An audience of over 200 people, including several local dignitaries, traveled to the Nassau County Museum of Art last Tuesday to attend an unveiling of a proposed new wing to the museum on its grounds in Roslyn Harbor.

Attendees were able to view both a model plus several artistic renditions of the new wing, which will encompass two levels and total 18,000 sq. ft. According to Constance Schwartz, the museum's longtime director, construction is set to begin between 2005 and 2006, with completion set for 2007.

The cost of the project is set at $15 million, of which $6.3 million has already been raised. For its part, the Nassau County legislature has appropriated $4 million towards the new wing.

The event was an occasion for museum officials to look back on the institution's success since its founding in 1989. That year, as Ms. Schwartz noted, the museum had 20,000 visitors. Now, it averages 225,000 visitors per year, including regular trips by schoolchildren from throughout the New York City area.

With that success has come growing pains and now a new wing is necessary to accommodate future projects. "Space-wise, it is badly needed," Ms. Schwartz said of the proposed wing.

The museum's current home is the former Frick Estate, which sits on a 145-acre property in Roslyn Harbor.

Once the new wing is completed, it will house eleven new art galleries on the first and second levels, an auditorium and classrooms on the lower level and an extended stone patio for special events.

The new galleries will feature art shows organized by the museum curators as well as exhibits from other museums. The Frick mansion will exhibit the rotating permanent collection of 19th and 20th century art. In addition, the museum will be able to remain open during show changes, which until now has not been possible.

While introducing the morning's speakers, Laura Savini of Channel 21, praised the museum as becoming, in a short time, "one of the most significant cultural institutions in suburban America."

During her brief talk, Ms. Schwartz echoed those sentiments, by proclaiming that the museum's existence proves that Long Island was becoming a major cultural center itself, and no longer a "backyard neighbor to New York City." The museum director also looked forward to the day when not only the new wing is completed, but that the museum itself is a "cultural destination for people all over the country."

Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi thanked the museum's board of directors for "the great work in uplifting all of our lives in Nassau County." He also hailed the proposed construction as a fine example of a public/private partnership. Other local politicians who attended the unveiling included Doreen Banks, the county's parks commissioner and County Legislator Craig Johnson.

On the question of funds, board member Peter Rechler noted the "outstanding response" to the initial funding from the "museum family." As noted, $6.3 million has already been raised, even though major fundraising efforts, those designed to reach various Long Island communities and "corporate Long Island" have not yet been undertaken.

Rechler thanked both the Hon. Arnold A. Saltzman and Nancy and the late Fred DeMatteis for their respective generosity. He said that the historic wing of the museum would be named for the Saltzman family, while the new wing would be named in honor of the DeMatteis family.

"The concept of the new wing is to create a dialogue between historic and modern architecture with a palette of materials to complement the existing Frick mansion," said Peter Marino, the new wing's main architect.

According to museum officials, the wing's three modern, greenhouse-inspired galleries of baked white aluminum and glass will visually "soar" above a low brick garden wall extending eastward, facing the sculpture lawn. The brick matches the original museum building in color, size and texture.

Marino is the principal of Peter Marino and Associates Architects, an international firm based in Manhattan. His major projects include The Diamond Center in Antwerp, Belgium; Giorgio Armani, New York City; the Four Seasons Biltmore Spa, Santa Barbara, CA; Whittle Communications, Knoxville, TN; and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy.