
Racine Art Museum, ca. 2005
Photography: Christopher Barrett
From the Ground Up: Building Racine Art Museum
June 1 – August 17, 2013
In 2003, Racine Art Museum opened the doors of its Main Street space in downtown Racine. Rooted in the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts—still an integral part of the organization as a whole—RAM offered the opportunity for institutional growth in a variety of capacities, including more exhibition and storage space.
Designed by the award-winning Chicago architecture firm Brininstool + Lynch, the museum is an environmentally sound and visually striking reuse of two existing structures that join together in an “exploration of transparency, translucency, opacity, and light.” The RAM facility features over 10,000 square feet of exhibition space, an entire floor dedicated to collection care and art preparation, a museum store, art library, and administrative offices.
Honoring RAM’s 10th anniversary, From the Ground Up offers materials—floor plans, photographs, blue prints, ephemera, and a building model—that document the development of the new museum for Racine leading up to its grand opening in 2003. For visitors unfamiliar with these ideas, this exhibition is a snapshot of an important moment in RAM’s history. For those acquainted with the building project, it offers an opportunity to reminisce and to contemplate what has changed and what has stayed the same since the museum’s early phases of conception, design, and construction.
More About the Exhibition
From the Ground Up: Building Racine Art Museum
June 1 – August 17, 2013

Racine Art Museum, ca. 2005
Photography: Christopher Barrett
In 2003, Racine Art Museum opened the doors of its Main Street space in downtown Racine. Rooted in the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts—still an integral part of the organization as a whole—RAM offered the opportunity for institutional growth in a variety of capacities, including more exhibition and storage space.
Designed by the award-winning Chicago architecture firm Brininstool + Lynch, the museum is an environmentally sound and visually striking reuse of two existing structures that join together in an “exploration of transparency, translucency, opacity, and light.” The RAM facility features over 10,000 square feet of exhibition space, an entire floor dedicated to collection care and art preparation, a museum store, art library, and administrative offices.
Honoring RAM’s 10th anniversary, From the Ground Up offers materials—floor plans, photographs, blue prints, ephemera, and a building model—that document the development of the new museum for Racine leading up to its grand opening in 2003. For visitors unfamiliar with these ideas, this exhibition is a snapshot of an important moment in RAM’s history. For those acquainted with the building project, it offers an opportunity to reminisce and to contemplate what has changed and what has stayed the same since the museum’s early phases of conception, design, and construction.
More About the Exhibition
Gallery of Work
Exhibitions at RAM are made possible by:
Platinum Sponsors
The Estate of Karen Johnson Boyd
David Charak
Judith and David Flegel Fund
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ron and Judith Isaacs
Nicholas and Nancy Kurten
Windgate Foundation
Diamond Sponsors
City of Racine’s Grow Racine Grant
Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation
Ruffo Family Foundation
Ruth Arts Foundation
Gold Sponsors
Anonymous
Tom and Irene Creecy
Richard and Patricia Ehlert
Herzfeld Foundation
Reliance Controls
Ruth Foundation for the Arts
Trio Foundation of St. Louis
W.T. Walker Group, Inc.
Wisconsin Arts Board
Silver Sponsors
Anonymous
Art Bridges
Baird
A.C. Buhler Family
Lucy G. Feller
Ben and Dawn Flegel
Jim Harris
Sharon and Tom Harty
Lise Iwon
J. Jeffers & Co.
Johnson Financial Group
Dorothy MacVicar
Jan Serr and John Shannon
Bronze Sponsors
Ellen and Joseph Albrecht
Andis Foundation
Susan Boland
Virginia Buhler
Butcher & Barrel/Amos Los Tacos
Educators Credit Union
Express Employment Professionals
Tony and Andrea Hauser
Bill and Debbie Keland
Susan Manalli
Jean and Alex Mandli, Jr.
The Prairie School
Cathy Stanghellin
Georgiana Treivush
Twin Disc, Inc.