As the Hudson Valley warms with the summer season, residents should stop by the rolling landscape of Storm King Art Center to explore the newly unveiled visitor experience. Following the completion of the $53 million capital project, patrons can expect a new entry process, expanded grounds and a handful of recently unveiled exhibits across the park’s 500 acres.
With funding from New York State and various donors, the project focused on creating a cohesive visitor experience that enhances the natural elements of Storm King. While the changes may be subtle to the untrained eye, the idea was to allow visitors to feel fully immersed in the Storm King experience. “[The renovations] are much more about making Storm King, more Storm King, rather than just saying, ‘Hey, we’re completely different,’” says Nora Lawrence, executive director of Storm King.
One of the main efforts of the remodel was eliminating cars throughout the center to improve the pedestrian experience. The project consolidated the lots within the park into one main lot outside of it, which feeds into trails leading to a revamped welcoming pavilion. This move allows the center to return to a natural space for visitors to experience nature and art.
The capital project has been a long and meticulous process. It has been actively in construction since 2023, but assembling the landscaping team and brainstorming the vision for the capital project goes back as far as 2017. “We took it as an opportunity to think deeply about who we are at heart and who we want to be,” Lawrence says. “We created a plan that really puts artists and nature first, as well as visitors.”
With new spaces to display art come new exhibits, including works by Sonia Gomes. Based in Sao Paulo, this is the Brazilian sculptor on her first outdoor exhibition in the US, along with an indoor exhibit of older pieces spanning her career in the Storm King Museum. “O Abre Alas!” utilizes found everyday items, textiles, and natural materials to explore her history and identity. (“O abre alas!” translates roughly from Portuguese as “open the way,” and is associated with Brazilian parade culture, referring to the one who leads the parade.) As you view Gomes’s pendulum-like work hanging from a tree near the indoor museum, you’ll discover one of Lawrence’s favorite aspects of the center.
“What I love about ‘O Abre Alas!’ is that the landscape of Storm King always plays a role in terms of what an artwork displayed here becomes and is,” Lawrence says. “[The piece] really wasn’t a fully complete work until she was able to see it here and see the effect of the landscape on it.”
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Along with Gomes, Kevin Beasley’s 100-foot-long, 11-foot-tall sculpture PROSCENIUM | Rebirth/Growth: The Watch/Harvest/Dormacy: On Reflection will be the focal point of the newly established Tippet’s Field, which was previously a parking lot. The exhibit, featuring Beasley’s largest sculpture to date, represents the four seasons. “The way that the sculpture is positioned in the field allows the visitor to understand that they’re supposed to be with it in the field and that they’re supposed to be taking up that space,” Lawrence says. There’s also abstract work from Ellsworth Kelly and new work from Dionne Lee, an emerging sculptor who blends her photography roots with the natural world. Beyond the visitor experience, the capital project allowed for the construction of the David R. Collens Building for Conservation, Fabrication, and Maintenance. Although the building is not open to the public, this space provides an onsite location for refurbishment and upkeep of the art in a streamlined and accessible space.
“âI think that we are showing a real dedication to the artists we work with,” Lawrence says. “The new facilities that we’ve been able to add, in terms of new spaces for art and the Collens building, can really assist us in working with our artists.”
Storm King Art Center has a robust calendar of events throughout the season, including concerts, theatrical performances, hands-on workshops, and artist talks and tours.
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This article appears in May 2025.
