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APPENDIX A
ART John Fitzgibbon’s Narrative (c. 1980)
The first day I went to work at Sacramento State I saw something nice, one of those things that
stays with you always. Late in the afternoon, after teaching, I was walking across the Commons in
company with the sculptor Bill Geis, in what we hoped was the direction of the Cafeteria. The man
stretched out in sleep under a Japanese mimosa tree we recognized first by his costume – faded jeans,
boots, a denim shirt – as our colleague, Assistant Professor William Allan. Allan had evidently found his
first day at the college rather enervating, as first days can be. Among the many reasons I didn’t wake Bill
Allan was the consideration that he is one of country’s best artists – a realization I had already come to in
1968 and that Geis had come to years ago, when he and Allan were rookie stars of the American art
world, though barely out of art school, and that now, a dozen years later, most informed people share. A
person in Bill’s boots deserves all the rest he can get.
Was it always thus? In our department, I mean?
I’m afraid not.
Take, for instance, Jack Ogden, known to the world as an artists’ artist, and a pretty hardknocking painter as West Coast artists go. This painter, it is told, wore a tie to school every day the first
year he taught at Sac State. Jack had for many years been a high school teacher. He wasn’t about to go
back!
Art department vs. art department: the opposition is not at all facetious. In a sense it is even the
critical distinction when it comes to the history of college art departments in the United States.
And
when it comes to figuring out how a welter-weight University in a minor-league city came to possess, for a
time, an art staff the equal of any school’s anywhere, then it really will have to be understood that there
exists an inverse ratio between an art department’s “respectability” and those crucial qualities and
attitudes which permit a department to enjoy the art world’s respect. Late in the 60’s at Sacramento
State a dean and a department chairman took a chance. They reached out to the Bay Area, to Southern
California, to Chicago, and even to New York and they hired some really, truly art celebrities with paint on
their shoes and a painting or two in a museum or three. These artists variously looked like Charlie
Chaplin, refused to travel by plane, carried a purse instead of a wallet, consulted the stars, forgot to vote,
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did tai [chee] in the stairwell, ate nothing but sprouts, spelled “professor” in a number of endearing ways,
doodled masterpieces in the bathrooms, and when recruited for a television panel on the Meaning of Art
picked their nose on camera and said not one word. The women artists bought their clothes in 1948. At a
department meeting they looked so great you could hardly take your lousy sexist eyes off them and listen
to the report on repair of major equipment.
The chairman responsible for the influx of important artists was Irving Marcus, a painter who
then thought he might be good enough to be part of the national scene and by now is pretty well on his
way to it. He cared more about this than about growing roses and moving to a neighborhood where the
schools are good. The dean was the late Harvey P. Reddick, a man who had an adventurous streak in him,
and who, as a performing musician, had a better grasp than most administrators of how high the stakes
can go when major art is the issue. Like Marcus he was bored about two-thirds silly and like the artists
whose contracts he signed he was aware that he might not live to see Thursday. So he took some risks.
In retrospect it doesn’t seem it was much of a risk to hire Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt, in our
generation the two best painters to come out of Chicago, the art metropolis which for post-1945 art
history is likely to have something of the import Flanders had for the [Quattrocento] or that German
Expressionism had for the school of Paris earlier in this century. But the outcome of this particular Art
Stakes was, in the late 60’s, far from decided and only a few observers, including, fortunately, Irv Marcus,
had the prescience to see the result. Even now, in 1980, it would be wise to be bet the Nutt-Nilsson
“exacta” both ways. They are a closely matched couple, and marriage is the subject of both painters’
amoebic expressionism.
In Jim’s menacing comedy men and women are in each other’s grip; Gladys’
world of stylized, biomorphic figures is less agonized and less driven: her charming creatures preen and
moon about in an agreeable silliness that is no less truthful than the tense hostilities revealed in Jim’s
two-way fun-house mirror. In Sacramento they lived in River Park, a short walk from the Campus, and did
everything together – except visit the other’s studio. They spent the whole time indoors during their tour
here, the way you do it in Chicago, with Jim even building a covered walkway so that one could go from
the house to the garage-studio without danger from the Sacramento elements. Gladys and Jim shopped
at the market where their neighbor Bob Else buys his groceries, and this they did together, too, with
Gladys making the selections from California’s bewildering array of fresh vegetables while Jim stayed up
front and read magazines form the rack. At night they watched old Hollywood movies on television, and
once in a while would recommend one that shouldn’t be missed. Jim Nutt was a stickler for working the
departmental rules to this best advantage and he was a tireless agitator for such things as his Early
Promotion (Professional Merit), which he wished for not so much for the salary increment as for the
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relevance he perceived to his honor. Ironically enough, “Professional Merit” was the undoing of Jim
Nutt’s career as Cal State professor. After a time he and his wife began to make the kind of money that
causes things to be uncomfortable for everybody, and Gladys and Jim had to quit teaching and quit
Sacramento and go back in triumph to Chicago, where they remain today, the [chiefest] totems for rich
people there. In the department here Jim and Gladys kept their distance and made only a few close
friends – not, to my regret, including me; but at night when the late movie comes on Jim and Gladys are
remembered hereabouts by more than their friends as a couple of painters we are glad we didn’t miss,
and in the department their loss will always be felt because in our field the axiom does hold: the best
artists make the best teachers.
Everyone when he sets out to write has in mind an ideally sympathetic reader, a rather smart
person, quite smart as a matter of fact, who doesn’t miss the small touches and feels pained when the
jokes don’t come off, if they don’t and who likes movies of the 30’s and 40’s, and prefers California wines
to French on the mysterious ground that California painting is just as good and just like Paris or N.Y., and
just possibly can tell the difference between Jim Nutt’s group of painters, The Hairy Who, and the work of
the Chicago Monster Roster of one generation earlier. My actual reader, I’m pretty sure, is an amiable
academic person from another discipline than mine, a person whose desk is covered with exams that
need grading and who instead of dreaming about his or her sabbatical leave coming through is wasting
time riffling through this enchiridion, looking for the good parts and dwelling for a minute or two with me.
This reader, as I imagine him, is a formulator of idle questions, such as Who is the third best painter out of
Chicago in our day and age.
Surprise! The question does have a bearing on our story. The third best Chicago painter is
maybe Ed Paschke, or it’s maybe Karl Wirsum, or it’s maybe Roger Brown, or it’s maybe someone else.
Most people I know would probably give it to Wirsum, an original member of the Hairy Who. Years ago
this young artist attracted attention at the CAA annual meeting where thousands of artists come to apply
for dozens of jobs. Karl was dressed to match the absurdity of the situation. To the job interview he wore
army dungarees, a hard hat and tennis sneakers, and carried a baseball bat. Someone said, he must not
want a job because nobody is going to hire him dressed like that! I said, you are probably wrong on both
counts. Not long afterwards Karl Wirsum was hired to teach part-time at Sacramento State.
The jarring, ferocious color, zig-zag design elements, and bi-lateral symmetry of Wirsum’s figure
paintings are fueled by his interest in tribal art and in the art of children, maniacs, and so-called
“primitives.” WIrsum, Nutt, Nilsson, and later the artists Joan Moment and Phil Hitchcock learned that at
our school this interest in “Outsider Art” had been pioneered locally by Dr. Don Uhlin, a distinguished
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scholar in Art Education and his colleague Dr. Tarmo Pasto, the indomitable old Finn who started the
department in a bungalow back in [195?]. Both men had formed valuable collections of the curious but
far from hapless art which is sometimes produced by institutionalized people. These collaborations
between the Chicago contingent and the art educators were instances of those too rare occasions when
specialists literally run across each other, to their mutual benefit.
Karl Wirsum lived with his family down at the foot of E St. in a cottage full of antique toys and a
McGovern sign poking out above the weeds out front. He would teach only one class per semester,
though he was offered more. Into this class he would pour all he had. For his students it was a magical
treat. Apparently Wirsum felt that teaching was like true love: you can’t have it MWF at 9 and then all
over again at 11 on something new. And then, too, he wasn’t really in Sacramento to teach so much as he
was to be in bicycling reach of his friends Jim and Gladys. For work and play he wore a baseball cap
turned backwards, like a catcher, along with suspenders over a sweatshirt; and this last a good thing, too,
because his pants, with the chain leg rolled at the cuff, were invariably 3 or 4 sizes too large, like Stan
Laurel in a barrel. Wirsum and I got along but he was always wary of me because I drove a yellow Italian
sports car and this fact convinced him that I was rich. In 1972 the State Department asked me to give
some lectures in South America on the subject of California art and I asked them to send along a big
current exhibition of the work of my colleagues, here and at Davis; they said OK and I insisted that the
paintings of Wirsum (and of Wayne Thiebaud) be added to the extant exhibition which the government
had agreed to pick up. This softened Wirsum’s attitude toward me but only in the way, you know, that
we admit that the eccentricity of the rich can lead them to do good once in a while. It continued to please
him to believe that I was rich. After a while I believe that this pleased me as well.
