Founded in 1971 by the Michigan Council for the Arts and inspired by Helen Milliken, former First Lady of Michigan, Artrain began as an outreach program to Michigan communities without access to metropolitan museums. During its inaugural year Artrain attracted over 191,000 museum visitors. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1973 launched the first national tour. Since that time, Artrain has reached nearly 2.6 million people, in 600 communities and towns, and visited 44 states. Admission to the exhibits are free but donations are gratefully accepted.
By donations of locomotives to pull the cars, the nation's railroads make it possible for the museum-in-a-train to visit community after community along the tracks, spending a week in each town. Artrain does not own an art collection but borrows the artwork from leanding museums. Three gallery cars, a studio car and a caboose make up Artrain. The facilities are wheelchair accessible with lifts at the entrance and exit along with accommodations for wheelchairs on the interior galleries. The traveling team is made up of eight staff members, seven who travel by van between communities and one member who travels onboard to monitor the train's movement and to maintain mechanical systems.
Before the train pulls out of the station, the artworks are bolted into the walls and fronted with Plexiglass, which protects the art from possible damage from exposure and vandalism. Care must be taken to make sure none of the artwork is exposed to too much light, from the overhead lights, as the steady rocking of the train can rattle the calibrated track lights. New technology has lent itself to better protection for the artworks, which allows a higher quality of artwork to be displayed.
The current exhibit "Artistry of Space; the NASA Art Program" includes artworks from over 50 American artists that include the works of well-known artists Peter Max, Robert McCall, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, and Jamie Wyeth. The collection, which features works from NASA and the National Air and Space Museum, is made up of various media including paintings, drawings, prints, sketches, music and fiber art. Scheduled to tour through 2002, this exhibition captures the energy of the space exploration program from the initial effort to put man on the moon to the more recent efforts of the Mars Pathfinder mission and the Hubble Space Telescope.
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