Still Standing: Kenneth Snelson, “Virlane Tower,” 1981, in the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden
News reports from the South indicate that Hurricane Isaac has spared two art museums in its path that were both devastated seven years ago by Hurricane Katrina.
Doug MacCash of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:
The New Orleans Museum of Art…was undamaged…as
of midday Wednesday, chief of security Byron Winbush said. Rain water
leaked through the windows near the museum cafe, but beyond that, Isaac
appears to have spared the City Park landmark…..The modern sculptures in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden appeared to be
intact. Even the stainless steel tower by Kenneth Snelson, which fell
during Hurricane Katrina, remained upright Wednesday morning.
NOMA had suffered more than $6 million in damage to its physical plant and five-acre sculpture garden during the Big (not-so) Easy’s last major storm, Katrina. NOMA is now announcing on its website that it will reopen tomorrow.
Campbell Robertson and Kim Severson of the NY Times reported today that the new Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, Biloxi, MS, was a near miss, only “inches from taking in water.” Hurricane Katrina had wreaked havoc to the in-construction, Frank Gehry-designed museum, which, as a result, very belatedly opened its doors in November 2010.
In the wake of Isaac, Denny Mecham, executive director of Ohr-O’Keefe, told the Times:
I think everyone was surprised by this. They try to prepare you, but for people who are used to a Cat. 3 or Cat. 5, this [a Category 1 hurricane] doesn’t seem like much. Everyone was saying, “We’ll be open by Thursday morning.” Well, this is not how this one is turning out.