About the Art Museum
Mission
Located at the center of campus, the Binghamton University Art Museum is a dynamic public space where staff and faculty engage students and the wider public through frequent original exhibitions and programming. The Binghamton University Art Museum has a permanent collection of over 4,500 objects selectively acquired over 50 years. These include works on paper, paintings, sculpture and decorative arts from around the world and spanning 5,000 years. These activities and objects are vital to Binghamton University, one of four research universities as well as the most selective undergraduate campus in the State University of New York.
Description
Exhibitions are installed in the Main Gallery, the Susan M. Reifer '65 and Stanley J. Reifer '64 Mezzanine Gallery and the Nancy J. Powell Gallery, which itself consists of several small galleries. Exhibitions rotate regularly and are curated by museum staff, faculty members, and students.
In addition to exhibitions, the museum offers other opportunities for visitors to engage with art. The Kenneth C. Lindsay Study Room provides students, faculty members and the general public a space in which they may view any work in the permanent collection. This room is also used for university classes and the short-term display of selected objects for educational purposes. An area leading into the Lindsay Study Room has recently been transformed into visible storage. Here, visitors may view objects that would otherwise be in vault storage, but are instead densely installed in glass cabinets. A specially designed tablet tour allows individuals to read short labels written by students from different disciplinary perspectives.
The Binghamton University Art Museum does not accept unsolicited artist submissions or exhibition proposals.
Visit
Location: Fine Arts Building, Rooms 179 and 213
Visit our Events page for details on remaining programs.
Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday: Noon-4 pm
Thursday: Noon-7 pm
Closed the week of Thanksgiving — Sunday, Nov 24-Monday, Dec 2.
Fall 2024 exhibitions close Saturday, December 7.
Closed all national holidays and when the University is closed. For specific dates, check the academic calendar or call us at 607-777-2968.
Admission: free
Directions: consult the campus map and directions.
Printable map
Staff
Diane Butler, PhD – Director
607-777-3252 or dbutler@binghamton.edu
Silvia Ivanova – Registrar
607-777-4763 or ivanova@binghamton.edu
T. Joseph Leach – Curator of Collections and Exhibitions
607-777-2980 or jleach4@binghamton.edu
Amanda Lynn – Coordinator of Education and Public Programs
607-777-2634 or alynn1@binghamton.edu
Tom McDonough, PhD – Adjunct Curator
607-777-2847 or tmcdonou@binghamton.edu
Jessica Petrylak – Art Preparator and Communications Assistant
607-777-2978 or jpetrylak@binghamton.edu
Cynthia Riley – Staff Assistant
607-777-2968 or criley@binghamton.edu
Kenneth C. Lindsay Study Room
Named after the art historian and founder of the Art Gallery, Kenneth C. Lindsay (1919-2009), the Study Room provides opportunities to study any object from the permanent collection.
Students, professors and members of the general public may visit the Lindsay Room at any time the museum is open. To view specific works, not on view, please make an appointment with the museum registrar, Silvia Ivanova.
Professors may also reserve the Study Room in order to hold a class of no more than 20 students to view artwork, or may request that several works of art be put on display for a short time for students to examine. Professors should contact Silvia Ivanova to reserve the Study Room.
Visible Storage Tablet Tour
An increasing number of municipal art and cultural museums have developed visible storage areas so that visitors might glimpse the depth of an institution's permanent collection. The Visible Storage Tablet Tour was created in Spring 2014 in order to encourage visitors to engage with works of art in novel ways. Objects from ancient Egypt, classical Greece and Rome, as well as Asia, Africa, the early Americas, and early modern Europe are densely installed in cabinets. Rather than read mounted labels or texts, visitors explore the visible storage with iPads (provided by a gallery guard). Using accessible, touch-screen technology, the iPads allow visitors to learn basic information about every object and to read short labels written by students from different disciplinary perspectives such as history, creative writing, geology, or chemistry.
Museum Shop
Also visit our Museum Shop, located in the Museum near the Main Gallery. Here, handmade jewelry, hand-dyed scarves and silk-covered journals featuring artwork from the permanent collection are available for purchase. Proceeds are placed in a fund managed by the museum and the Binghamton Foundation and used for travel grants to cover expenses incurred by school groups visiting the museum.