Collections Wing Tours: Icons, Ads and Graphics

Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Collections Wing Tours are Back! Come see the 7,500+ items in Cranbrook’s extensive collection in our state-of-the-art storage facility.

Have you ever wondered where all the artwork lives when it’s not on display? Or thought about how it is moved from place to place? Our Collection Wing building opened in late 2011, making Cranbrook one of the first museums in the world to allow public access to its storage facilities.

Visit the three vaults to get an exclusive look at how we store and care for sculptures, textiles, drawings, prints, and paintings in our collection.

The first stop is our Ceramics vault. On view are pieces by Cranbrook ceramicists including Maija Grotell, John Glick, Richard DeVore, Anders Ruhald, and Toshiko Takaezu as well as others who have shaped the medium including Peter Voulkos, and an array of Pewabic pottery.

Next, visit the Plaza Vault where you’ll learn how Cranbrook Academy of Art became the nexus of mid-century modern American design with works by artists such as Charles and Ray Eames, Ralph Rapson, Harry Bertoia, Don Knorr, Gere Kavanaugh, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, and Pipsan Saarinen Swanson. Then, explore the continuing legacy of design with contemporary pieces by Vivian Beer, Chris Schanck, Jay Sae Jung Oh, Nina Cho, and Ara Thorose.

The Plaza Vault is also home to an array of sculptures and textiles by artists such as Nick Cave, Duane Hanson, Harry Bertoia, Anthony Caro, Ruth Adler Schnee, and Olga de Amaral. Paintings collected from modern and contemporary painters from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries such as Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, Robert Motherwell can viewed alongside Cranbrook artists such as Cranbrook Academy of Art Artists-in-Residence Zoltan Sephesy and Donald Willett and alumni including Artis Lane, McArthur Binion, Marianna Olague, Conrad Egyir, and many more.

Regularly scheduled tours are available on Fridays at 1pm, and 2nd and 4th Saturdays at 11:30am and 1pm. Advanced registration is encouraged. See below for details on how to schedule private group tours.

Check out a recent NY Times feature of the Collections Wing