The main thing Karl Wirsum accomplished in his years in Sacramento was the construction and
painting of puppets for a play of his own devising. A delightful short film of this activity was made at the
time by Suzanne Simpson, then finishing her degree with us. This film was shown at the Bienal de Sao
Paolo in 1973 when Nutt, Nilsson, Wirsum headed the Made in Chicago show which represented the USA
that year. At this writing Suzanne has completed 5 documentary films on noted West Coast artists. They
are entertaining and beautiful all, but one may harbor a special fondness for her film on Wirsum, a man
who thinks that everybody ought to have a good job, regardless of his wardrobe.
In Sacramento the Chicago connection endures into a second generation with the arrival in 1976
of Philip Hitchcock as chairman. An artist interested in process, performance, and conceptual art, he had
been, in Chicago, quite literally surrounded by hundreds of students drawing pimples, armpits, and goiters
– subject matter introduced into art by the Hairy Who and unbeknownst to graduate students in Chicago,
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Sacramento, or anywhere else, absolutely bound to disappear from art the moment work by Gladys, Jim,
and Karl began to pile up in Museums, Biennials, and private collections around the world. Hitchcock’s
idea of a good piece of art, enacted at the important Edinburgh Festival, was, after some preliminary
months working with hard-case convicts, to walk the streets of the Scottish capitol with felons and
desperados. The authorities of Prison who connived in this piece understood it; the director of the
prestigious Festival did not. He wondered if it were art. To the colleagues who bought Philip to
Sacramento it looked like the work of an artist aware of the primary relation of art to human freedom.
One of Hitchcock’s first moves was to initiate a student and faculty exchange program with the
Art Institute of Chicago. Already the route is well-worn. This official affiliation, from the faculty’s point of
view, is more meaningful than the welcome chance to touch base it provides originally mid-western
artists like the photographer Roger Vail and the developing abstract painter Oliver Jackson. For about as
long as CSUS has been in existence and had such a thing as a department of art America has enjoyed an
unchallenged hegemony in the visual arts.
And this leadership has been, basically, a New York
phenomenon. Artists everywhere have had a choice whether to style what they are doing on one or
another New York sanctioned mode of art or to risk provinciality (and New York neglect) by attempting
something different. An enormous number of artists have thought to solve this dilemma by moving to
New York. Nor does this always turn out badly. One of our best graduate students of the 70’s, Don
Hazlitt, went immediately to New York, where these days to far-flung acclaim he turns out works which
some resemblance to the paintings of Ralph Humphreys. The innate taste and flair for the beautiful in his
work make is a sure thing that this young artist, who used to pump gas in Stockton, will shortly emerge
from the New York pack and be a New York artist to reckon with in the 80’s. And there have been others,
like Victor Faccinto, a painter and maker of “underground” animated films.
But it is as a haven for art-independence, not as a feeder school for New York, that the CSUS
department deserves this footnote in the history of art. A haven, that is, for artists with an independent
statement to make, for artists, that is, whose work acquires part of its character and import from the very
fact that it is being made far from the madding crowd. A haven, in other words, for artists who do not
believe that the best art of an era must be made in a single place and who contend with the force of their
lives and art that if there is, after all, to be a single place then New York City is the least likely of locales to
nourish their feelings and their vision. Such contentious ambition wants quick distinguishing, of course,
from the safe, self-satisfied tenure-garden where nothing is happening and nothing is supposed to
happen until everyone is happily dead – the situation all too often hankered after by more than enough
university art departments west of the Hudson.
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In general, the best New York art, like Ralph Humphrey’s, has been for some little time, about art
itself; about the rules, strategies, internal conventions for making a painting; about such “issues” as
“object vs. illusion,” “depicted vs. literal.” Most of these battles, for simplicity’s sake, are fought on
abstract ground. The best art made deliberately Outside New York, like Bill Allan’s, or Joseph Raffael’s, or
Jim Albertson’s, is more often than not figurative in some way and is plainly about life, not art. The art of
Northern California, especially work coming out of Sacramento State (and from those neighborly fields of
shared spiritual vision at Davis) has always been about the chances for a better society and the possibility,
at this late date, for a personal salvation. Rather than with merely formal questions, Sacramento art deals
with what counts and what doesn’t; it is about looking out for the wrong turns; it is about seeing what is
inevitable; it is about how to keep a clear mind in a decaying body. Where New York works typically have
irrelevant, after-the-fact titles, or are called No. 15, or simply “Untitled,” Bill Allan’s paintings, founded on
a radical respect for Nature as supreme arbiter, require titles to complete their meaning: Shadow repair
for the Western man; Deception Pass; Tentative Assault on Mt. Fear. Albertson’s scathing pessimism and
defiant raunchiness (he came out of Chicago Art Institute shortly after Nutt) hardly ally him with the
ethereal purity of Allan’s transcendental landscape paintings. Yet, he is linked to Allan and, like Allan,
separated from art as it is known in New York by the fact that in paintings like the lurid Sex, Violence,
Religion, and the Good Life, shown at the important “Bad” painting show at the New Museum in New
York, Albertson takes an interest in questions like, Why are we here? and, What should we do next? Or at
least he regards these questions as still unsolved. Albertson taught briefly but memorably at Sacramento
State in the 70’s. I point to his sojourn with us because he is among the best younger painters in America
and because the uncompromising qualities in his painting make it hard to imagine where else he would
have been as welcome. Raffael, from Brooklyn, and educated at Cooper Union and Yale, was virtually the
first post-war painter to turn to the photograph (long taboo as a source of pictorial energy). An elegant
virtuoso of the brush and a colorist not less glamorous than Renoir or Rubens, Raffael was successful by
every standard and already a rising figure in the New York scheme of things when, nonetheless, the
hustle-bustle of the art world started to pall for him and, attracted by the climate of the vision in Northern
California, he moved here for good. Once at Sacramento State his name grew ever larger on the West
Coast, a consequence of the stunning parade of big [N]ature pictures – paintings emphasizing the
wholeness, monumentality, and integrity of the image – which now replaced the fragmented, chopped
and dislocated images of suffering people and creatures Raffael had produced in the New York milieu.
The great Water and Lily paintings of the 70’s are still swept by a continuous sub-current of pain,
but this is perhaps only the perpetual and irreducible pain of Being, from which no creature can escape,
and in these new masterpieces, as I can truly call them, this fundamental pain is assuaged by a tide of
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spiritual feeling and a deep sense of the oneness and harmony of all created things. A tender radiance
suffuses all. That Raffael’s eloquent small brush licks into life on the canvas; there is an awesome aureole
of spiritual Presence. When an artist is as talented as Raffael it gives birth all over again to familiar
theories of divine afflatus in painting because people cannot believe that a man can rise this far about
other men.
All the same, in his teaching Raffael stressed stick-to-it-[iveness], regular hours in the studio,
concentration, and work-energy. He would say that in art the end result was 90% steady application and
only 10% talent and luck. Kindness was ever the touchstone of Raffael’s teaching as whole; he could also
be candid to a cold degree of cruelty when the situation demanded. There were students who had to
hear that it was perhaps time to prepare a career outside art. In general, feelings were what Joseph
emphasized with students: how to have a real feeling, how to keep it alive. Feelings were what he
insisted for humanity which is the burden of every important artist’s statement.
Late one afternoon I was sitting in the [O]ffice by myself when a phone message came in for
Carlos Villa, an uncommonly popular teacher in a department of popular teachers. Carlos is a painter of
powerful, rhythmically swirling abstractions, at once nonchalant and gutsy, to which he frequently
attaches feathers, bones, bits of mirror, fetish-dolls, and spatters of blood and semen. They seem to have
been painted not with the head but with his heart, liver, lungs, and viscera. Ultimately they derive from
Jackson Pollock and Pollock’s good friend, the painter Alphonso Ossorio – like Villa, a Filipino. But this
derivation is by way of the more turgid, chthonic West Coast school of abstract expressionism which
developed at the San Francisco Art Institute where Carlos Villa went to school. Villa’s place in the history
of painting in California is secure, and the précis of “Art Institute” brand AbEx might be given as Clifford
Still, Frank Lobdell, Jack Jefferson, Carlos Villa, and the Future. Villa was hired at Sacramento State in the
late sixties when a new chairman arrived and, to his bewilderment, found fully half the department was
made up not just of WASPs like deWitt Jayne and Woody Witt, painter of slight but utterly charming
pastorals, but of Professors like Vollbrecht, Herberholz, Else, Geis, Hohlwein, Beckmann, Walburg, Uhlin,
and Bohr, whose ancestor-folk skipped the trip to England and emigrated directly to the U.S. from Anglia,
Saxony, Bavaria, Prussia, or whatever German canton. What’s more, to this Nordic constellation the
department was getting ready to add the illustrious and fantastical star of Stephen Kaltenbach and the
bright, wandering comet of Kurt von Meier. Again with the collusion of Dean Harvey Reddick the
department literally changed complexion in hardly more than two years ‘ time with the addition to the
roster of teachers like Carlos Villa, Allan Gordon, Oliver Jackson, Frank LePena, Al Wong, Grace [
Esteban Villa, Ed Carrillo, Jimmie Suzuki, and Jose Montoya.
