The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia will reopen its galleries to the public on Aug. 13, nearly four months after closing due to COVID-19.
Visitors can expect some differences designed to make the experience as safe as possible for everyone:
- Free timed tickets will be available to limit the number of people in the building at one time. Visitors should reserve tickets at georgiamuseum.org, then bring their print-out or mobile device to the museum and check in at the front desk during the time slot they selected. Visits have no time limit.
- All visitors aged 11 and up must wear a mask that covers their mouth and nose.
- The museum is limiting hours to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
- Visitors should keep at least 6 feet away from other groups, visitors and staff members. Some spaces will have limited capacity.
- The museum is adding hand-sanitizing stations throughout the building and will be cleaning surfaces more frequently than usual. Water fountains are covered.
- Both visitors and staff members who are unwell or who have been exposed to or diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days should stay home.
- Print materials will be limited. Brochures and newsletters will be available via QR code.
- The Museum Shop is open but is limiting the number of visitors at one time to 5. Shoppers should sanitize their hands, then ring the doorbell to be admitted.
- In-person events and group tours are on hold through the end of the year, but popular virtual events like Family Day and Yoga in the Galleries will continue, and the museum is adding new online programming this fall. Visitors and UGA classes can request self-guided tours and virtual tours through a form on the museum’s site.
The popular exhibition “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection,” which was originally scheduled to close May 10, has been extended through Sept. 6. The museum has removed interactive touchable elements from the exhibition.
Other temporary exhibitions continuing include: “In Dialogue: Cecilia Beaux’s ‘Twilight Confidences,’” “Drama and Devotion in Baroque Rome” and “Altered Landscapes: Photography in the Anthropocene.”
The museum’s permanent collection is always on view, and new temporary exhibitions on Rolland Golden’s Hurricane Katrina paintings, the work of former UGA professor Carl Holty and contemporary Japanese ceramics will open over the next month.
“We are excited to be re-opening with a fantastic exhibition in place—masterpieces of decorative art by Louis Comfort Tiffany,” said William U. Eiland, the museum’s director. “The exhibition is our gift to you, our audiences, through a special arrangement with the Driehaus Foundation and International Arts & Artists, and it’s only going to be here for a few weeks. Come see these lovely objects.”