ROCKLAND, Maine — The Farnsworth Art Museum announced Wednesday the donation of its largest gift ever from the Wyeth Foundation in honor of Julie and Charlie Cawley.
The $3 million grant will be added to the Andrew Wyeth Memorial Endowment, income from which supports maintenance and operation of four of the museum’s properties: the Wyeth Center; Wyeth Study Center and Wyeth Research Center in Rockland; and the Olson House in Cushing, site of Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting “Christina’s World.”
The gift first was announced at a June 30 event honoring the Cawleys at the museum’s Wyeth Center, according to a news release issued by the Farnsworth on Wednesday.
“Phyllis and I are thrilled to be at this re-affirmation of our gratitude to Charlie Cawley for his transformation of the Farnsworth museum,” artist Jamie Wyeth said to the roughly 60 guests attending that event, according to the release.
“In that spirit, Phyllis and I would like to continue the legacy that Charlie began,” Wyeth said before announcing that the board of trustees of the Wyeth Foundation had agreed to award the $3 million grant to the museum in the Cawleys honor.
Charlie Cawley, co-founder of credit card lender MBNA, has been a major philanthropist to midcoast Maine. In the late 1990s, his generosity allowed the museum to transform a former Methodist Church on Union Street in Rockland into the Farnsworth’s Wyeth Center and to greatly expand its gallery space by transforming the former J.J. Newberry’s department store into what now is the Morehouse Wing of the Farnsworth, according to Wednesday’s release.
“Charlie and Julie Cawley’s leadership and generosity towards this museum were transformative,” Farnsworth Director Christopher J. Brownawell said in the release. “With this gift of $3 million — the single largest gift to this museum ever — Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth allow the Farnsworth to once again chart a new course.”
Brownawell indicated that with the gift helping to cover operational costs, it would free up “sorely needed funds for the types of exhibitions and programming that have placed this museum on the national stage.”
In March, the Farnsworth announced a multimillion-dollar renovation project for both its downtown Rockland campus and the historic Olson House in Cushing.
The project is to include new roofs for the main museum, as well as the Moorehouse Wing, Brownawell said at that time. The entire Rockland campus will have its heating systems replaced so that instead of oil, they will be fueled by liquid propane. This switch is expected to save 25 to 30 percent annually on fuel costs for the museum, he said. The floors of the museum’s exhibit spaces also are to be redone.
In addition, the Wyeth Center will have considerable work done on it, including new windows and drainage improvements. The Olson House also will have considerable work done both to the exterior and the interior.
Brownawell said in March that the cost of the renovation projects had not yet been made final. But Farnsworth Real Estate Inc., a new nonprofit created to allow the museum to get financing, took out mortgages totaling $12 million that month, according to paperwork filed in the Knox County registry of deeds. The museum properties were transferred from the Farnsworth Museum to Farnsworth Real Estate on March 16.
The Farnsworth Art Museum’s 20,000 square feet of gallery space houses a collection of more than 15,000 works of renowned American artists. The facility also has one of the largest public collections of works by sculptor Louise Nevelson, while its Wyeth Center features works of N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.
For more information on the museum or its exhibits and events, visit farnsworthmuseum.org.