],
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This renovation did not take place at Sacramento State, any more than in the rest of our society,
without certain stresses. But it did take place and it took place rapidly and with a common will toward
thoroughgoing racial balance – for there was never at Sacramento, any question, as there has been at
some universities, of “putting a black in the window,” as when Richard Randell was hired away from CSUS
by S---------- University in Palo Alto, CA. The new hiring at Sacramento expanded the department by about
a third, to about thirty positions, and afterward everyone felt just as they knew they would when they
were able to look around at a meeting and see artists, historians, and educators who represent,
collectively, the dream in a democracy like ours of a fair chance for all.
In one domain of hiring the department’s ideals still run well ahead of its practice, and this leaves
us in a situation that perhaps the 80’s will correct.
Well over half our students in all areas of
concentration, are women, yet, to the impoverishment of life in the department, they have few enough
models on the distaff side of the faculty. We all know that whenever women do not carry the same
weight as men hypocrisy is the result, whereas when men and women work together under conditions of
equal responsibility things go better and there is a sweet humanization of the labor. Fortunately it is true
at least that the women who have worked with us over the years are a distinguished lot, headed by Joan
Brown, one of the most formidable contemporary painters, and including, form Art Ed, Lita Whitesel,
Barbara Herberholz, and the innovative young artist Maria Winkler, not to forget the printmaking
contingent: the ebullient, indelible, and quite [unduplicable] Sylvia Lark, Kathy Keller, and Christi Hager. I
can testify that the art historians miss greatly the leaven provided when Susan McKillop and Sue
Willoughby were helping out. And just in general all through the department the faculty’s situation is
roughly the obverse of the student’s: Too much Yang and not enough Yin.
The obstacles which impede a wom[e]n in the arts are fairly similar to the difficulties
encountered by professional women elsewhere in society. One could speak of all the CSUS women as de
facto feminists, and Lita Whitesel’s witty and irony-laced treatment of the treatment of women in art has
been a bulwark of the Art Ed curriculum. Still, within the department at CSUS, there has been a
thoughtful avoidance of doctrinaire theories about “women’s art.”
Joan Brown has often had to
dissociate herself from crusaders seeking a figurehead, and one talented student, going to Gladys Nilsson
for guidance about how to become a celebrated “woman artist,” was sent away kindly but finally with the
observation “Art is made by people, sweetie.” This does not change the fact that neither Carlos Villa nor
Irving Marcus nor Bob Else is a particularly possible model for the women students who preponderate in
their courses; nor, no matter how fascinating he may be in class, is Dr. Uhlin; nor am I in this respect, nor
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Dr. Bohr, nor Frank LaPena. More women teachers are needed. It is the department’s only signal
weakness.
The message for Carlos Villa was from a museum curator in New York. I decided to take it up to
him in the painting studio upstairs where I knew Carlos and Raffael were teaching as a team. Carlos Villa
grew up on the street in San Francisco along with other young men from his community and the time he
wasn’t just hanging out on the corner he spent in a pool hall. His parents were immigrants; they didn’t
speak much English, and Carlos’ father washed floors for the telephone company for most of his life. This
put Carlos through Catholic school, where the sisters got hold of him and, since he probably was cuter and
brighter than a cherry tomato, they put books in his hands, taught him to read a little Latin, and saw to it
that he had drawing materials. The rest, as I’ve said, is history, or art history, anyway. Carlos went to the
Art Institute in San Francisco and, for his M.F.A., to Mills College where, to earn his scholarship, he was
assistant to the late, legendary Dr. Alfred Neumeyer. It’s gratifying how many artists in the department
are on a comfortable footing with the history of art. It’s even more helpful, where departmental harmony
and mutual understanding are concerned, that almost all the art educators and all the art historians have
a hard personal acquaintance with the dues collected by serious art form anyone who is trying to make it.
It is a glory, if that’s not too strong a word, of our department that Dr. Allan Gordon, for instance, has had
significant showing of his ritual-objects in museums while his courses in tribal art, say, or the history of
modern architecture could be as readily taught by Oliver Jackson, by Gerald Walburg.
This easy
reciprocity is not the rule on every campus. At Berkeley (where Art Ed is so infra dig it doesn’t even exist)
the staid art historians moved away during the 70’s from their former colleagues, the dirty old artists.
Separate buildings, and after all these years! At our school the arts complex was worried out of the State
Master Plan by such implacable harriers as Robert Else, Gerald Walburg and Don Herberholz. Money,
equipment, and space have never been what they ought to be, but the operation goes on. It was the
chance to expand, not intellectual policy, that led to a physical separation of studio workshops from
history. On a rainy day at our school it’s not too bad a walk, especially with a copy of the Daily Hornet
held over your head, from the art history lecture room out to the Sculpture Lab by the levee. But at
Harvard a psychic abyss yawns between art history headquarters in the Fogg and the lovely but
preposterously tiny LeCorbusier building for practi[s]e-art. And in many other departments which look to
Harvard and to Berkeley, art remains a poor cousin to its history. I remember a snowy evening in Madison
about 10 years ago when I was about to give a public lecture on the work of my colleagues here and at
Davis. Nixon had just done something flagrant in Southeast Asia and police were sweeping the campus to
demonstrate to the demonstrators what the price of civil disobedience was going to be. I had to get from
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the art studio building over to the art lecture hall and when I glanced out the window I saw a locked-arms
blue line of helmet-and-visored policemen standing between Art History and Art.
The consanguinity of art and art history has never been in doubt among historians at Sacramento
but there have been moments when hearts went into mouths. There was the time I was standing in the
hallway with my senior colleague, Dr. Riis Bohr, a cheerful, sensitive man, with something of an
intellectual green thumb, but whose conservative mien thoroughly discourages any presumption or
infringement of his scholarly space. So it was that I thought the one-for-all, all-for-one model department
was a goner when a man wearing a [fuschia] shirt and black patent leather shoes sailed into the other end
of the corridor and let out with, Hiya Riis, what’s happening, Baby? Dr. Bohr looked, he peered, he
squinted against the light from the glass doors. Then Bohr began to smile and his smile just widened on
him. Riis went forward and received a hug from another culture. Then he disappeared into his office
cubicle. I just stood there chagrinned, as often we are when we fail to trust, when we suppress our
natural tenderness, when we outsmart our innocence. I had failed to behave as an artist. Therefore I had
not known. Riis and Carlos were friends!
Wherever they’ve taught neither Carlos Villa nor Eduardo Carrillo have spent much of their week
away from some neighborhood arts project they fostering. Carrillo is one of a small group of Los Angeles
painters from the same era at UCLA who in their work have ignored mainstream conventions – as most
Los Angeles painters have not, preferring to produce a knowing and sleek revision of New York concerns.
Ed grew up in East L.A. and he is far and away the most [skilfull] Chicano painter to come along, as well as
the most sophisticated – though this wasn’t enough to keep Ed out of the “Bad” Painting Show organized
by Marcia Tucker to show the art world work considered to be irrelevant in New York. Ed is destined for
enduring attention as a realist painter of our own period with something real to say, for once, about the
time-space conjunction and other perennial subjects of 2-D art. There are those, and I am one of them,
who think that Ed draws energy for his paintings from the cosmic stream of grace, and if you get down to
the Crocker Museum to see the large Interior which hangs there, take a look at the rattlesnake ashtray on
the dining room table at Ed’s rented house on H St. and you will see a spiritual space ship for fair.
Now some people don’t like to read about cosmic streams of grace and the like, and these
readers heartily wish that artists would not be so adamant in debunking the worldview based on scientific
rationalism. They find it hard to understand why our sometime colleague Jim Pomeroy, one of the best of
the younger American artists, should have done a piece which cast into doubt the reality of the moonlanding. They don’t get it, they don’t get a lot of the art done in their time, and they won’t get it either, if
history provides an index for prediction. One time, on television, I saw one of the local newswomen
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interview Ed Carrillo at an opening at D.R. Wagner’s gallery downtown. The newslady was wearing a girl’s
poplin raincoat and a pastel silk scarf; she looked very nice. Carrillo had on a serape over his white peon’s
pajamas. Where do you get the ideas for these paintings, he was asked. The lady meant that the
paintings were strange. “Well, I receive messages from outer space,” Ed said. He was choking back
laughter and turning away to hide it. Don’t your friends think you’re crazy when you tell them you get
messages from outer space? asked the not-so-dumb TV lady. Well, said Ed, when I get messages from
space I think I’m crazy! And he hid his face in his sombrero so as not to be caught laughing at another
person.
