{"id":2101022,"date":"2026-08-19T14:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2101022"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:10:17","slug":"marfas-chinati-foundation-plans-major-restoration-of-its-artillery-sheds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2101022","title":{"rendered":"Marfa\u2019s Chinati Foundation Plans Major Restoration of Its Artillery Sheds"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Judd_Sheds-exterior_Douglas-Tuck_074-.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, has revealed its plans for a two-year restoration of the Artillery Sheds, which house Donald Judd\u2019s iconic 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em> (1982\u201386). During this period, beginning in October, the 100-piece installation will be removed from view.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe restoration will address several issues affecting the Artillery Sheds, including repairing the roof and gutters, creating a passive cooling system, and replacing the glass windows that surround the two buildings\u2019 long sides with energy-efficient ones, as well as take a more comprehensive approach to the grounds, with an ADA pathway connecting the buildings with the rest of the campus and a restoration of the landscape by planting native grasses and a system for water capture. The restoration will be done in phases: while one building is undergoing construction, the other will house all 100 aluminum works.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe thinking around this restoration has been a number of years in the making,\u201d Chinati\u2019s executive director Caitlin Murray told ARTnews<\/em> in an interview. \u201cThat\u2019s partially because it\u2019s such a large undertaking for Chinati, and we want to be extremely careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe restoration of the Artillery Sheds will also require a significant investment on the part of Chinati. The foundation has so far raised $9.5 million of the $16 million it has deemed necessary for its \u201cArt as Intended\u201d capital campaign. The current funds allow Chinati to begin \u201cshoveling ground later this year,\u201d while the total amount will go toward increasing the foundation\u2019s endowment, Murray said, adding \u201cDoing a large-scale restoration project of this kind, with our increasingly historic buildings and grounds, [requires] that we always be thinking about the long-term sustainability of Chinati.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudd is known for his exacting vision, whether for the fabrication of his artworks or the plans for Chinati, which he had dreamed up before the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Adding ADA pathways might then seem counterintuitive to Judd purists, but Murray said her team is executing it in such a way that honors the artist\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe want everyone who wants to come to Chinati to be able to see and experience as much of the work as possible. This felt like an important and necessary part of this project, to increase accessibility and provide more equitable access to the work,\u201d Murray said. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to bring to this project is a certain amount of pragmatism\u2014a balance between excellence and humility. We want to do things really well, while also in a particular scale that\u2019s respectful to the work and to the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Aerial view of the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.<\/span>Photo Florian Holzherr\/Courtesy The Chinati Foundation<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn addressing the site\u2019s landscape in the high Chihuahuan Desert, the biggest concern is the 12 inches of erosion, or when \u201cthe wind essentially peels off the top layer of sand and soil and carries it elsewhere,\u201d that the site has faced in the past four decades, according to Stephen Martin, Chinati\u2019s director of preservation and planning. \u201cWe have to rebuild all of that landscape\u2014it\u2019s important to not only us but the greater region,\u201d he said, noting that the native grasses will go a long way to prevent new erosion. \u201cWest Texas is a windy place, and we want to do everything we can to restore the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChinati has also taken our ongoing climate crisis into account for this project. \u201cWe have noticed increasing climatic activity: our dust storms are getting worse, our rains are getting worse,\u201d Murray said. \u201cLand restoration has been a fundamental part of our thinking about this project because we are thinking more broadly about an ecosystem. The Chihuahuan Desert is not just any desert\u2014it has its own needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMartin added, \u201cChinati is so significant in that it makes art, architecture, land, environment all equal and inextricably linked.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Donald Judd, 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em>, 1982\u201386, at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.<\/span>Photo: Alex Marks\/Courtesy The Chinati Foundation Art: \u00a92026 Judd Foundation \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tPerhaps the biggest question Chinati has had to consider is whether or not the closure of 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em> for at least two years will deter any of the more than 20,000 annual visitors who make the trek to Far West Texas to see one of Judd\u2019s most important works. Murray pointed out that Chinati has 12 other permanent installations other than the famed aluminum pieces that will still be on view.