Renovations at the Daura Gallery are well under way and visitors will experience a completely new feel when the gallery reopens Sept. 20.
The carpeted wall covering has been removed and replaced with paper-free drywall, and will be painted with soft white paint. The new surface provides the opportunity to paint walls in colors that enhance the works of art on exhibit.
Carpeting has also been removed from the floor, which will be replaced with a water-resistant vinyl composition floor covering in a neutral birch tone, making standing more comfortable.
“With additional lighting fixtures acquired last year, the renovations will provide great spaces for the dynamic installation of both permanent and temporary exhibitions,” said Barbara Rothermel, director of the gallery.
The project is being done by L.G. Flint Inc., of Lynchburg, and was made possible by a challenge grant from the Daura Foundation. The gallery is indebted to Martha Daura and to those whose generous donations met the challenge: Gary Wake and Dianne Wake; Rosel and Elliot Schewel; Julius and Jan Sigler, and Paul Jr. and Sandra Whitehead.
The Daura will open Sept. 20 with breathtaking photographs of our solar system featured in Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition at the Gallery through Nov. 14. The Smithsonian Community Grant program, funded by MetLife Foundation, is a proud sponsor of this public program.
An opening reception and lecture, “NASA: Past, Present, Future,” by Kenneth Garren, president of University of Lynchburg, will be Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Daura Gallery.
For more information, contact Shannon Brennan, director of media relations, at 434.544.8609.