It was a lovely stand-off. But the lady whose wish for herself was to interview, for television,
people who can do things is not alone in her irritation with artists. Why don’t they believe what other
people believe, why are they forever meditating or fiddling with drugs, why should they always be
mocking the official moralities which support social intercourse as we know it??? Above all, why do they
have to make it so nauseating and hard to understand! Take Gerald Walburg, who is a pretty good
sculptor, with reasonable pretensions to national standing. His art takes the well-travelled but still heroic
route of welded-steel constructions in Cor-Ten, and his Indo-Arch commissioned by the City does just
what it is supposed to do: it provides an exhilarating moment of beauty in a public place. The artist tried
to make something legible, elegant, monumental, upward-thrusting, yet perfectly poised. He pretty well
succeeded, too. In our time and place (and in many another place and time throughout the modern era)
this success guaranteed that the artist’s work would be savaged as “frivolous and ugly” (both!) by every
ignoramus in town, including, in the present case, the woman, “an art major in college,” who manages the
newest and most hideous Holiday Inn, the most ignoble building ever designed, which only yesterday fell
upon Sacramento in a gargantuan squat hard by Walburg’s Indo-Arch. Of course, in a society which values
a hotel, which provides jobs, and does not value sculpture, which provides pleasure and truth, this
criticism is natural enough and, though it is one more nail in the coffin of alienation, can even be enjoyed
by artists as just another sinister good joke. In the instance of Walburg and his detractors the best is yet
to come, for as the censorious eye of our fellow-artist Gov. Reagan’s once told him Walburg’s principal
motif in his art has always been his own genitals, which are near to hand and seldom out of any artist’s
mind, whether it is Claes Oldenburg or Judy Chicago, and which Gerry usually abstracts only lightly, as in
the frivolous and ugly Indo-Arch, into a soaring counterpoint of straight line and arabesque. No one has,
at this writing, made the connection, but people are bound to catch on sooner or later. Some things you
have to wait for.
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As for Carrillo, he was hired away by U.C. Santa Cruz where, as a gift to the community, he spent
8 months painting a mural in an unused entry off the enclosed shopping mall downtown. The painting
dealt searchingly and compassionately with the theme of conquered and Conquistador, with the fateful
coming together of brown and white peoples, their cultures, and their myths. The thing to keep in mind
about this mural is its quality. Many artists considered it the finest mural outside Mexico. What the
manager of the Santa Cruz branch of Monterey Savings and Loan, which owns the mall, thought of Ed’s
work was that Ed’s work was kind of a big mess, and quite conceivably a blight on the mall and people’s
shopping instincts, so one day while Ed was away working on a mural for the City of Los Angeles the bank
manager, in order “to clean the place up,” had Ed’s work [spraypainted] out with glossy enamel, thus
earning himself a place in the annals of banker taste. Which is interchangeable with newscaster taste
and, despite the best efforts of some art department, with hotel manager taste.
So Ed Carrillo lost a great painting. And the Santa Cruz area lost a valuable public asset, all in a
day’s blindness. It would take more than a day for a bank to destroy Carrillo’s proudest accomplishment
in art, however. For this was not a great painting but a great action, such as few men have the grace to
perform. On the strength of this action and not on the merit of his paintings Carrillo was hired to teach at
Sacramento.
Back in the 60’s Ed and his wife were living down in La Paz, Baja California. People in La Paz have
very little, almost nothing, yet they were importing items from the Guadalajara Market in order to have
something to sell to the American tourists. It helped that Ed was able to get a grant from the Mexican
government and it helped that Ed’s uncle was Chief of Police in La Paz. On a vacant lot on the road to the
airport Ed went to work. For and with poor people he built a crafts and art Center from the ground up,
with everyone learning what had to be learned as they went along. This Center took dozens of nearly
destitute men, women, and children literally off the street and gave them back skills they had not known
they had lost. The smallest craft object from Mexico, like a [handpainted] tie, or even an ashtray, can be
memorable for its charm, and today the operation the Carrillos started in La Paz is strongly self-sustaining.
It was a fine achievement all around, although I should perhaps label it Ed’s humblest accomplishment in
art since, even though artists are not saints – particularly not our bunch, any of the same paradoxes do
operate in their lives nevertheless.
Here at home in Sacramento the task of collecting community consciousness fell to Esteban Villa
and Jose Montoya, founders, along with a few friends, of the Centro which serves the Latino community
downtown and of its affiliated RCAF workshop which produces murals and posters designed to raise
political and cultural consciousness. Esteban Villa is an artist who seemingly grew right out of the soil of
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the Central Valley; in his hands (and closely followed by a host of adherents) the Chicano poster makes a
strong, immediate visual impact with its flat, vivacious color statement, its interlocking clean-edged
shapes stylized from pre-Colombian motifs and its airy but sure reconnaissance of the history of the
modern poster from the days of Jugendstil and the Nabis on up through the Soviet ideological poster and
on to the optical [zappiness] of the Haight-[Ashberry] rock poster which is the RCAF’s product’s closest
antecedent.
Jose Montoya put together the Pachuco Show, and at first it appeared to be merely a hologram
of a couple dancing, supported by small paintings of Pachucos by Jose and his friends, plus all kind of
memorabilia of this 40’s era of confrontation between Chicano street youth and harassing bands of
servicemen, sailors mostly, who were egged on by the newspapers and radio, whose interest always lies
in hysteria, and who were supported, whenever it came to trouble, by the police.
Taken one at a time the old photos of cars and teen-angels, the yellowed yellow journalism
which stirred “decent” citizens against the Brown Menace, are not particularly prepossessing. Seen as an
ensemble, however, the gestalt takes over; one begins to see that the exhibition is a single work of art –
an installation piece, in fact, and not far removed in spirit from such advanced contemporary work as Jim
Pomeroy’s vast ironic Bicentennial tribute to Mt. Rushmore. In Pomeroy’s installation the piles of tacky
tourist trash and kitsch images spawned by the Rushmore theme agglomerate to expose the second-rate
character of this national “monument;” what comes slowly to light as one takes it all in is the overblown,
fake-heroic, quasi-fascist aspect to Borghlum’s hackwork tour de force. While Pomeroy takes aim at what
is dead-conventional in our experience – the [campertrucks] lined up in the immense Rushmore parking
lot, the [parkranger’s] President’s lecture, Montoy’s piece manages to resurrect an attitude of the late
40’s and 50’s – Pachuco dandyism, whose one goal, during the deadest episode in American spiritual
history, was to remain alive and defiant in despite of authoritarian pressures to conform. Pachuco-ism
was a way, the only way, for a Mexican-American to bear witness. It was not, as perfectly malicious
newspaper articles asserted, a murderous freak-show let loose upon an innocent America. Willy-nilly
each [p]achuco became, by his stance, what today we might call a performance-artist.
The evening of the gallery opening I went early because I have a long drive home to Pilot Hill and
besides I didn’t want to get shut out of the Mexican food and beer they were planning to serve as part of
the vernissage ritual which reveals so much about the relation of Culture and Art to Nature. It was very
impressive (and it spilled the opening out into the sidewalk) when hundreds and hundreds of people
showed up in full-fig Pachuco attire – zoot suits for the men, the women in period dresses and hairdos.
After about an hour of milling around there was a moment of sustained clarity when the relationship of
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style to identity was as apparent to me as it has ever been. It was very impressive, the hundreds of
people, the whole thing.
Then thousands of people showed up. Jose’s first event strayed into the street, there was
nowhere else to go. First one motorcycle cop, then teams of them began to cruise a scene that was lurid,
apparitional. The cops were absolutely ignored, which was just as well from their point of view. I
conjecture that the police were in Condition 7-11, an imaginary Condition where the Unforeseen has just
merged with the unthinkable and it’s happening right now before you have time to doubt it. Condition 711 in this case being the fact that 2000 Pachucos and their ladies are apparently drinking wine in the
middle of J St. and having one hell of a Friday evening.
There are ironies built into the RCAF situation, the salient one being that they are a clubby
reverse-elite and can be as stuffy and one-dimensional as the next outfit with too many generals. But
they have created art where before there was none; and in the process they rescued an art form – the
poster – that, after the sixties, was about to be shoved in the closet once again and they gave this medium
of communication an energy that will last while notions of brotherhood, cultural identity, and economic
fair-play are still with us. Even so, out on Highway 50 going home from the art opening I couldn’t help
dwelling on the irony that Montoya, with his deliberate aloofness from any and all modernist ploys was
looking on this occasion very much like not only X the well-known New York-based installation artist but
also like Y the popular West Coast performance artist.
