room-Holes), 2007-2008, and Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled, 2005

At the 16,000-square-foot Environmental Center, located near the new entrance and parking groves, visitors may learn about Glenstone’s sustainability efforts and how to practice them at home.

The new Glenstone offers two dining venues: the Café and the Patio. The Café, part of the expansion, serves as the central location for dining, offering local, seasonal fare at family-style tables. The Patio, part of the original campus, features lighter food and drink options and includes a large deck with seating that overlooks the forest.

From today through October 4, Glenstone will be closed to prepare for the public opening.

The Montgomery County Ride On bus will increase the number of its daily stops at Glenstone. Beginning October 4, the Ride On bus will make seven stops a day in each direction on the 301 route. The route includes a stop at the red line’s Rockville metro station. To learn more about the schedule, visit www.rideonbus.com.

About Glenstone

Glenstone, a museum of modern and contemporary art, is integrated into more than 230 acres of gently rolling pasture and unspoiled woodland in Montgomery County, Maryland, less than 15 miles from the heart of Washington, DC. Established by the not-for-profit Glenstone Foundation, the museum opened in 2006 and provides a contemplative, intimate setting for experiencing iconic works of art and architecture within a natural environment.

Glenstone is open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm. Visitors are invited to explore the grounds on their own or join one of several outdoor sculpture tours offered throughout the day. Admission to Glenstone is free and visits can be scheduled online at: glenstone.org. Same-day visits can be scheduled using the website or a smartphone.

Media Contact:

Media inquiries: press@glenstone.org

General inquiries: info@glenstone.org