The Owensboro Museum of Fine Art is moving forward with a major expansion aimed at giving local children more room to create — and permission to “make a mess.”
During a news conference at the museum Tuesday, Executive Director Jason Hayden announced that Daviess County Fiscal Court has awarded the museum a $294,000 tourism grant to help build the new ArtLand 2 Education Annex. Combined with the museum’s own investment, the funding covers a large portion of the project’s total cost of about $735,000.
Hayden thanked city and county officials for their ongoing support, noting that the museum could not continue its mission without local government’s “stalwart, steady support.”
“The city and county are very visionary in seeing how important it is to educate, specifically children, in the visual arts,” Hayden said. “This grant lets us double the number of kids we can teach each year.”
The new annex will replace the century-old Baker House, which has served as storage and was originally intended to be converted into an education building. Instead, museum leaders decided to start fresh with a purpose-built facility designed for children’s art programming and community use.
Board Chair Dr. James Naas said the expansion has been discussed for years but gained momentum during COVID-19.
“This isn’t a new idea. We’ve talked about building this for a long time, and we got serious about it just before I became chair, during COVID,” Naas said. “I want to leave you with a thought about this new building. A little 5-year-old girl once said, ‘I know what art is. You draw the thing, you paint the thing, and then you put a line around it.’ This building is going to allow for a lot of that.”
Rebecca Stoen, the museum’s education director, said the project will open new doors for young artists — and for the community at large.
“I get cold chills when we talk about it,” Stoen said. “We’ll be able to do so much more. Kids, teens, anyone will have a place to come together and create without worrying about paint on the floor. It’s going to be a hub for creativity.”
Currently, Hayden said the museum runs the region’s only free art camps open to the public, with half the spots reserved for children served by local social service agencies. With limited spaces available, many children end up on a waiting list each summer.
The new annex will feature an open floor plan and flexible design. In addition to educational programming, the building will be available to rent for private events, weddings, and community gatherings.
Demolition of the old Baker House is expected soon, with a groundbreaking planned for the coming months. Local children will decorate shovels for the ceremony, mirroring the folk art shovels displayed from the museum’s 1993 expansion.
Construction is expected to be complete by next summer, just in time to welcome a new wave of young artists ready to create — and make a mess.
