Dining

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Why did it take 14 years? OCMA went through different regimes with different visions. At times the economy sputtered. COVID-19 happened. And the price tag kept increasing.

Since joining OCMA in 2019, Zuckerman has raised close to $30 million; her goal is to launch with zero debt. Which is now.

“The Orange County Museum of Art is the final step in the decades-long journey,” says Anton Segerstrom, a top OCMA donor, member of the its board of trustees

Rendering of the museum’s entry atrium; right, architect Thom Mayne

and son of philanthropist Henry Segerstrom.

This completes Henry’s broad cultural vision, Anton says: “His real passions were the performing arts, architecture and sculpture.”

THE ASYMMETRICAL SHAPE

WHAT SEGERSTROM CALLS an “architectural gem” derives from Mayne’s concept, executed by the Morphosis team, led by project principal Brandon Welling.

Much of the exterior is covered with glazed terracotta panels—each an individual size and shape, assembled like a massive jigsaw puzzle to create the wavy appearance.

Noticeable from outside is a multilevel atrium exposing three steel bridges with translucent glass floors.

Perhaps the most prominent feature, inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Colosseum in Rome, is a broad and swooping staircase designed as a public gathering spot.

FREE FOR ALL

THE MUSEUM HAD previously had an admission fee; Zuckerman wanted entry to be free.

Contemporary art can be “weird or scary or off-putting,” Zuckerman acknowledges. “It’s important to remove as many barriers as possible. The first one is the admission price.”

A $2.5 million gift from Lugano Diamonds, a retailer based in Newport Beach, underwrites admission for the next decade.

ENCOUNTERING THE ART

THE NEW MUSEUM doubles the size of its former location. Gallery space increases by 50 percent.

“The museum has a diversity of

Clockwise from top left: Art at the museum’s inaugural exhibitions includes Mary Heilmann, Surfing on Acid, 2005; Fred Eversley, Untitled (parabolic lens), 2020; Barbara Kruger, Untitled, 1989; and Ed Ruscha, Annie, 1965.

spaces for different types of art and different scales of art, smaller photographic works versus large sculptural works,” Welling says.

Several peek-throughs allow visitors to peer into a gallery from elsewhere, allowing them to experience art from different perspectives.

Works of art like natural light, Zuckerman says; the main exhibition areas have an ambient white glow beneath a scalloped fabric ceiling.

WHAT YOU’LL SEE

THE PERMANENT collection, much of it stored off-site, features nearly 5,000 works from the 20th and 21st centuries by mostly California and Pacific Rim artists. They include John Baldessari, Barbara Krueger, Chris Burden, Vija Celmins, Richard Diebenkorn, Catherine Opie, Charles Ray and Ed Ruscha.

Zuckerman had planned to add 60 new pieces in honor of the museum’s 60 years of existence; that goal was surpassed midsummer. A focus of the new acquisitions has been on more works by women and artists of color.

FRONT AND CENTER, A COMMISSION

FOR ITS OPENING, OCMA commissioned a large-scale work by Los Angeles artist Sanford Biggers that can be seen from both the center’s plaza and from inside.

The 24-foot-wide, 16-foot-tall steel and aluminum interactive sculpture Of many waters… is described as “an archetype of a European reclining male figure with a 19th-century Baule double-face mask made from metal sequins.”

INAUGURAL EXHIBITIONS

OCMA OPENS WITH four shows. 13 Women is curated as a nod to the founders and features rotating works by women, and some men, central to the OCMA collection.

The return of the museum’s California Biennial, presented from 1984 to 2006, explores the latest developments in contemporary art and identifies emerging artists.

Fred Eversley: Reflecting Back (the World) expands on the museum’s 1978 exhibition featuring the sculptor.

Peter Walker: Minimalist Landscape pays homage to the landscape architect who worked with the Segerstrom family starting in the 1970s; he’s best known today as a co-designer of the National 9/11 Memorial in lower Manhattan.

THE URBAN VIBE

THE MUSEUM BRINGS the outside in and the indoors out. The terracotta exterior wraps into the building; natural light floods the welcome desk.

Passersby experience art, too. The Window Gallery facing Avenue of the Arts, for instance, opens with a new mural by Alicia McCarthy in

World Premiere

Mark Morris Dance Group The Look of Love

An Evening of Dance to the Music of Burt Bacharach

October 20–23, 2022

BroadStage Commission

Following the roaring success of his Beatles tribute Pepperland, Mark Morris teams up again with musical collaborator Ethan Iverson (The Bad Plus) for The Look of Love, a wistful and heartfelt homage to the chart-topping songs of Burt Bacharach.

Photo credit: Jim Coleman: Mark Morris’ Grand Duo

Presenting Patron Sponsor: Laura Stevenson Maslon

broadstage.org

the California Biennial.

The terrace level expands onto the plaza, which can be configured for installations and events. It’s bordered on two sides by 25 oak and Palos Verdes trees—ingeniously deeply planted despite their elevation— and gardens of mostly succulents.

The plaza’s tile has no grout so rainwater can be captured for the trees.

TAKE A BREAK

EVEN THE MOST avid museum-goer can need a break. Offerings include a gift shop, a coffee bar and plenty of benches and sitting areas inside and out.

Open for lunch on the terrace level, Verdant offers a seasonal, local, plant-forward menu.

The restaurant, a full bar and the lobby coffee station are developed by chefs Ross Pangilinan and Nicholas Weber, both Patina Group alumni.

Pangilinan is known for his Mix Mix restaurants; in June, he and Weber opened bistro Populaire at South Coast Plaza.

Rendering of terrace and grand stair

YOUNG VISITORS

THE EDUCATION HALL serves as more than just an on-site classroom.

“The education pavilion is this energized organic form that cantilevers out over the entrance,” Zuckerman points out. “It says to the community that we prioritize learning, that education is at the core of what we do.”

The space can be configured as a black-box theater or light-filled studio. The first outreach is to Santa Ana students. A Mom’s Lounge is for parents of kids taking classes.

WHAT’S NEXT?

WHEN ZUCKERMAN gives tours of the site, she stops to points out 10,000 square feet on the terrace available for a museum expansion.

No plans for that just yet.

3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. Open Thursday-Saturday 10 a.m-8 p.m.; Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. ocma.art