The collections are retuning to the building and gallery installation is underway. Before the museum opens on August 26, we invite you to take a peek behind the scenes.

Man with short white hair and glasses sorts tools on a table
A large, free-standing wall under construction in an open, manufacturing space
Museum exhibition furniture under construction in a large manufacturing space
  • Steve Erickson, manager of design, preparation and installation, organizes tools and materials on a table in the clean shop.
  • A free-standing exhibition wall under construction in the museum shipping and receiving.
  • Plinths and other exhibition furniture being painted.
cardboard shipping boxes sit on wheeled carts in an art gallery with dark grey walls.
Large ceramic pot in a cardboard packing box is surrounded and protected by white foam packing material.
Custom packing container for a ceramic pot. There is a base with three, vertical foam pillars, cut to follow the curve of the pot. The pillars are connected by a white, cloth binding tape that is tied around the outside.
Large wooden cart on wheels holds custom packing material for artworks
Group of art handlers preparing ceramic pots for installation
Group of art handlers wearing face masks
View of hallway with a wheeled step ladder. A glass-front case in the background is filled with ceramic pots.
  • Packing boxes containing large ceramic pots wait to be unpacked.
  • A large African ceramic pot sits within its custom storage mount and packing box.
  • Many complex three-dimensional objects in the collecting have a custom-built storage mount. These mounts limit movement and vibration while in transit.
  • A rack of shipping harnesses waits to return to collections storage
  • The Stanley moving and installation team unpack objects and create condition reports in the galleries.
  • L to R:  Zoe Webb, Ariana Santana Flores, Sayuri Sasaki Hemann, Alexandra Janezic, Sarah Luko, and Charles Williams.
  • View of the south hallway surrounding the main stairwell. African ceramic pots have been installed in the glass-front display cabinets on the east side.
Yellow kente cloth hangs on a dark grey wall with a vacuum cleaner and wheeled cart in the foreground.
A small section of an abstract painting seen between wooden slats of packing crate.
Large, multi-colored painting in it's wooden crate leans against a gallery wall.
Next to a large painting lying face down on the floor, an art conservator kneels and removes staples from the back of the work
Next to a large painting lying face down on the floor, an art conservator sits and removes staples from the back of the work
Art conservators work on the back surface of a large painting that lies face down on the floor
large abstract painting propped up on foam bricks leans against a wall.
  • Test installation of a large Asante adinkra cloth
  • Detail image of a new acquisition in its shipping crate
  • Sam Gilliam's Red April resting in its shipping crate
  • Art conservator Dorota Bobek from Third Coast Conservation (Chicago) removes backing material stapled to the back of Red April.
  • Art conservator Maria Paras helps complete this process
  • Dorota and Maria restretch Red April's canvas, which is an inherent problem with non-primed canvas. Red April has travelled extensively in the past decade so this work is part of the museum's ongoing commitment to collections care.
  • Sam Gilliam's Red April after conservation and ready to install in the gallery.