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe restoration also comes 40 years after the establishment of the Chinati Foundation and the completion of 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em>, which have not been moved since 1986. It also arrives just over a year after the National Register of Historic Places updates its listing of the Fort D.A. Russell Historic District, where Chinati is located, to include Judd\u2019s artistic interventions, including his outdoor work 15 untitled works in concrete<\/em> (1980\u201384).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs with all the permanent installations at Chinati, the question of duration and the permanent nature of the installations [here] have so much to do with the fact that the works are fully formed by their context,\u201d Murray said. \u201cFor Judd, the space around his work was as important as the work itself, so we\u2019ve taken the time to understand what that means in terms of the experience of the work itself, what it is we\u2019re preserving, both in terms of Judd\u2019s vision for the work and visitors\u2019 experience of the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBuilt in 1939 on an active military site ahead of the US\u2019s entry into World War II, the Artillery Sheds have had their share of issues over their nearly 90-year history. With funding from the Dia Art Foundation, Judd purchased them in 1979 and began his own restoration, replacing the garage doors that enclosed the buildings\u2019 two long sides with a series of continuous windows. In his 1989 essay, \u201cArtillery Sheds,\u201d Judd details his process for finalizing the works, writing that the original \u201cflat roofs leaked\u201d and that patching them proved \u201cfutile.\u201d To address this problem and add insulation, he added curved corrugated metal roofs, which doubled the buildings\u2019 height.<\/p>\n

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Donald Judd inspects the recently installed pre-fabricated metal panel roof on the South Artillery Shed, 1984. <\/span>Courtesy Chinati Foundation Archives<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn the three decades since Judd\u2019s death in 1994, the Chinati Foundation has taken a slow approach to realize the full plans for the institution the artist had envisioned: Dan Flavin\u2019s untitled (Marfa project)<\/em> opened in 2000, the John Wesley Gallery in 2004, Robert Irwin\u2019s untitled (dawn to dusk)<\/em> in 2016, and the John Chamberlain Building in downtown Marfa reopened in 2022 after a restoration.<\/p>\n

\n\tChinati completed a master plan in 2017, which Murray said has driven \u201cour thinking institutionally\u201d for the past decade and guided them in making sure they were \u201casking the right questions\u201d at each step. \u201cIt helped us to understand what the most urgent needs are, particularly for our buildings and building preservation. We wanted to be careful and considered in that [approach] and make sure we were bringing the right team together.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe continued, \u201cWhy we\u2019re undertaking this right now is because there\u2019s an urgent threat to the pieces due to the incursion of water, dust, other environmental considerations, but we also took the time to consider all the elements carefully and to build the project team to make sure that we could really do this work really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Donald Judd, Artillery Sheds with 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em>, 1982\u201386, at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.<\/span>Photo: Alex Marks\/Courtesy The Chinati Foundation Art: \u00a92026 Judd Foundation \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tSince joining Chinati as director in 2023, after 15 years at the Judd Foundation, Murray has taken special care to bring that team together, including nearly a dozen external partners. Working with the foundation\u2019s head of conservation, Bogna Skwara, are conservation consultants from the Getty Conservation Institute, as well as Alfred Lippincott, the co-owner of Lippincott\u2019s, the original fabricator of 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em>. Higgins Quasebarth & Partners will consult on the overall historic preservation, while Schaum Architects will oversee the architectural design and TyLin will lead the structural integrity of the Artillery Sheds. Additionally, Jim Martinez, co-author of Marfa Garden: A Field Guide to Plants of the Chihuahuan Desert<\/em>, will serve as a landscape consultant.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are very attentive to bringing on institutional knowledge as well as engineering and scientific expertise,\u201d Skwara said, noting that a full conservation of 100 untitled works in mill aluminum<\/em> isn\u2019t required, though \u201ctreatment opportunities\u201d for specific pieces will be part of the overall evaluation conducted by her team. \u201cOf course, any artwork will change over 40 years. This closure will give us a real opportunity to spend focused time with the works.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/chinati-foundation-artillery-sheds-restoration-marfa-judd-1234795237\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Judd_Sheds-exterior_Douglas-Tuck_074-.jpg?w=1024″] The Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, has revealed its plans for a two-year restoration of the Artillery Sheds, which house Donald Judd\u2019s iconic 100 untitled works in mill aluminum (1982\u201386). During this period, beginning in October, the 100-piece installation will be removed from view. The restoration will address several issues affecting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2101022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2101022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2101022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2101022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2101022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}