A Message from the Executive Director

Rockford Art Museum completed the first phase of our renovation throughout the winter, and if you haven’t been to RAM lately, we have a new face – our store! After Friends of Rockford Art Museum transferred operations of the RAM Store to the museum last summer, we moved the store across the hall to the entrance of the galleries for a more contemporary, cohesive look that reflects our commitment to excellence in everything, especially customer service to you.
In moving forward, we sometimes need to take a look at where we were, in order to truly appreciate where we are today. At the annual meeting, our Board President Lisa Lindman read a letter about the history of the museum store that was written by Karen Shifo (one of its pioneers). I would like to share it with you:

"The Rockford Art Museum Store was the brainchild of Kay Galloway in 1979, when the Rockford Art Association was housed in the Burpee Art Museum [which now houses] Burpee Museum of Natural History. Its first home was on the unheated porch of the building and then it was moved inside to a side office. In 1980, Women’s Art Board gave $5000 seed money for the store. When the museum [moved into its current building], the gift shop was included in the move. The store opened in November 1985 [and Karen Shifo joined Kay in running the store as a volunteer]. RAM board member Marcia Holmstrom was instrumental with ensuring that the store would be a part of the new museum. …
When Rockford Park District took over the ownership of the building, it was closed for renovations [in the fall of 1989] so that it could become home to several arts organizations as Riverfront Museum Park. … When RAM temporarily moved to Garrison School, the store was closed during the renovation process. In February 1991, the renovated building reopened [and the Rockford Art Museum Store, designed by current RAM board member Jacki Gommel, did as well; operations were overseen by Friends of Rockford Art Museum]. … Some fixtures were fabricated by Ted Holm, the woodworking teacher at Boylan Catholic High School, and painted by Kay and Karen. Other fixtures were either donated or purchased used. The checkout counter was made by the bricklayer’s union as a donation. Dawn Pink joined Kay and Karen as the volunteer accountant. Kay and Karen continued running the RAM Store with a group of volunteers until Diane Hedberg was hired as a part-time manager in 1995. Until then, Kay handled the buying and Karen handled daily paperwork and volunteer scheduling. When Diane began, she handled buying and volunteer and paid staffing, and Kay retired after over 15 years of volunteer service. Karen and Dawn continued with their responsibilities until June 2006 [when operations were transferred from Friends to RAM itself]."

This is how it began – an important part of RAM’s foundation – and we are very grateful to all of the above for their contributions and hard work. Today, we are proud to say that Jerry Kortman and Doc Slafkosky of JR Kortman Center for Design are the merchandise buyers for the RAM Store. At the front will be Carrie Johnson, our Customer Service Coordinator, with assistance from Diane Hedberg, Aryn Kresol and Connie Schaible.
These are exciting times – a new store and new entrance; HE & SHE is now on display through July 8th; our Young Artist Show is better than ever; Visual Interest’s Third Thursdays (every other month at Brio) are a big hit; and we’re already gearing up for Art in the Garden 2007, the 59th Greenwich Village Art Fair and Evergreen Ball XIX: A Rockin’ Evergreen Ball! The next time you visit, take a look at our new educational space, located where our store used to be. The Rockford Art Museum Art Annex is a multipurpose educational space that will be used for education programs, meetings, workshops, and venue for local artists.
Happy Spring!

Linda Dennis
Executive Director