The Pachuco show still strikes me as a very special performance action by an artist with
something special to say. Very much I was reminded of the gigantic reception afforded the S.F. Art
Institute’s Other Sources exhibition organized by Carlos Villa and including third-world artists like Gordon,
Jackson, LaPena, Montoya, and that peregrine “little master” of 20 th century idioms, the painter James
Suzuki. That opening lasted three days’ worth of dancing, feasting, and general celebration. Whenever
there is a triumphant opening we seem to get a glimpse of the heights in the very pleasure people take in
seeing each other, renewing friendships, exchanging promises, and making plans in an atmosphere of
beauty and spiritual achievement. I can remember the grand opening of the Thiebaud exhibition at the
Crocker Museum when thousands of jubilant citizens, far more than I can recall seeing at an opening in
any institution of the Crocker’s drawing power, came through elbow to elbow in tribute to Sacramento’s
first son, and Sacramento State’s most distinguished alumnus, and one of the world’s greatest painters,
whose dignity and decency, greater than other men’s, can be read in his every earnest brushstroke. But,
although there was love in the air, [allright], mostly these [Sacramentans] came in the spirit of fans
gathering to pay homage to one of their own who had managed to rise far above them, as far as a great
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athlete, a movie star, a master criminal, a scientific genius, or in this case simply as far as millionaire artist
who had done something, those pies, those opulent cupcakes, that they couldn’t quite fasten on the
meaning of, but that they knew was somehow great. The people who came to the Pachuco Show were
equally innocent of any true art-awareness, but they had a better sense of why they were there: to honor
each other and to remind themselves of the meaning of their lives. Ed Carrillo’s friend Roberto Chavez
told me that after the Pachuco Show opened in his barrio space in East L.A. that people came in with their
own photos and mementoes saved from the era and just pinned them up on the walls alongside the rest
of the exhibition. The Pachuco Show was very impressive. And it was a good time.
As the artist is society’s bad boy, so ceramics is the bad boy of the art world. Around ceramics
there lingers an aura of not-quite-respectability. In New York City only 32 or 41 or 17 people have so far
found out about ceramics. Ceramics in New York has the status of pottery. Ceramics is 12 plates and cups
for Aunt Agatha and Uncle Buz. New York hopes it will not have to learn about the ceramics thrown and
hand-built in Sacramento, California where, needless to say, ceramics is major art fare.
The slight disreputability suffered, or, if you will, enjoyed by ceramics is a tenacious hangover
from the Renaissance prejudice, old in Michelangelo’s day, which preferred Painting to Sculpture on the
ground that 2-D art is more ethereal, less palpable and gross, les material than 3-D work. And hence
more philosophical, more capable of giving expression to the spiritual realities art is always “about.”
Michelangelo, ever defiant of norms and of the supposed legitimacy of authority, took it on himself to
defend the role of the sculptor, that disheveled fellow with his hair stuck full of wood-shavings, his clothes
caked with marble dust, his shoes webbed with wax-drippings, his hands chapped and stained from daily
manual labor. Can it be that this cagey disheveled person has survived these many centuries and who
knows how many efforts to clean him up and dry him out in order to turn up in the guise of a professor
who professes clay under the name, say, of Peter Vandenberge, and genius Dutchman and van Gogh looka-like? Or professes clay under the bright name of Robert Brady, sadly smiling through a thick cloud of
dust and not being able to do anything with this hands that does not come out more beautiful than the
last. Or professes clay under the perky [goathered] lady name of Donna Billick whose tall, standing
Kaoliths look beautifully wacky from one angle and when you walk around to the other side, well, they
look wackily beautiful. Now all this takes place in Sacramento under the wise aegis of Ruth Rippon, an
artist who is herself synonymous with the historical development of ceramics art on the West Coast,
which is the main place, when you think about it, where ceramics has really developed at all. Under
Ruth’s direction facilities have expanded, there has been a flowering of ceramics workshops of every
conceivable kind, and numerous talents have sprung up, which is all the more amazing to the art
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historians among us, to whom the ceramics major, his eyes cast down upon gross earth, his mind bent low
and more bound to primal matter than even the sculptor, his heart only happy when up to this elbows in
slip, appears as a special kind of nut (and the hardest to crack). In the art history lecture room the
ceramics student sits listlessly in the back of the class and looks in wonder at the object on the student’s
desk next to him. It is a book. The ceramics student wishes the clock would hurry, wishes there would be
a power-failure, wishes the teacher would have a heart-attack. The ceramics student would like to go
back to pounding clay. From sweatshirt to shoes the ceramics student is covered with the magnificence
of mud.
And now we are back at the central paradox in this matter of why there should be a department
of art in a University at all. Because from this mud, in the sensitive hands of Bob Brady, the powerful
hands of Peter Vandenberge, arise objects of art which will continue to be valued and studied long after
the submergence of our own emerging University. Brady, like Vandenberge, was seasoned in Robert
Arneson’s fruitful workshop in Davis. The quality of Brady’s giant, yet fragile urns, extrapolated from
tribal motifs, and infused with pathos as well as humor, is indicative of the major role he will play in
American art of the next decades. As for Vandenberge there is simply no telling how good he is. With the
exception of Pete Voulkos whose leadership of the California school of ceramics dates from the days way
back when time began (but only a couple of decades ago as humans measure) when Voulkos and Ruth
Rippon and a very few others were mauling the clay alongside each other at Oakland’s Arts and Crafts,
with this single exception of Voulkos, Peter Vandenberge must be credited with the greatest natural gift
for form-finding of any artist working in clay. When Brady recently turned for inspiration to African
masks, Peter followed suit creating a series of outside, free-standing heads based on his own revision of
Modigliani’s revision of Baule work. They answer the question whether profound human feeling can be
translated into clay and the question why Vandenberge is so [underrecognized] in the art world is being
rendered moot just now by the Everson Museum’s important circulating show of American ceramics of
the last hundred years: 20 artists, including Vandenberg, Arneson, Voulkos, and Dave Gilhooley (whose
charmingly priapic ceramic frogs have turned out to be museum-domesticated all over the world and who
has recently been teaching a class with us whenever he can). The youngest artist in the Hundred Years
show Tom Rippon, is Ruth’s nephew. Rippon never enrolled at Sac State or at Davis either – he just “hung
out.” But we count him because he is awfully good and, same story, we count too the excellent nationalclass abstract painter John Ford, one of the best artists under thirty.
Why so many good artists showed up at CSUS in the early 70’s has something to do with the
historical circumstances. Raffael and I were visiting professors at Berkeley one summer later in the 60’s, a
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time when the University, faced with mounting daily violence over the immorality of racism and the
Vietnam War, had been forced to relinquish its authority to police. Understandably, its moral authority
was soon hard to find. The students there were so beaten down and beaten up that no constructive thing
could take place in the classroom. Going to school was just a holding action. Kids brought their dogs and
sat around. In the Fall Joseph and I left gladly for Sacramento where you could talk to students without
being drowned out by a helicopter. Other teachers came or were already here for roughly the same
reason. Once here they looked around, saw each other, and stayed a few years. There ensued what by
any objective standard has to be called a Golden Age of creative activity at our school and in the
surrounding art community. Six or seven of the very best artists in this country would be sitting in a
curriculum meeting talking about how to get the off-set press rolling and preparing to drop in on a
student opening. The place glowed because, I’ll say again, the best teachers have the most to teach.
After a while some artists got too rich to teach anymore (Holden Caulfield was right: you can’t
room comfortably with someone whose suitcases are not as good as yours). So they quit and pretty soon
others moved away or went back to where they came from and before long the blood ox in the
department had virtually been transfused. The situation now, still looks good to me, to Don Herberholz,
to Bill Allan, to most of us who have now been here for some time. There is a young chairman (who is
treating his whole administrative task as a piece of performance art), there are enthusiastic, young, and
improving artists and teachers like Mike Riegel, Kathy Keller and Maria Winkler, not to mention such
enthusiastic, still-young-for-an-artist up and comers like Ellen van Fleet, Oliver Jackson and Roger Vail who
are heard of now and again on the national scene.
Nor to forget the grizzled but not-out-of-it-yet figures of Irv Marcus and Jack Ogden, keeping
their art within striking distance of the main chance, involved as always throughout their careers with a
sort of dialectical exchange of painting ideas, and teaching better than ever now with the curveball, slider
and change of pace. In fact no one is out of it, including the semi-retired Bob Else, doyen of the
department and long its teaching mainstay, although for most of those years Else was a tight an
[ungratiating] painter, his facture stingy, his drawing crabbed. Recently in a local show I saw two
landscapes Else had done of the same scene – the view of the Sacramento Valley you get as you look
below from the first great hill on [hiway] 50. In both paintings Else had treated the rolling golden foothills
as metaphors for the body and its soft contours. This transcription comes across as lurid and cramped in
the earlier painting, done a dozen years ago just before the art stars invaded the Sacramento faculty. In
the painting done last year the same idea is stated far more luxuriantly (yet with Else’ characteristic
economy); the color sings a little, and the tension between erotic menace and erotic desire is finely
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sustained. There can be no question that the older teacher was challenged to play for higher stakes in his
art. He had the courage not to fold. A few others did seem to fold. They moved away or they went mad
or they pursued a penchant for bad luck all the way unto early death. It is such sad losses that art exists
to ameliorate.
One Sunday afternoon a few months ago I drove down to attend a ceremony at which the main
Art Gallery on campus, hitherto anonymous, was renamed the Robert Else Gallery. This had been the idea
of a chairman some years back and with unanimous approval of the department its time had now come.
