Review: SCAD Museum of Art

What’s this place all about? The United States’ oldest surviving railroad depot is the setting for one of Savannah’s newest art museums: the SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) Museum of Art, which wrapped its major expansion in 2011. You might think that trying to put a modern spin on an 1853 antebellum building could go quite badly, but the end result is quite a lovely thrill to behold. The long, low building features restored Savannah gray brick, a towering glass atrium, and some glassy exterior touches; somehow, though, it all works. There’s a lot going on inside, too, with galleries on the first floor displaying a rotating, thoughtful collection of contemporary art; the second floor is mostly academic space.

What will we see here? The art here is always rotating, though curators are able to draw from a deep well of the museum’s permanent collection, which emphasizes African American art, 19th- and 20th-century photography, and more. There is, in fact, one permanent piece here that you should seek out: a bronze medallion, embedded in the lobby floor, that honors Ellen and William Craft. The Crafts, held in slavery in antebellum Macon, Georgia, devised an ingenious plan of escape: Light-skinned Ellen posed as a white slave owner; William, her property. Together they passed through this very building—arriving by train from Macon, then boarding a steamship to Charleston. Continuing north, they made it safely across the Mason-Dixon Line.

What other kinds of exhibits rotate through? The exhibits are curious and thought-provoking; sculptural representations of city skylines comprised of tables and kitchen knives by Latin American artist Carlos Garaicoa, group exhibits exploring the profound influence of Mexican sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, and a showcase of work by Virginia Jackson Kiah, a painter and civil rights activist with long ties to the university. Other names over the past decade have included Kehinde Wiley, Nick Cave, and Ebony G. Patterson.

What did you make of the crowd? Students going this way and that—there are SCAD classrooms on the second floor, and you might see kids studying in the courtyard—but don’t expect huge crowds. There’s room for all.

Gift shop and café: obligatory, inspiring—or skip? Shopping and dining converge at Tad, a small cafe just off the lobby. There are better places to eat in Savannah, but if you’re dying for a quick bite you can avail yourself of a pretty decent sandwich or grain bowl. The place to really check out is shopSCAD, on Bull Street; the gallery displays eye-popping student creations, from candles and jewelry to prints.

How much time do we need here? It'd be hard to spend more than 90 minutes without taking lengthy breaks in the courtyard. The museum is also pretty centrally located in Savannah, so if you're strolling about the historic district, you could easily incorporate it into your route.