WILLIAMSTOWN ART CONSERVATION CENTER – WACC
LOCATION
The Williamstown Art Conservation Center is located in northern Berkshire County in Williamstown, Massachusetts, just over the border from Vermont and New York. It is about three hours west of Boston, Massachusetts, twenty minutes south of Bennington, Vermont and one hour east of Albany, New York. Surrounded by both the Green and Taconic Mountain ranges, Williamstown is a popular destination for both its breathtaking scenery and its significant number of visual and performance art institutions.
BUILDING
Designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Tadao Ando, the Lunder Center at Stone Hill located on the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute campus was designed to meet the needs of both art exhibition and 21st-century conservation, while remaining a work of art itself. Ando’s goal for the center was to create “a building that blends gracefully with its surroundings and enhances the experience of both art and nature for all who work and visit there.” In addition to the conservation labs, the Clark Art Institute offers public areas in the building which effortlessly incorporate the natural setting into the art exhibitions by opening into a broad outdoor terrace and spectacular views.
PARTNERSHIP
Since its founding in 1977, the Williamstown Art Conservation Center has enjoyed close partnerships with both the Clark Art Institute and Williams College, most especially with the Williams College Museum of Art and the Graduate Program in Art History. Not only has WACC provided conservation services to each institution, it has also partnered with them to provide coordinated educational programs of mutual benefit. Williamstown has 49 other member cultural institutions in Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.