When I got there a lot of famous and not so famous artists were standing around talking and a crowd of
Bob’s current students was knocking back the hors d’oeuvres. Everybody was reminiscing like crazy and
reading the messages from out-of-state and saying stuff like Bob Else taught them to make a
[stretcherbar] and if they were going to school now they probably wouldn’t know how to clean a brush
because all teachers nowadays want to do is sit around and tell the same stories their N.Y. dealer tells and
send out for pizza. It was one student’s 19th birthday and she was crying and saying how glad she was for
Dr. Else and she thought this was the best birthday she had had yet, and everybody was pretty happy and
pretty sad and Bob Else cried too when artist after artist got up to say thanks. Bob Else is not a doctor of
any description whatever but he is often called Dr. by those who don’t know better and sometimes by
those who do because he looks like a professor and not like a seedy good-for-nothing like many in the
department – for instance that former chairman just mentioned. Bob himself realizes that to a certain
extent he [Sac-rificed] his art to the perfection of his teaching and to the endless demands – reports,
committees, meeting – of an expanding University. To the definition we have set up – that the best artists
make the best teachers, [must] on Else’s evidence be added the codicil that the great teacher is the
teacher who gets results and in the case of Else this means that he must be accounted quite a teacher
indeed. And, ergo, quite an artist.
Else must be accounted quite an artist because the artists who said thanks and the ones who
sent messages were students at Sacramento State College in the days when Bob Else was the painting
department and the roster of their names makes surprising reading since it suggests that when the art
stars took over in the 70’s they inherited a tradition most of them were unaware of. In the late 50’s and
early 60’s CSUS produced more really good painters than any other public university, including UCD its
(literally) nearest rival. Taken together, the Sac State and Davis graduates rank above any two public
universities you would care to name, and stand equal to the combined artistic output of the Art Institutes
of San Francisco and Chicago. Only the Yale School of Fine Arts, which for two decades has stimulated the
New York art scene like no other institution, deserves serious comparison with Davis-Sacto State. What
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this means is that if you are standing in the St. Louis Art Museum or the Milwaukee Art Center or the
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis or in any of the good museums in West Germany you will be able to see
paintings by Wayne Thiebaud, Mel Ramos, Ralph Goings, Fritz Scholder, Frank Owen; or at least you will
see the spot on the wall that’s pending for any of these painters who happen to be temporarily absent.
And there is a good second echelon of artists, headed perhaps by Ken Waterstreet, standing right behind
the first team and ready to knock on every museum door.
Artists in New York do not teach, except marginally; teaching is in a sense a non-N.Y. thing; and
the history of American art education is a history of either defiance of the N.Y. art establishment or of cooptation by it. That is why a history of a department like ours can have some significance beyond the
[fertile crescent] between the Sacramento and American rivers. Artists need the resistance (and the
support) of other artists’ personalities and they need the confrontation and the confirmation that other
people’s art provides. In the great art centers of the past and present: Rome, Paris, and now New York,
this encounter is available on walking across the street. You will see three artists you know and two you
don’t know but would be glad if you did, and you will probably turn right around and go back to your
studio fortified by a little gossip, energized by a flash of jealousy, inspired by Frank Stella get into a cab,
and utterly forgetful of the cat litter you went out for in the first place.
To get into the kind of elbow rubbing that was going on at Sacramento State in the 70’s most
teachers had to get up in the morning and drive 50 or even 100 miles from some sylvan outpost. This is
not the same thing as taking a cab and somehow the very outrageousness of these California distances
made it more worthwhile to be there facing the other artists in the countless formal and informal
meetings of a week at school. A [pleasureable] aura of [comeraderie] enveloped a department that had
not long before been tense litigious, and factionalized. A spirit of criticism made the air healthy and the
presence of major artists revealed the old office quarrels in all their silliness and superficiality. There
were better things to do. Friendships flourished in the department and so did temporary animosities of
the aesthetic kind. It is the hardest thing to like somebody who doesn’t like your work. But even where
there was animosity there was respect. Thus on Monday/Wednesday Jim Nutt didn’t think much of
Joseph Raffael and on Tu/Th it was the other way around. But on Friday, at the meeting to review
graduate applications, each remembered who the other artist was. Fridays, too, there were regularly
visitors from the [artworld] at large, an enrichment made possible by an Artists & Critics grant garnered
by the Natl. Endowment by a former chairman and renewed in all succeeding years. In New York I’ve
often heard the complaint that it was easier to get a museum curator to visit a studio in Sacramento than
to go downtown to an artist’s loft in SoHo. That’s very nice from where we sit but unfortunately the New
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York [artworld] is so insular, so self-referential, and so immersed in what can only be called neighborhood
art gossip that, when Sacramento art or any [auslander] work at all, actually does manage to make an
appearance where it counts, it’s liable to go practically unrecognized. No less that 5 Sacramento State
teachers have been accorded one-person show at the Whitney Museum: Stephen Kaltenbach, Jim Nutt,
Gladys Nilsson, Bill Allan, Joan Moment. It is a real honor. Yet for all the notice taken of these exhibitions
in New York itself you would hardly know they had been up at all. In this [the outlandish paintings] regard
Joan Moment holds the world record for invisibility. Orchestrated in lambent clear hues and set daringly
into an opaque black ground the stylized shapes of Joan’s paradise gardens are drawn from the most
diverse [arthistorical] sources: Roman mosaics, tribal bark paintings, 19 th century American samplers.
They are startling in their freshness of seeing and their dramatic unification of such unusual motifs. They
were seen or rather they were not seen in Joan’s one-woman show at the Whitney, which was ignored by
the N.Y. Times, not covered by any other N.Y. paper, and completely overlooked by every one of so-called
[the] National art magazines which are all published in New York. It was a phantom show. None of my
acquaintance in New York was able to tell me he had seen Joan’s show and the prominent critic Lawrence
Alloway dismissed it, saying [O] that’s just Marcia Tucker’s Sacramento connection! The same day a very
noted and not unsympathetic New York artist told me that such shows as Joan’s were throwaways by the
Whitney, mere sops to the provincial hinterlands, and not intended to be taken seriously by the people
who matter. Similar treatment has befallen Steven Kaltenbach, an artist who career would appear to be a
procession of honors. Like an extraordinary number of our colleagues Steve has received the coveted
National Endowment grant to artists. Just recently he has not been completely well and has been living
on the proceeds of a Guggenheim. Neither of these awards has convinced someone like Maurice
Tuchman of the New York-oriented Los Angeles Museum to exhibit Steve’s colossal, deeply pious Portrait
of My Father, a project he worked on steadily for most of the decade.
Kaltenbach’s portrayal of this
hoary elder contemplating eternity with his dying gaze has proven to be a contemporary painting for one
easily accessible to anyone with eyes and a father. Yet the work obeys every sophisticated [moderist]
canon for picture-making, through its flashy rebounding from depth to surface and its rigorous all-over
patterning. The painting is not without macabre elements which add to its fascination. Presented at
majestic scale, yet without bombast, Steve’s Father provides a prime instance of that equipoise between
pity and terror which add up in art to the Gothic Sublime. When it was unveiled at the Crocker Museum
people gasped. They went home and brought their parents. Elderly women cried. Teenagers stood
mute. People came to marvel and they came again and again.
Need I say that no New York museum will touch this painting by an artist who went to New York
straight out of the Davis graduate school and made an immediate success through his imaginative forays
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into art politics. Kaltenbach covered the [artworld] with legends like TRIP, TEACH ART, START A RUMOR,
BUILD A REPUTATION, which appeared as unsigned ads in the most prestigious art magazine. One such
advertisement read BECOME A LEGEND. He did. Museum shows in Germany and Japan and New York
soon followed and Kaltenbach was [extablished] as one of the 3 or 4 most important pioneers of the
conceptual movement in art. Then Kaltenbach committed a serious crime. He left New York for the West
Coast. In a year or two he was forgotten.
If it weren’t for the intervention of influential friends like Joseph Raffael, who has good reason to
recognize a masterpiece, it is doubtful that even a few California museums would have picked up the
painting. Museums are suspicious of work with a popular appeal. They are nervous about their roles as
guardians of taste. They do not want to be caught with kitsch on the wall. [It is] easier when they can
show work which has been seen first in New York. A good place to reach museum curators is where they
are staying at their friend’s place in New York. Your typical curator was not born yesterday. He is not a
dummy like the callow Roger Clisby of our own Crocker Museum who did not need a second, third, fourth
or tenth prompting to show Steve’s painting, but embraced the idea right away. Clisby simply did not
have whatever it takes to know whether a work is bad or good before he goes to the trouble of looking at
it. So Clisby demonstrably lacks a skill which is highly developed in New York (and among famous artists
as well as curators) and which is widely imitated elsewhere: he is a failure at judging art before he sees it.
Clisby has not yet understood that it is more than a little suspicious and more than a little criminal when a
highly successful artist deserts New York for Sacramento.
It is just plain crazy.
