Here Comes Austin

This weekend, the Blanton Museum of Art is taking its first steps toward realizing the 30-year-old vision of artist Ellsworth Kelly: a chapel called Austin. The project, announced in February, will break ground on Saturday, Oct. 31 in a day of celebration that includes a roundtable discussion of Kelly by four eminent art scholars.

Friday's torrential rain may have soaked the ground around the UT museum, but it hasn't dampened the spirits of the Blanton staff and donors with regard to the day's event. A private groundbreaking ceremony for donors will proceed as planned, rain or shine, and then at 1pm, the scholars will convene inside the museum for their conversation. Veronica Roberts, the Blanton curator of modern and contemporary art and a member of the team working to realize Austin, will moderate the roundtable, which will feature Tricia Y. Paik, curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; Carter Foster, curator of drawing at the Whitney Museum of American Art; Gavin Delahunty, senior curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art; and UT-Austin's own Richard Schiff, professor in the Department of Art & Art History. The 90-minute symposium is free and open to the public.

The 2,715-square-foot stone structure, which was the only building ever designed by Kelly, is expected to take 12-18 months to complete. For more information, visit the Blanton website.