AMHERST, MA.- On Saturday, July 3, the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College unveiled the first in a series of new displays that promise to refresh every gallery in the museum before the start of the 2010-11 academic year. A computer-animated tour of each room as it will appear at the conclusion of the project is available on the Mead’s website, www.amherst.edu/museums/mead. “I can’t imagine a more satisfying—or more ambitious—summer project,” observed the museum’s director, Elizabeth Barker. “Thanks to the tireless, often inspired collaborations of our curatorial team, we’re radically transforming the Mead, and doing so with more ingenuity and elbow grease than expense. Even longtime visitors should expect to be surprised by the unfamiliar treasures mined from our storerooms and presented in fresh, intellectually provocative ways.” Following a five-week closure, the M