The mistake for artists out here would be to suppose that New York art circles are someday going
to slow down the merry-go-round long enough to pay heed to what has been going on in a place like
Sacramento. The present-day New York artist looks toward the formal aspects of Cubism and Fauvism for
a point d’appui to launch his work, as he imagines, forward. Whereas artists here, and in Chicago, artists
tend to look for historical support from Surrealism, with its depreciation of formal “issues” and its
emphasis on the possibility of transforming life through art. Artists looking around them in New York just
cannot believe in millenarian possibilities. They see too much garbage in the way. For them art has to be
about art itself and art itself is understood as an escape-world from a reality that is beyond man’s power
to transform, or rather to restore, to the image of God’s love and human kindness. But hereabouts,
where the studio door is unlocked and birds sing in the garden outside, art is not done for art’s sake, and
the notion that art can affect life endures, and the sense that it is still possible to recapture the wonder
we felt as children and to accept the risks of taking some things on faith. Christmas tree lights do not
65
appear in a Bill Allan painting, in a Kaltenbach performance-piece for nothing. But even when the outlook
is pessimistic and cynical, as in Nutt or Albertson, or sardonic, as in Marcus, there is still the intimation
that man’s inhumanity remains open to correction, that man’s behavior is worth bothering about, that
the human heart is infinitely malleable – for good, or for evil. New York is ignorant about all this and
wants to stay ignorant. New York wonders what this has to do with making a picture about making a
picture. New York wonders when the message that all is done for the sake of art will reach the provinces.
By and large the best New York painting has a certain classiness to it. It runs to a tasteful, fey, perfumed
elegance of statement and exists in complete contrast to the way art is done in California or Chicago
where work so often comes across [as] crudely vital, obstreperously anti-formal, and funky-ugly-vital. I
was in New York the week the Extraordinary Realities Exhibition opened at the Whitney in 1973 – about
50 artists, nationwide, including Wiley and de Forrest from Davis along with Bill Allan, represented by a
large neo-surrealist canvas, and the recent Sac State graduates Suzanne Adan and Nate Shiner. All in all it
was our kind of show and I recall the glee I took in telling friends how bad Hilton Kramer was going to pan
it in the Times come Sunday. Come Sunday, sure enough, Kramer wrote the whole show off as eclectic
trash. He said it was the worst show in memory to appear in a local museum. He praised only H.C.
Westermann, an artist who has influenced the Hairy Who, and Roy de Forrest, a happy “Marx Brothers
Fauvist” whose playful innocence Kramer was at pains to contrast with the vicious banality of “a certain
Arthur Schade,” listed form Madison, Wisc., and the perpetrator of a forest-animals scene called Smokin’,
an awkwardly shaped acrylic painting on plastic which depicts a bear in Smoky the Ranger [constume]
humping a [bunnyrabbit] girl bent forwards over a tree stump. This affront to taste Kramer could not
stomach, so he wrote one of those classic Sacred Museum Duty to Public/Do They Really Call This Art?
reviews that are so savored in later years when many of the artists in the show are safely famous and are
seen to have been working for beauty, the truth about things, and the public good all along.
Month after month, year after year, in publication from writers who are themselves part of the
scene we learn about the minutest shifts in the direction of New York art, whereas there is no comparable
information on about what is taking place Outside New York. It is not bad itself that we have these New
York minutiae available to us, it’s just that a terrible imbalance resulted, and the artwork is top-heavy with
news about New York. What Hilton Kramer or any other New York critic wouldn’t know is that Art Schade
was Roy de Forrest’s teaching assistant at Davis and that the two men are very best of friends. Art taught
with us briefly before skipping over to Madison and while Art was here Jim Nutt’s presence rubbed off on
his art a little. Schade is an uproarious fellow who would pull the leg of a one-legged man. He added life
around here and he used his art to send-up and to take-down – but always with a dash of [goodhumor].
66
What happened to Schade’s painting, by the way, is as follows: a) a Princess living in New York
purchased the work for her collection; b) Lawyers for various women’s groups said they were going to sue
the Whitney because Arthur’s painting was sexist and put women or at least [rabbitwomen] in a bad light;
c) the Museum said go ahead, blah, blah, artists right to free expression, nothing going to make them
censor their show, etc.; d) the U.S. Forest Service’s lawyers threatened to file suit against the Whitney, Art
Schade, and the painting’s owner on the ground that Art’s bear looked and dressed exactly like their
copyrighted bear Smoky and tended to ridicule and defame etc., etc.; e) the Whitney withdrew the
painting; f) the Princess’, having seen enough, reneged on her decision to buy; g) Art Schade decided to
sue somebody or everybody and contacted a lawyer, only to find out h) how much it was probably going
to cost him! so that i) Art finally decided he would “sit around home and fart at the moon.”
Hilton Kramer simply didn’t have the basic information to enable him to see that Art’s painting
looked to Nutt for some of its formal strategies – the use of [plexiglass] as a support, the garish colors – or
that Art’s painting amounts to a cartoonish send-up of his mentor’s (de Forrest’s) childlike – and
apparently sex-free – bestiaries. New York ignorance of the endemic context of our work has stood in the
way of a fair evaluation of our achievement for as long as I can remember. The conclusion to be drawn is
that Sacramento art, Northern California art, the art produced Outside New York in general, must go their
own ways in the effort to construct a tradition which speaks to our experience of reality and which
conforms to the reality of our desires rather than to the code of rules which govern picture-making. This
message was on the walls recently when Joseph Raffael was offered a big retrospective. He chose to call
it The California Years and the exhibit travelled to museums in Western states only.
Raffael was there at a meeting I remember shortly after I came to Sacramento State. The agenda
got around to the question whether we should send a representative to the opening of a big, mostly
figurative show the Whitney was then mounting – about 75 works by Americans, covering the period
1940 to the present. Thirteen of these works were by artists sitting at the table. Perhaps we ought to
have someone at the opening? Someone pointed out that the Whitney was originally going to call the
show Human Grotesques but that this was felt to be too strong and that the exhibition was now going to
be titled Human Concern and Personal Torment. I remarked that I doubted New York was ready for such
a show. The climate in the [artworld] was too cynical to be receptive, I said. Gerald Walburg said, They’re
going to hate it all right! I hear artists are calling the show The Agony and the Ecstasy!
And everyone laughed.
Jim Nutt didn’t laugh. Jim Nutt said, That isn’t funny.
67
We were all quiet. Jim Nutt was right: human suffering isn’t funny.
When the message from New York came in for Carlos Villa I was alone in the Office nursing my
wounds from an argument I had just lost to Robert Nelson, who has the very closest friendships with Bill
Allan and with William Wiley, [the] very wonderful artist who taught for many years at Davis but
eventually got too successful, started staring at the ceiling in class, and quit.
Bob Nelson is an
“underground” filmmaker, perhaps the most gifted, certainly the funniest, on the West Coast. He is a 1 st
Prize winner at the Cannes Festival for his short O Dem Watermelons and he is a fairly good painter, out
of the same S.F. Art Institute bag that produced Carlos Villa. Fortunately for me Nelson is a man who does
not argue for money. I have never won an argument from Bob, although we have argued off and on for
years while he was teaching film for us. I had just read here: Yale hires teachers with paint on their shoes,
Yale spends the money on facilities, Yale tolerates a little disorder and craziness, there is primacy of art
over history at Yale, contemporary art is a major feature of the exhibition schedule, Yale’s alumni and
alumnae dominate the new generation of artists in New York, and so on. How Nelson ever beat me on
this I [can’t] even recall, he just got the needle in me and then he quit while he was temporarily ahead.
Nelson isn’t really like Dr. Samuel Johnson since, to tell the truth, he is a semi-educated, ungrammatical
lout and he has never even heard of Johnson; but like Dr. Johnson Nelson will argue against anything you
might say. He argues for the sheer pleasure of contradicting. If you say, Well, Nelson, I believe art is
about human suffering and exaltation, Nelson will deny it and he will soon prove art is about turkey
droppings. The only way I ever get the best of him momentarily is to trick him. If, off-handedly, I say,
hmmm, Nelson, I don’t believe it is actually true that wild-flowers spring up under his boots wherever Bill
Wiley walks, Nelson will bristle, stand up very tall, look down on me and say [O] yeah? before he realizes I
am having him on. Nelson is no longer with us because he [is] called to make movies and he couldn’t pay
the bills on the Cal State salaries so he had to take a position with a large Midwestern university that
wanted to hire a star.
I finally went upstairs with the note for Carlos and was starting in the studio door when a tall and
skinny young man burst through it weeping and sobbing and pulling at his long hair with his long arms. I
stood there astonished, speechless, dismayed, as he went to balcony railing and doubled himself over it
crying and crying and heaving up sighs from his guts. I recognized this boy. He was a quite promising
student and one that I can now say has begun to show up in exhibitions. All I could do on that afternoon
almost 10 years ago was to stand there staring at somebody turn himself inside out. He was blind with
tears, couldn’t see me or anything else, and he would not be comforted.
68
I went right in the classroom and looked around for Carlos. There he was over at a corner easel
looking over a girl’s painting in progress. I hurried over and saw that Raffael was standing there, too. The
two of them were commenting on the work in front of them, and the girl was placid, wide-awake,
listening. I was all wrought-up and they were as calm as an English lawn. I could hardly talk. Joseph, I got
out, Carlos!
