LITERATURE + LECTURES

This fall, the man at the helm of the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a massive complex in Bentonville, Ark. opening this November and supported by an $800 million endowment from the Walton Family Foundation, is paying a visit to Houston.

University of Houston alumnus, former Blaffer Art Museum director, and current Crystal Bridges director Don Bacigalupi (pictured) will give a public lecture at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 in the UH College of Architecture Theater. Titled Building a Museum in the 21st Century: Crystal Bridges and its American Art Collection, Dr. Bacigalupi’s talk will focus on his $50 million building campaign and his efforts in acquiring a collection that will immediately make the museum one of the foremost collections of American art.

The lecture is a collaboration between the University of Houston’s Blaffer Art Museum, Gerald D. Hines School of Architecture, and School of Art, and is presented in view of Blaffer’s building renovation and the launch of the School of Art’s new Master of Arts program in Art History.

Envisioned and primarily funded by Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, Crystal Bridges is scheduled to open on Nov. 11, 2011. Designed by internationally renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the museum buildings encompass over 200,000 square feet of gallery, library, meeting, and office space situated on an over 120 acre park.

Don Bacigalupi was appointed director of Crystal Bridges in August 2009. Dr. Bacigalupi earned a B.A. in Art History from the University of Houston and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Bacigalupi was director and chief curator of Blaffer Art Museum (formerly Blaffer Gallery) from 1996 until 1999. His most notable exhibition at Blaffer was Michael Ray Charles, 1989-1997: An American Artist’s Work, which opened at Blaffer in 1997 and then traveled to the Austin Museum of Art and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati. The exhibition catalogue won three first prizes for publication design from the American Association of Museums, Texas Association of Museums, and Houston Art Director’s Club.