Johnson Museum celebrates its 30th birthday this Sunday, May 4

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell celebrates its 30th anniversary with a free community party Sunday, May 4, from 1 to 4 p.m.

"We look back with pride at 30 years as a presence at Cornell and in Ithaca -- 2.5 million visitors, hundreds of thousands of Cornell students and Ithaca schoolchildren, growth in our collection from 9,000 objects in 1973 to more than 30,000 today, plus presenting more than 800 special exhibitions of art from all over the world," said Franklin Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Museum. "We want to celebrate, and so we are inviting everybody in Ithaca to join us."

The museum building was the third museum project designed by I.M. Pei, who went on to win many of the most important museum commissions of his generation, including the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington and the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and other museum projects around the world.

The May 4 event will include performances by Mrs McPuppet, storyteller Regi Carpenter, Hilby the Skinny German Juggle Boy, the Cornell Chinese Yo-yo Club; music by a steel drum band and the Paul Merrill jazz ensemble; Chinese brush painting by Jim Hardesty and calligraphy by The Letter Man; such activities as making birthday hats and an art scavenger hunt; an illustrated history of the museum; a Cornell chimes concert; party food; and birthday cake.

The party is free and open to all. For more information call 255-6464 or visit the Web site http://www.museum.cornell.edu.