Since its opening in September, “Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine” has attracted guests from around the world to the Portland Museum of Art.
Due to the exhibit’s overwhelming popularity, the Museum has decided to extend its hours during the holiday season. In addition to its regular hours (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday), the Museum will remain open to accommodate guests for the Homer exhibit until 9 p.m. on November 24 and November 25, and until 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Saturdays from December 13 to December 29.
Extending hours for a popular exhibit occurs more often than most people realize, according to Director of Public Relations Kristen Levesque.
“It’s common to extend hours during a blockbuster exhibitions like this,” she wrote, in an email to the Orient.
Levesque explains that they make such exceptions in order “to allow more visitors the opportunity to see the exhibition.”
“Since September 17, the members’ opening week, we have seen thirty thousand visitors to the Museum,” Levesque wrote.
The Homer exhibit follows the opening of the Winslow Homer Studio in Prout’s Neck, Maine. Acquired in 2006 by the Museum, and since renovated, the space is where Homer worked for nearly thirty years and now showcases the artist’s life and work.
“The studio of iconic American artist Winslow Homer was opened to the public for the first time in September... It celebrates the artist’s life, encourages scholarship on Homer, and teaches audiences to appreciate the artistic heritage of Winslow Homer and Maine,” Levesque wrote.
Studio tours have already sold out for the entire fall season.
“Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine” will run through December 30, after which the Museum will phase in new exhibits for 2013. Next year will feature a diverse set of work by artists from New York, Tanzania and Iraq.