ART WATCH: Local 1502’s Vincenza Finocchiaro makes sure tourists look but don't touch an 1866 Albert Bierstadt painting, “Storm in the Rocky Mountains.”

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Some accept aging with grace. Others opt to have a little work done. When the grand dame of New York art halls, the Brooklyn Museum, needed a facelift, private architects planned and executed a $63 million extreme makeover.

The 19th century Beaux-Arts building underwent massive reconstruction to add an 80,000 square-foot plaza and a new multistory pavilion of glass, granite and steel that was unveiled in April. While Polshek Partnership Architects developed the four-year construction project, it takes members of DC 37’s Local 1502 to transform the intimidating limestone landmark into a welcoming community space.

Vibrant space
Now a fountain by WET Design, which created the Bellagio waterworks in Las Vegas, sprays 60 feet into the air. A calming reflecting pool and an amphitheater have replaced the original imposing staircase. Twelve original brick piers anchor the glass and steel atrium and tie the old structure to the new, and for the 21st century community, the outdoor civic space is wired for the Internet.

Local 1502 members readily welcome the museum’s 800,000 visitors year round. “The museum has come to life,” said Local 1502 President Melvin Bentley. “It was virtually unused, but under the new director, Arnold Lehman, the space is rejuvenated with edgy exhibits and First Saturdays.” The local represents 200 DC 37 members in the borough’s cultural triad — the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Children’s Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum, which is home to the second largest art collection in America.

Instead of white space, “the interiors, which are painted three times a year, are awash in deep hues of aqua, coral, cobalt, midnight and plum to bring more vibrancy into the space,” explained Michael Allen, a Supervising Art Handler in the museum’s American Painters and Sculptors Dept.

Local 1502 members are responsible for the ever-changing rotation of art and environment. Painters bring color to the museum’s interiors. Carpenters erect and dismantle display rooms. Art Handlers maintain installations of ancient artifacts from Egypt, prized Renoir paintings, Rodin sculptures and antique tapestries. They carefully crate rare art for touring exhibits. Maintainers run the computerized climate control system in the bowels of the 560,000 square foot museum, where temperatures hover near 95 degrees.

Settled between the Botanic Gardens and verdant Prospect Park, the museum presides over Eastern Parkway, which was modeled after the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Now the Brooklyn Museum is home to social events — weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other community celebrations. These occasions put about $8,000 a year in overtime pay into pockets of many Local 1502 members, Mr. Bentley said.

Local 1502 members worked seven days a week to prep for the grand scale re-opening. “What makes this job most interesting is seeing all the art all day long,” said Art Handler Keith Vanloo. “We’re very careful, as if this were our home. The objects are so valuable and the museum is a beautiful place to work.”

	ABOVE: Art Handlers Keith Vanloo (top) and Michael Allen install “The Appian Way,” an 1869 oil painting by John Linton Chapman, which depicts a road into ancient Rome. Maintainer Anthony Galioto works four levels underground in the belly of the 560,000 sq. ft. museum. He operates titanic engines to control the art hall's climate. Carpenter Alfredo Damazio uses router to build a new display by refurbishing 60-year-old wood planks recycled from the museum’s American Hall.

	President Melvin Bentley at newly renovated museum. His members and a glass and steel pavilion welcome 800,000 visitors annually to the 19th century Beaux-Arts center. Art Handler Paul Coughlin sorts through a colorful array of antique Guatemalan textiles, which are part of the Brooklyn Museum collection.