Construction at Massive New CSULB Art Museum

Construction at Massive New CSULB Art Museum

Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum

California State University, Long Beach

A longtime goal of the Cal State University, Long Beach campus is well on its way to being realized with the renovation and expansion of the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, formerly known as the University Art Museum.

Though still in the trenches of construction, the new exterior walls of the museum are up which now encompass an additional 4,000 square feet of land—most of which is dedicated to the Main Gallery, an impressive near-3,000 square foot windowless expanse that will be built with moveable walls, allowing for multiple exhibitions at a time.

Two galleries were typically the most the museum could host before. The remaining square footage—11,000 in total including new outdoor gardens and seating areas—will feature a state-of-the-art education laboratory, a reading and archives room, an office space, a visitor’s lobby and reception area, a retail shop, a temperature-controlled storage room and three permanent gallery spaces, some of which will have multipurpose uses.

Expanded, professional-grade galleries will host several different exhibitions at a time and allow the museum to deepen its leadership in the exploration of abstraction,” said newly appointed museum director Paul Baker Prindle in a statement.

Clark Construction Group began working on the museum in June 2020, alongside renovations to the museum’s neighboring Horn Center which is in the process of retrofitting and converting its computer lab and undergraduate advising center into 10 classrooms, two lecture halls, and additional all-gender restrooms.

The total cost for both projects is $24 million, according to CSULB. While state funding is paying for the Horn Center, private donations are footing the bill for the new museum. Its greatest benefactor is the museum’s new namesake, artist Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld, who donated $10 million, as reported by the Daily 49er.

The museum also includes a 521-square-foot gallery built in her honor that will be outfitted with barrel ceilings and hardwood floors. The Kleefeld Gallery room will house a permanent collection of some of her works in addition to a rotating selection by other artists.

The Kleefeld Gallery room will be the only space with hardwood flooring—the rest of the museum, save for the carpeted offices, will be laid with concrete. With this cozy feature, the gallery room will also be used as a community hall where visitors can reserve quiet, loud, evening or weekend hours for use.

“We definitely don’t want to be another ivory tower in the museum space, that’s really the antithesis of what we’re working towards,” Amanda Fruta, public affairs and communication specialist for Kleefeld Contemporary explained. “With the quiet hours, loud hours, extended hours, gardens, multi-use spaces, learning spaces and all-gender bathrooms, we want really want everyone to feel welcome here.”

Pfeiffer Partners Architects will be adding a new, glass vestibule to the original mid-century façade designed by famous architect Ed Killingsworth. The near 15-foot-tall diamond offset structure will act as an eye-catching attraction, hopefully encouraging passersby to stroll through the museum, something the space had previously struggled to do, Fruta said. 

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Original Article from Long Beach Post by Cheantay Jensen
CSU trustees to Consider Naming Cal State Long Beach’s Art Museum after Artist, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld

CSU trustees to Consider Naming Cal State Long Beach’s Art Museum after Artist, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld

Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum

California State University, Long Beach

The University Art Museum at the California State University, Long Beach could get a new name soon: the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum.

The California State University Board of Trustees on Tuesday, May 21, will consider renaming the museum after Kleefeld — an award-winning artist living in Big Sur. Kleefeld recently made a $10-million contribution to the university’s College of the Arts, and last month, she donated 120 pieces of her work to the museum.

Part of her financial donation will go toward ex … [ READ MORE ]

Original Article from Long Beach Press-Telegram
Big Sur’s Carolyn Mary Kleefeld Expands Catalog of Poetry and Art with Vagabond Dawns

Big Sur’s Carolyn Mary Kleefeld Expands Catalog of Poetry and Art with Vagabond Dawns

Big Sur poet and artist Carolyn Mary Kleefeld can often be found on the cliffs of Big Sur reading poetry to a resident condor.

“Art is where I gamble,” she says. “It’s Taoistic and intuitive.”

Cosmically, the gamble is paying off. Already a Big Sur icon, her international profile as a literary and artistic force continues to grow with the recent publication of her 10th book of poetry, Vagabond Dawns, the adoption of her work into the curriculum of a Welsh university, and a new series of Romanian translations.

Vagabond Dawns is a 100-poem volume filled with work that spans the last 20 years of Kleefeld’s creative life. The poems address a broad range of universal themes, such as human nature, the cycles of life, love and intimacy, spiritual transformation and a pantheistic relationship to the natural world.

“The themes of my poems are in continual flux, as my living is,” Kleefeld says. “Over time I think I have become more involved with the music and rhythm of poetry and the lyrical aspect of my poems has become more developed.”

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Original Article from Monterey County Weekly by Ryan Masters
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