“The boiler fire at the museum in January delayed our reopening plans by a few weeks, but we are now ready to safely welcome the public back to the museum.”
The museum initially closed last spring due to the pandemic, but reopened in July. An increase in coronavirus cases in Montgomery County during the fall prompted DAI officials to temporarily shut down again.
In January a boiler, believed to have malfunctioned, caught fire. No artwork was damaged.
The museum’s hours starting March 19 will be 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Previous safety measures put in place in 2020 will remain in effect when the museum reopens, including:
- Physical distancing measures to ensure guests remain six feet from others not in their group.
- All staff and guests will be required to wear face coverings while visiting the museum.
- Enhanced cleaning procedures will be in place throughout the museum.
All museum tours will continue to be self-guided, in-person programs and interactive activities will not yet be available, and The Lange Family Experiencenter, which provides informal learning activities for children and their caregivers that encourage families to engage with art, will remain closed until further notice.
The DAI also released the exhibition schedules for the remainder of 2021.
Changing Times: Art of the 1960s, May 22– Sept. 12
This DAI-exclusive exhibition presents a look at one of the most transformative and often turbulent decades the world has ever experienced. Through experimentation with new media, styles and forms, artists in the 1960s broke down boundaries between fine and popular art, a trend that continues today. Drawing on the DAI’s extensive collection, featured artists include Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jim Dine, Aka Pereyma, Robert Motherwell, Gene Davis, Sol LeWitt and many others.
Ralston Crawford: Air & Space & War, Oct. 30, 2021–Jan. 23, 2022
American art transformed in the period from 1940 through 1955, and nowhere is that change better exemplified than in the work of Ralston Crawford. Crawford was influenced by aviation through personal experiences in flight; these experiences had a profound impact on Crawford and marked a major turning point in his life and art. The exhibition features approximately 70 works, including paintings, drawings and photographs.
When the DAI reopens, the Focus Exhibitions Bukang Y. Kim: Journey to the East, March 19–Aug.15, and All by Myself: Japanese Creative Prints, March 19–Sept. 19, will be on view.
Upcoming Focus Exhibitions include: Looking at Family: Photographs from the Collection, April 16–July 11; The Roaring (and the Quiet) 1920s, May 7–Aug. 15; Photographs from the Collection: Processes, July 30–Oct. 24; Spotlight on Africa: Gifts from Dianne Komminsk, Aug. 7–Nov. 4; Formless Form V: The Calligraphy of Ronald Y. Nakasone, Sept. 18, 2021–Jan. 2, 2022; Beyond the Woodblock, Oct. 2, 2021–March 6, 2022; Norman Rockwell: Stories of Emotion, Oct. 23, 2021–Feb. 13, 2022; and Early Ohio Photography, Nov. 13, 2021–Feb. 6, 2022.
Advance tickets are not required to visit the museum, but capacity may be limited in some collection and exhibition galleries.
Museum general admission, which includes the collection galleries and all exhibitions, is $15 for adults, $10 seniors (60+) and for active military and groups (10 or more), $5 for students (18+ w/ID) and youths (ages 7-17), free for children (ages 6 and younger) and for museum members.
More information about museum policies and procedures, as well as about planning a visit, can be found at www.daytonartinstitute.org/visit. Updates and additional information will also be posted to the museum’s social-media accounts, DAI officials said.
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