CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (CRMA) is excited to announce that the entire Museum will be open once again on Saturday, June 20 and admission will be free all day! With that in mind, we have many things planned to celebrate this special day… Help us welcome back Grant Wood in the exhibition Grant Wood: In Focus. Culled from the CRMA’s extensive collection of work by Grant Wood, this single-gallery installation will serve as an introductory overview of the artistic achievements of this important American painter.

The CRMA will also celebrate one of America’s favorite summer pastimes in its exhibition Under the Big Top: The Circus in Art on display through August 16, 2009. In celebration of Iowa’s importance in the development of the circus (the Ringling brothers were from McGregor, Iowa), the Museum will install two galleries of circus imagery from its own collection. Chief among those items included will be several paintings by Marvin Cone and prints by Byron Burford.

A Freedom Festival Family Fun Day will be taking place this day as well! Families are invited to join us for a day of printmaking, storytelling, drawing, coloring and more. As a special addition to Family Fun Day, Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret will be signing her book Finding My Way, an autobiography by May McGregor Bourret. Finding My Way is told from the perspective of May, a Labradoodle and a black Labrador puppy who shares her first year-and-a-half of her life through engaging tales including life in her new family.

The CRMA is also excited to provide a second floor gallery space for the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML) for a special exhibition from their permanent collection. The exhibition, Treasures from the National Collection, will open at the CRMA on June 20 and will feature examples of fine, folk and decorative art and so much more!

Grant Wood: In Focus is an ongoing permanent collection exhibition. Under the Big Top: The Circus in Art  is on display through August 16, 2009. June 20 marks the first day that ALL Museum galleries will be open since the flood in June of 2008.

The mission of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is to excite, engage and educate our community and visitors through our collection, exhibitions and programs. The Museum’s collection contains more than 5,600 works of art by hundreds of artists, including the world's largest collection of works by Grant Wood. For more information on exhibitions or related programs call the Museum at 319.366.7503 or visit the Museum's web site at www.crma.org . The CRMA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours and free general admission from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday. The CRMA is also open noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, but closed Monday and major holidays. Visit : www.crma.org