A recent spate of fake five-star reviews has elevated our International Art Museum of America all the way up to a three star Yelp rating, so hooray for that, I guess.
And check out the crest they’re using – that’s the same one that was on the green blazers of the security guards as they ejected me from the joint on Opening Day a bit more than a year ago. Good times:
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Well the Grand Opening Celebration for our so-called International Art Museum of America is coming Saturday, October 15th, 2011 at 1023 / 1025 Market Street betwixt 6th and 7th in the gritty Twitterloin / Mid-Market area.
Get the deets about this place here and on the Yelp.
But here’s the news, this joint’s going to be free for all of October 2011:
“The IAMA Board of Directors is offering free admission to the public from October 15-31, 2011. Stop by to see our newly opened museum shop (located at 1023 Market Street) and new additions to our exhibit.
HOURS: The museum is open to the public, Tuesday – Sunday, 11 am-5 pm. Starting October 15, 2011.”
You can’t beat that, right?
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Oh and here’s the new website.
And here are the deets of Opening Day – they have an entertainment schedule and everything:
The day will begin with a celebratory dance by Leung White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association, followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony, welcome speeches and entertainment. Tickets for the general public from 11- 3 pm will be available at the new museum shop (located at 1023 Market Street). Prices are $10.00 adults/ $8.00 for seniors/students/military with I.D. $5.00 Children 5-17 years; children under 5 yrs. free. The museum will also offer free admission for the general public on October 15 from 3-5 pm only, in conjunction with the “24 Days of Central Market Arts Festival.” Members and their guests will be admitted free of charge all day long.
IAMA’s mission is to display the most beautiful and precious art from all over the world to promote the moral progress, spiritual health, and cultural and artistic development of humanity around the globe.
HOURS/TIMES OF OPERATION: The museum will be open to the public, Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm. beginning October 18, 2011.LOCATION: Public access is available at our museum entrance located at 1025 Market Street. The museum shop is located at 1023 Market Street, adjacent to the museum building. Parking is available at inexpensive parking lots on Mission Street between 6th St. and 7th St. around the corner, or take Muni to Market and Sixth St. or BART to Powell Street station and walk one block west. TICKETS: Admission is $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for seniors/students/military with I.D. $5.00 Children 5-17 years; children under 5 yrs. Free. Group tour rates are available. We offer membership with the benefit of free admission.
Why don’t you check it out and then post your opinion online someplace?
D’Accord? D’accord.
So that’s good. And you won’t be seeing headlines like, ”San Francisco proposes tax cut for Twitter” applied to this hulking white building.
It’s still attracting the curious on a daily basis down in the Mid-Market part of the Twitterloin. As seen yesterday across the street from the Chor Boogie:
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Let’s take a tour of the new museum with the only photos I have access to.
Upstairs…
…and Downstairs
That’s all I have so far – two authorized photos of the inside.
It’s $8 to get in…
Well, about 80 people, mostly Buddhists it would seem, were on hand for the noon-time soft opening of the brand spanking new International Art Museum of America today.
No photos are allowed so I didn’t stick around too long. Anyway, the downstairs part looks like a model home in a new housing development. Everything has that new-car-smell kind of new-house-smell. Lots of gold paint about – reminds me of Bellagio in Vegas. And, I’m seriously, somebody was handing out brochures and showing swatches of marble flooring or something like that.
And there’s a flowing water exhibit downstairs, just as you might imagine after seeing shots over at Curbed SF and SFist, San Francisco’s two big local websites.
Welcome welcome. Lots of monks were on hand as well:
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And then upstairs, well it’s different. There’s at least one kind of shrine exhibit up there, it’s like a mini-mausoleum, or something, dedicated to somebody – don’t recall his name. The nice windows facing Your New San Francisco Mid-Market Area are papered over so that’s kind of a bummer.
It’s not like any museum I’ve ever seen, but why don’t you get over there and then make the call? I mean, if Angelo Alioto wants to spend millions on a Catholic kind of shrine in North Beach, there’s nothing wrong with some Buddhists having their own place on Market Street, right?
They have a expereinced museum curator Dyana Curreri-Ermatinger running the show and they have security guards with sweet (embroidered?) logos on their uniforms, but they don’t have a website up yet so oh well.
Maybe they’ll release some photos or get their Go-Daddied webpage going and then I can show you or post a link. Everybody’s very friendly – ask them a question if you’re curious about anything.
IMO, this place is more like a masoleum than a museum at this point, but that’s JMO.
UPDATE: Oh, they _do_ have some photos. Here’s one.
Credit: International Art Museum of America, 2011
I’ll get some more up later…
[Playing this one straight here.]
The International Art Museum of America will soft open at noon on Tuesday, March 29th, 2011.
That’s all I know, deets below.
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All the deets:
“The new International Art Museum will indeed be opening it’s doors to the public beginning March 29. The museum will feature annual changing exhibitions of international art. During this “start-up” period, called a “soft opening”, our entrance will be at 1023 Market Street, and visitors will have access to our second floor gallery and can visit our architectural tile and art glass display, which showcases the materials used in the design of the museum.
The museum will fully open sometime in September (date for Grand Opening, TBA in April) offering access for the public to our Chinese garden on the first floor, meeting and conference rooms downstairs and a gift shop featuring many unique items related to the museum’s exhibitions.
We invite your readers to come by and visit during the next few months, take advantage of reduced admission fees: ($8.00 for adults/ $5.00 youth/senior and military) and enjoy the museum’s inaugural exhibition. Gallery hours during our “soft” opening period will be noon – 5 pm, Tuesday – Saturday.”
