Gift To Harn Museum To Create Sculpture Atrium

September 29, 2000

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida will be adding a new dimension, thanks to a supportive Gainesville family.

David and Mary Ann Cofrin have given $3.2 million to build an estimated 20,000-square-foot addition to the museum that will include a sculpture atrium. The gift, all of which will be eligible for state matching funds, also will establish an endowment to fund acquisitions and exhibitions for the atrium.

The announcement was made Thursday (9/28) at a gala celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Harn Museum of Art. Groundbreaking for the addition is expected by fall 2002.

The Cofrins’ daughters, Gladys Cofrin and Edie Cofrin, announced the gift and said the new addition will be named for their mother, Mary Ann Harn Cofrin. She is the daughter of the late Samuel P. Harn, for whom the museum is named.

“The Cofrin family’s visionary support extends not only to the building program, but to acquisitions and programming as well,” said Larry David Perkins, interim director of the Harn Museum. “Our community has been so enriched by the continued support of the museum’s founding family.

“We are very excited about what this means for the university, the community and the state,” Perkins said. “This addition will provide the ideal environment for the installation of monumental sculpture. The structure will become a new destination and will increase the visibility of the university’s cultural plaza.”