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Show Kimball Art Center to close for roof repairs The Kimball Art Center will be closed to the public after Easter and throughout May to complete the repair of the roof, said Kimball Art Center Director Diane Balaban. "I think it is the first time the Art Center has been closed since it opened, except ex-cept for our three-day emergency for the roof. But we have to do it in order to ensure the public's safety," she said. The deterioration of the Kimball Art Center roof became apparent this January when heavy snow on the roof fractured several beams over the main gallery. The roof sagged and broke in a sprinkler pipe, alerting the art center staff. Balaban closed the Art Center for three days while a structural engineer evaluated the safety of the rest of the building. A partition par-tition was built around the damaged section of the gallery and the Art Center was able to reopen in time to host the U.S. Film Festival administrative staff. But it has been operating since then with an abbreviated main gallery. The contractors are now ready to complete the repairs on the roof and to remove the partition. The Kimball Art Center has elected elect-ed to also replace all of the older wooden beams, to brace the four corners of the building and to add earthquake earth-quake protection to the structure. Removing the old beams will require dismantling the roof over the entryway and the gift shop. "The logistics are incredible," said Balaban. And there is no way we could accommodate ' visitors during the construe- tion." The art center staff will ' continue to work throughout the construction period, said 1 Balaban. When the roof is back in place the exterior of the art center will be repaint-' ed and a new marquis will be installed. The inside of the Art Center will be repainted and recarpeted. New office space will be ; added upstairs and a shipping ship-ping and crating area will be ' set up downstairs. "We are ' also planning to use the time to put all of our data on our new computer, so we will be ; very busy," said Balaban. The Dawna Barton exhibit and the Judge Ritter Navajo 1 rug exhibit, which were scheduled for May, have ; been rescheduled for next year, said Balaban. The Art Center is scheduled to reopen on June 1. |