{image1}RACINE -- Walking down Main Street, it is difficult to imagine a time when the Racine Art Museum wasn't a part of the scenery. One year has passed since the award-winning building was first illuminated and the baskets of Dale Chihuly unveiled in its windows.

And in that time, much has occurred. Close to 50,000 people walked through RAM's doors in its inaugural year -- many of them from outside of Racine. Once inside they were treated to 13 exhibitions including works by crafts artists from across the country and around the world.

Through it all, reaction to RAM and all it has to offer has been good -- very good.

"It has been an exciting year," said Jim Parrish, president of the RAM board.

And some of that excitement has come in the form of attention being paid to Racine's new art museum by people thousands of miles away.

"We've been written up in national and international art and design magazines -- there has been much more exposure than we thought we'd have."

And that exposure has brought visitors from other cities -- and even other states -- to Racine to see what all the excitement is about.

"People do seem to be finding us," said Bruce Pepich, the museum's executive director.

Since last fall, RAM employees have been asking guests for their zip codes and in that time, figures show that 31 percent of the museum's guests have been residents of Racine County, while 29 percent live in Milwaukee and other parts of southeastern Wisconsin. Twenty-seven percent were from Chicago and northern Illinois, and 13 percent have traveled here from outside of Wisconsin and Illinois, Pepich said.

"And people are excited about what they are seeing here," he said.

In talking with guests who came to see Robert Ebendorf's recent jewelry exhibition, for example, Pepich said he found that the metalsmith's use of everyday and recycled materials got people excited about ecology and different ways of looking at everyday objects.

"I had more people come up to me and tell me that they couldn't wait to go home and go through their kitchen junk drawer and come out with a necklace," Pepich said. "I felt like people really embraced Ebendorf and his art."

Part of such excitement is due to the opportunity museum guests have had with some of RAM's shows to meet the exhibiting artists at opening receptions and exhibit tours, and hear them talk about their work.

"One of the roles of this museum is to bring the artist and the public together," Pepich said. "We want to create that portal for people that enables them to connect with the art."

And the numbers show that people appreciate making such connections. Close to100 people attended this month's opening reception for New York state fiber artist John McQueen's exhibit, Pepich said.

Connections have also been made in the form of gifts to the museum's permanent collection. In the last couple months the collection, which is shared by RAM and Wustum, has passed the 3,000 piece mark, Pepich said. Before the RAM opened, the collection included approximately 2,600 works of art. Collectors from St. Louis, Los Angeles and New York joined the museum's list of donors this year, he said.

RAM's first year has also brought a few challenges, according to Parrish. One was the logistics of going from running a small museum in a farm house to operating two facilities, the newer of which houses spacious galleries, meeting rooms, a library and a gift shop. As with any major change, adjustments had to be made.

"People's jobs changed as everyone adapted to running a new house, and all the things that come with that," Parrish said. "And the staff has done an outstanding job of dealing with that."