Facilities
The University Museum occupies the first floor of the north wing of Faner Hall. This multipurpose building, in addition to the Museum, houses primarily the College of Liberal Arts. Completed in 1974, Faner Hall is an award winning design in the "brutalism" architectural style popular in the mid to late 20th Century. The University Museum has 10,000 square feet of exhibition space in two halls, North and South.
Thunderstone Blue by Michael Dunbar, in front of the Museum
You are invited to take this online tour of the facilities. We hope that you will then visit the University Museum to enjoy the full effect of what is offered.
Auditorium
In addition to the Mitchell Gallery, Atrium Gallery, and Discovery 101 the Education Center in the North Hall, the Museum Auditorium offers a space of a different kind. The 88-seat auditorium is used to present the many Museum programs, lectures and Museum Studies classes. It may also be rented by other University Departments and local community groups. The Auditorium is available weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at $15 per hour. The audio visual capabilities of the console include an LCD projector with a connection to a document camera, PC computer, and VCR player. A laptop or iPod may also be connected to this arrangement for presentations.
North Hall, Mitchell Gallery
The Museum is divided into two major areas on either side of a central lobby, the North Hall and South Hall galleries. The North Hall includes the Mitchell Gallery, a 2,500 square foot premiere gallery space overlooking the Museum's Sculpture Garden and home to many of the Museum's exciting art exhibits.
Atrium Gallery
Connecting the Mitchell Gallery to the central lobby is the 120-foot long, two-story Atrium Gallery. This dramatic space frequently displays sculptures from the Museum's excellent collection of 20th Century sculpture as well as changing exhibits by visiting artists.
South Hall
The South Hall is comprised of several galleries with movable, temporary partitions to allow for maximum flexibility in presenting the many changing exhibits on the Museum's busy schedule. In addition to the flexible larger gallery, three new galleries have been created in South Hall. These new galleries are: The Southern Illinois Gallery, The Fraunfelter Gallery, and The International Gallery. Popular exhibits that are always on view in South Hall are the Life Through Time geological exhibit and the Pioneer Dioramas.
South Hall, Southern Illinois Gallery
The Southern Illinois Gallery features dioramas of Southern Illinois life. The dioramas focus on rural life and the occupations of the immigrants who came to the region in the the 19th Century. Among the occupations shown are blacksmithing, ...... Other activities illustrated include hog butchering, ..... An early Illinois school room is shown. The dioramas were created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) artists assigned to the University Museum between 1939 and 1942.
In addition to the dioramas, the gallery displays changing exhibits related to Illinois history.
South Hall, Fraunfelter Gallery
The Fraunfelter Gallery displays fossils from our distant past. Named after the late professor George Fraunfelter, the gallery brings the story of Life on Earth up to the Native Peoples who lived in Southern Illinois before Statehood. The Museum's scientific collections number close to 30,000 objects, a small fraction of which are exhibited here. A number of the fossils on display were collected by Southern Illinois school children as part of the Museum's educational programs.
South Hall, International Gallery
The International Gallery was designed to showcase objects from the Museum's outstanding world cultures' collection. These ethnographic displays usually change twice a year.
South Hall, South One and Two Galleries
South One and South Two are changing exhibits galleries. A wide variety of exhibits are featured year-round.
South Hall, Hall of Art
The Hall of Art features changing exhibits featuring the University Museum's permanent collection of art. The exhibits usually change twice a year. Due to copyright issues, a visual image cannot be shown of this gallery at this time.
Sculpture Garden
The University Museum boasts a beautiful outdoor sculpture garden on the west side of the very northern end of Faner Hall, just outside the Mitchell Gallery. The Sculpture Garden contains several large-scale contemporary works, including two favorite sculptures expressly designed and created as outdoor seating. In addition to the sculptures, visitors can enjoy a stroll through the serene Japanese garden complete with waterfall and Koi pond, inspired by the Japanese influence of SIU's campus in Niigata, Najako, Japan. Also, there are the many beautiful flowers to enjoy in the Japanese Garden in the Dorothy Morris Gardens. Mrs. Morris was the wife of Dr. Delyte Morris, president of Southern Illinois University from 1948-1970. A point of interest is that the Sculpture Garden was the backyard of the President's home prior to Faner Hall's construction.
Artists represented in the garden include Aldon Addington, Kent Hilgenbrinck, Richard Hunt, Dan Johnson, R. W. Michelmann, Kara Nasca, Colby Parsons-O'Keefe, and Ernest Trova.
Discovery 101, the Museum's Education Center
Museum Store
The Museum Store has a new 200 square foot space in South Hall. The hours are the same as the Museum hours.
