Chelsea Art Musuem seeks to shake up gallery neighborhood norm

Students might visit The Chelsea Art Museum first out of curiosity—an art museum? In Chelsea? Why? There are more hip, individual galleries in Chelsea than vintage plaid shirts in Red Hook. People seem not to want to see their art in large, Louvre-like settings anymore. Instead, they laud the individual and unique in everything—so much so that a space attempting to enter the art world may only have one choice: go indie or go home.

The Chelsea Art Museum, located on 22nd Street near Tenth Avenue, currently displays an impressive combination of contemporary and modern works by artists from Ireland, Japan, and Korea. The museum, home of the Miotte Foundation, specializes in presenting art that reflects current issues, and part of one of the exhibits features full-sized North Korean authoritarian figures rendered in wax, playing cards. Unusual and cool—but why haven’t students heard of it?

Carolin Wagner, Managing Director of the Chelsea Art Museum, acknowledges the museum’s difficulties making a name for itself among a sea of small individual galleries. “People walk in surprised they have to pay,” she said. “Some walk past not even knowing it’s a museum.”

Wagner attributes this relative anonymity to both a lack of funding for advertising as well as the museum’s young age. Interest comes with time, and the Chelsea Art Museum only opened in 2002. “There’s just not enough about the museum in everyone’s mouths yet,” Wagner said. In order to combat this and draw in nearby small-gallery spectators, the museum works with the neighborhood vibe and opens its doors on Thursday nights (peak champagne and gallery hopping hour) for free. The museum staff is also working on literally putting themselves on the map—the museum is so young that it’s not mentioned in most New York City guidebooks.

However, the charm of the museum lies in its youth—there’s something endearing about its efforts to reach out. The Chelsea Art Museum might not attract a famous crowd or get write-ups in the New York Times just yet, but as the museum develops, the staff is looking to form strong connections with the community in Chelsea and New York at large. The museum seeks the involvement of surrounding galleries and anybody who’s interested in art.

On May 5, the museum will show the outcome of a non-profit project that paired Chelsea artists with local schools, allowing them to work together to create pieces for an exhibit. Similarly, the Chelsea Art Museum’s volunteer program trains people to sit in the gallery space of the museum, prepared to talk to visitors about the art. “Museums can be overwhelming and intimidating,” Wagner said.

Both of these programs demonstrate what’s unique about the museum—unlike a more established institution, the Chelsea Art Museum is friendly, and wants the involvement of the viewer. The museum is in a way, still quaint, and therefore receptive to outside critique and involvement. They want to hear from students, they want interns, they want volunteers. Knowing about the Chelsea Art Museum is like having a musician friend before he hits it big. By visiting the museum, students can find their own hip, under-the-radar location to sing the praises of—and one with more square footage than most other indie galleries.