Art Venture

ArtVenture, the museum's 2,200-square-foot interactive gallery, is still a work in progress and is not expected to be ready until the end of November 2008.

"It will not be open when we open," said Kimberly Templeton, the museum's director of external affairs.

But the new and improved version of the museum's popular interactive and educational component will be geared toward involving visitors of all ages in the creative process. ArtVenture will feature hands-on activity stations, viewing areas and programming to "stimulate the mind, arouse curiosity, and promote the artist in all of us," according to a museum release. Interactive/hands-on stations include the Lumia, a theater where participants can make light paintings; a 125-foot-long floor-to-ceiling drawing mural; music synthesizers; a print-making area; and a viewing area with a stage for puppetry and other performances, to name just a few.

"There are places to sit, pause, work, create, think and laugh," promises the museum's deputy director of art, David Brown.

The new ArtVenture is roughly twice the size of ArtVenture in its previous space at Center in the Square, which was only 1100-1200 square feet, Templeton said. The new space also has a better configuration, she said.

She said birthday parties will be held in a specially designated space adjacent to ArtVenture. Birthday parties were held in ArtVenture at Center in the Square in a birthday party room near the painting station.