Thesis Abstract

The need to provide new and adequate museum spaces continues to be a national and international demand. A facility that reflects context and creativity with watercolor will enhance the viewing and appreciation of this transparent art form.

When one looks at the site and the relationships of the people involved in bringing a facility to reality it reveals intersections on many different levels. As a boy my father took me every week to the Detroit Institute of Art while he pursued his masters. It was these experiences that captured my love for displaying art. Display, combined with my involvement with creating water color has cemented my dream to create an American Watercolor Museum. Currently no such museum is available.

While the display of artworks and museums have evolved over time, the focus has been consistently the "cabinet of curiosities" as in the display and preservation of the watercolor art. It is both a reflection and my story about creating and preserving the art form of watercolor. While the place where the watercolor museum is to be located is on land owned by my family for almost 400 years, my ancestors would not have imagined the use proposed at this location.

Therefore it is my goal to create a modern museum that will display, allow for the contiguous creating ,and preservation of watercolor art. Can this be accomplished with transparency and light?