Paintings, photographs and sculpture will be combined with food, music and conversation at the opening of NIU’s new Art Museum Saturday.

The public is invited to the free reception which starts at 8 p.m. and is located on the second floor of Altgeld Hall. The new site formerly was the Altgeld auditorium.

The museum has about 6,000 square feet of gallery space and will be used for temporary exhibits and permanent displays of the Burmese Art Collection and other art works in the museum’s collection.

NIU and community groups also can use a special area for conferences, meetings, workshops and receptions.

The museum’s renovation began last spring and continued during the summer. The original plaster walls, including figures, scrolls and decorative panels, were repaired and painted. Floors were refinished, lighting systems were added and offices and work areas were created.

“Great care has been taken to preserve the integrity of the auditorium,” said museum director Lynda Martin. All the remodeling is reversible, so that the auditorium can be returned to its original state, Martin said.

Three exhibits will be on display for the gallery’s opening incuding rarely displayed objects from NIU’s Burmese art collection.

Also on display will be paintings by Chicago artist Janet Carkeek and Raymond Bial’s black-and-white photographs of small Midwestern towns. Bial, a resident of Urbana, has published five books of photographs.

Museum hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call the museum at 753-1936.