WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.- The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute announced today that Stone Hill Center, the first phase of its expansion and institutional enhancement program, will open June 22, 2008. Designed by architect Tadao Ando, with landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand, the new building is located on a wooded hillside a short walk from the Clark's two existing buildings.

The new building has been sited and designed to take advantage of the Clark's dramatic rural setting, which distinguishes the institution among major art museums worldwide. Stone Hill Center will feature intimately scaled galleries with wall-sized windows, creating a setting for experiencing works of art that integrates the surrounding countryside and gradually changing natural light. The new building will include a studio art classroom, a conference room, and an outdoor caf�. It will also serve as the new home for the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

The two-story, 32,000-square-foot wood-and-glass building blends gracefully into the Clark's hillside, revealing only one level when approached from its main entry to the south. The building is open to the landscape on all sides allowing for dramatic views to the north, east, and west. A large terrace provides spectacular panoramic views of the Green Mountains and Taconic Range. Large expanses of glass capture the northern light for the conservators and provide visitors with a view into the studio space.

Stone Hill Center will host smaller-scale special exhibitions of works from the Clark's collections, as well as loaned works of art from periods and origins not usually seen at the Clark, such as non-Western and twentieth-century art. The grounds surrounding the building will also be used for sculpture space.

The inaugural exhibition will be Through the Seasons: Japanese Art in Nature, presenting seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Japanese painted screens and hanging scroll paintings together with contemporary Japanese ceramics evocative of traditional ceramic styles and natural motifs. The exhibition will be on view from June 22 to October 13, 2008.

"The Clark is the only major art museum in the United States that is located in such a dramatic rural setting and Stone Hill Center enables us to use this distinction to provide an unparalleled 'art in nature' experience for the many people who visit the Clark and the curators, conservators, scholars, and students who work here," noted Michael Conforti, director of the Clark. "It is a resource that enhances our ability to advance all parts of our mission-both as a public museum and center for art historical research, advanced education, and professional development."