ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | RAM TALKS ART | ART COLLECTIONS AT HOME OR IN YOUR COMMUNITY

RAM Talks Art: Art collections at home or in your community

By Elizabeth Dailing, Education Director, Rockford Art Museum, and Jeremiah Blankenbaker, Registrar, Rockford Art Museum

Collecting on a personal level...

When considering art collecting for individuals, it seemed only natural to ask some collectors for their opinions about the matter.

Some collectors focus on one, very specific genre of art, and others have collections as eclectic as their tastes allow. One collector we spoke to has focused an entire collection on one genre based on what an exciting time it was for art-by focusing on this genre, the collector could still meet the artists, because they were still alive. In his opinion, meeting the artists adds a whole new dimension-an interest into the enjoyment of a piece of art.

Developing a collection is a whole different issue.

Depending on the size of the piece, sought-after pieces can take years to acquire. At times, collectors choose to sell pieces to better narrow the focus of their collection. By traveling and establishing relationships with dealers, adding their names to mailing lists and following auction catalogs, collectors watch what's moving and gather information about pricing.

As far as advice to those who are interested in collecting… you can collect wonderful art with almost no budget. With the abundance of reproductions and posters, you can have amazing images of your own. Buy what you like. Go to events like Art Chicago. Don't be intimidated. Ask! At events like Art Chicago, people are there to answer your questions.

To collect art, you have to have a passion for it. You have to love the art and, according to one collector we spoke to, it's a way to meet interesting people all over the world and is very exciting-and, finally, the hunt is fun.

Collecting for the community...

Deep within the bowels of Rockford Art Museum (RAM), as in most any museum with a collection, hides a room with locked doors that few-if any-museum visitor ever sees. This is the museum's collection vault, where the art spends most of its life. Paintings and prints take refuge in racks, sculptures are dressed in plastic drop cloths, glass art and other small objects cower in closed cabinets.

RAM has 1,500 pieces in its permanent collection, yet there is gallery space to display only 5 to 10 percent at any given time. This unseen majority of the collection still serves a purpose.

Rockford Art Museum serves to educate, preserve and interpret important cultural artifacts and trends for the communities of northern Illinois. This multipurpose mission requires a collection many times the size of what would fit into an exhibition space.

Art has its own history and a set of relations with other art objects. A large collection helps to extrapolate these various relationships within the exhibition space and a variety of collection exhibitions.

In terms of the objects themselves, the number of objects worthy of preservation and exhibition reach far beyond the limited amount of collection space the art museum's worldwide exhibition space can contain.

Yet, a museum cannot afford to collect in a haphazard manner, nor can it be home to every type of art out there. Thus, the development of focal areas that the museum will be dedicated to preserving, promoting and teaching about becomes critical.

RAM has a Collection Committee that utilizes the focal areas to evaluate art for accessioning-the process whereby an object becomes part of the permanent collection. And, at times, like the personal collector, an object must be removed from the collection to better refine the focal areas-a process known as deaccessioning.

RAM collects historical and contemporary regional art, art by significant American artists, outsider art, contemporary glass art, and American photography. The museum chose its focus areas through its historical development, by how it wishes to serve the community, and through an understanding of the developments within the art world.

From its beginning in 1913, Rockford Art Museum has been collecting regionally and nationally important artists through purchases and donations. Donors have played an especially important role in developing the collection.

In the 1970s, a major donation of photography by an avid Chicago collector and promoter established American photography as a focal area. In the '90s, the museum saw the introduction of outsider art and contemporary glass art as focus areas through the generosity of passionate collectors. RAM continues to collect in each of these areas through major donations and key purchases.

Through all these phases of developing a collection, Rockford Art Museum always holds its collection in the public trust. What does that mean for the average Rockfordian? It is your collection to savor, Rockford. Enjoy it!

Rockford Art Museum Education Director Elizabeth Dailing can be reached at edailing@rockfordartmuseum.org. Rockford Art Museum Registrar Jeremiah Blankenbaker can be reached at blankenbaker@rockfordartmuseum.org.

from the Oct. 24-30, 2007, issue

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