The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art is pinched for space. As collections have increased, storage areas and galleries have filled to capacity.

It’s a concern that director Andrea Norris and her staff must deal with as the museum celebrates its 25th anniversary year.

“When they moved into this building, I can imagine they were thrilled with the office space, the freight elevator, the logistical layout of the building, the work space,” said Norris. “But now the offices don’t hold the staff. Many times we are unable to show works (because of lack of gallery space). Our ability to acquire things has resulted in overflowing storage.”

The Spencer Museum building houses the art museum, the KU department of art history and the Murphy Library of Art and Architecture. The building was dedicated in September 1977, and the galleries opened to the public in January 1978.

The museum has more than 21,000 pieces of art in its collections. At any one time, between 500 and 800 of those works are displayed in the galleries.

The obvious solution to the museum’s space problems is to build a larger building. Norris said that would take $20 million. So far $2 million has been raised toward that goal.

“The (current) building is doing what it’s suppose to be doing for being a teaching museum, but we’d like for it to be doing even more,” she said.

So would its audiences. Norris said museum goers have indicated that they want:

More textile and decorative arts on display, maybe in an open storage area.

More Kansas art, possibly a gallery dedicated to Kansas and western art.

A room where artworks could be studied by students and researchers.