Yes?
What is God’s name is going on?? There’s a kid out there bawling his heart out. He just came out
of this room! I was pointing at the door. What the hell are you guys doing in here!
Carlos looked vague. Joseph, interrupted, looked even more vaguely at the door.
There’s a kid out there, I said. He’s crying himself silly out on the balcony. WHAT IS WRONG??
Carlos turned to the student’s easel, half-annoyed but patient. He said something to the girl
about halo green. To [he] said, That must be ________.
Carlos and I just gave him a critique, explained Raffael in a voice which has only a little New York
left in it. He picked up the girl’s brush, hesitated, and handed it to Carlos Villa. Villa squinted at the
canvas, then stepped back for a moment. Raffael was gazing at the easel, but both eyes were unfocused,
inward.
Listen, Carlos, I said. Listen, Joseph. Somebody’s out there and he is going through something
pretty bad. Is that your idea of a critique!
Well, John, said Carlos. He stepped in and dug 3 or 4 times into one area of the painting with the
handle of the brush. Well, if _________ is an artist this is going to be very good for him, Carlos Villa said.
And, said Raffael, again concentrating on the canvas: if he is not an artist…………….
69
APPENDIX B
ART DEPARTMENT COLLECTION
2012 Inventory
(currently in storage, unless otherwise noted)
(Compiled April, 2012 & Updated 9/27/12 by J. Grossfeld)
ARTIST
-AAdamson, Jim
Adan, Sue
Altoon, John
Arneson, Robert
Arneson , Robert
CATEGORY
MEDIUM
TITLE
SIZE
Ceramic
Print
Print
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Etching Proof
Lithograph
Ceramic Plate
Ceramic
Sculpture Form
Untitled (2 Angels) ‘66
4-Color 20/20
1303 Alice St.
Texas Saddle
4x6½
9 x 12
-BBacerra, Ralph
Bailey, Clayton
Bagshaw-Tindel, M.
Bagshaw-Tindel, M.
Blizzard, Alan
Ceramic
Ceramic
Painting
Painting
Painting/Drawing
Low Fire Form
Lamp (nose w/ plug)
O-Je Gi Povi 93’
O-je-gi-Povi 93’
Arcane Hero (1968)
3/11/68 Purch.
10 ½ x 6
15” x 22”
9 1/4 x13
30 x 24
Blizzard, Alan
Bode, Frances Louise
Boyle, Fred
Boyle, Keith
Brown, Matthew
Brown, Matthew
Painting
Print
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Ceramic
Charcoal
Charcoal
Rhoplex on
linen
Oil
Woodcut
Mixed Media
Charcoal
Oil
Oil
Truth and Variation 1966
Tempus edax rerum
Jumble Jungle Adventure
Summer Sequence
Unknown
Unknown
38 ¼ x 26 ¼
31 x 30
Unknown
Unknown
-CCampigli,
Carmassi, Richard
Cassady, Carl
Chadmuchle, D.
Cicansky, Victor
Coftharsh
Cooper, Ron
Print
Print
Ceramic
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Litho
Litho/Proof
Ceramic
Watercolor
Ceramic
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Femme Sur Fono 4 color 91/100
11/22/66 Purch..
Homage to the Future 196312 x 18
Vase (7” x 14”)
Don. by artist
Daily Correlation 1978
30 x 22 ½
Shirt
30 High
Untitled 62
Honey Pot
7 x7
-DDalkey, Fred
Dalkey, Fred
Print
Print
Print
Print
Dalkey, Fred
Dalkey, Fred
Print
Print
Etching
Lithograph
Untitled Landscape
Untitled Woman (Victoria
Dalkey)
Untitled 1966
Christ on Cross
15” diameter
28 x 24 x 26
70
Darye
Davis, J.N.
Davisson, Deloris
Davisson, Deloris
Davisson, Deloris
Davisson, Deloris
Dawn, June
Day
Delost, Charles
Driesbach, John
Textiles
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Mixed Media
Painting
Textiles
Print
Print
Print
Etching/Proof
Wood/Proof
Print
Print
Mixed Media
Painting
Indian Rug Tree Life
Untitled
The Struggle….1965
Children of Oceanus
Spring with Santa
Race
Day’s End
Pax
Untitled (2 Red Figures)
Untitled (Fishing)
16 x 19
-EElse, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Else, Robert
Evans, Jay
Evans, Jay
Evans, Jay
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Paitning/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Acrylic
Acrylic on canvas
Acrylic on canvas
Acrylic on canvas
Acrylic on canvas
Litho 2/10
Litho 4/10
Litho 6/10
Litho 7/10
Litho 8/10
Litho 9/10
Litho 10/10
Lithograph
Acrylic on canvas
Gouache on paper
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Beach #5 (Sea Salad) 1968 47 ¼ x 36 1/8
Feather Beach #1 (1978) 44 x 48
Feather Beach #2 (1980) 38 x 44
Feather Beach #4 (1980) 44 x 48
Rocks Under Water
32 x 40
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ’69
20 x 22
Untitled (bl/wh abstract) ‘69
@ 32 x 40
Untitled (?)
Free-Form Vessel (pk Bl. Blk)
12 High
Free-Form Vessel (green/blk)
9 Wide
Copper/Brown Vessel
-FFabela, Richard
Fabela, Richard
Ford
Franke, Barbara
Frederickson, Nels
Friedman, K/Sole, Don
Friedman, K/Sole, Don
Friedman, K/Sole, Don
Frey, Viola
Fuchs, Ernst
Ceramic
Ceramic
Painting/Drawing
Print
Ceramic
Leather
Leather
Leather
Ceramic
Print
Ceramic
Ceramic
Acrylic on paper
Wood/Proof
Ceramic
Leather
Leather
Leather
Ceramic
Color Lithograph
Marlachi Band/ 5 pieces 6 ½
Black Trio/3 pieces
6 1/2
Untitled
21 x 27
Untitled 1967
23 ¼ x 15 ½
Pinched Abstract Form
7 x 17
Leather Art
Leather Art
Leather Art
Crucker Series III (lg plate) 20 diameter
Samson & Deliliah
-GGain, E.
Gibson, Doug
Print
Ceramic
Print
Ceramic
Gibson, Doug
Ceramic
Ceramic
Goff, Sharman
Gomez, Valerie
Gordon, Fred
Gordon, Russell
Gotthart
Gotthart
Gregory, Anne
Gregory, Anne
Photography
Print
Ceramic
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Color
Litho 2/6
Ceramic
Lithograph
Etching
Etching
Intaglio 1/15
Print
Gronberg, Eric
Ceramic
Ceramic
63 ?
Rakku Vessel (bl w/
6½x6
Handle
Rakku Vessel (bl w/
8x6
Handle
Untitled (5) 1981
12 x 9
Woman with Ismafish
12 x 16
Small Pot
3½x3½
King 1961
16 x 20
Leva and the Swan 1963 18 x 18
(Unreadable) 1962
18 ½ x 18 ½
The Horned God
9 ¾ x 12 1/8
A Wizard at the Dining Room
Table
Lidded Pot
28 High
18 x 20
18 x 26
6½x8½
12 x 13
3x6
71
Guetlung, Marsha
Painting
Watercolor
Ceramic
Print
Print
Print
Drawing
Ceramic
Etching
Etching 2/4
Etching 7/10
Drawing
Container/Brown/metallic
Infinity 1964
Rock 1965
Bridge 1964
Paris
Heim, Jr. E.F.
Higby, Wayne
Hofmann, Hans
Holsapple, S.
Holzhauer, Susan
Ceramic
Drawing
Mixed Media
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Charcoal
Mixed Media
Oil
Horikiwa, J.
Horikiwa, J.
Horn, Ruth
Print
Print
Print
2 Color
2 Color
Print
Small Square Plate
9½x9½
Untitled (Still Life Chair)
Untitled 1987
Reflections on Reflection of 60 x 48
Light 1986
Untitled (Abstract) 1968
19 x 26
Landscape 1967
Boy Resting
-JJensen, Jim
Jensen, Jim
Jones, Allen
Jones, Mary
Photograph
Photograph
Print
Print
Photograph
Photograph
Lithograph
Lithograph
Skeleton on Skates
Feet and Shoe
Untitled March 69’
3/18/69 Purch
Metamorphosis (14 ½” x 9”)
-KKaneko, Jun
Ketelle, Richard
Kinder, Gregory
Kingman, Dong
Kohn, Mischa
Kouretas, Jim
Kypridakis, Ben
Kypridakis, Ben
Kypridakis, Ben
Ceramic
Ceramic
Photograph
Painting/Drawing
Print
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Photograph
Watercolor
Lithograh
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic Sculpture #369
Earthtone Vase
5/29/69 Purch.
CSUS/Stratus-One 1997
Untitled (S.F. Bay Scene) 193618 x 26
Law 1965
30 x 22
Plaque
Vase (brn w/ blue spot)
12 High
Blue & White Vessel
12 High
Multi-colored vase (7 ½” x 10”)
Don. by artist
-LLandgraf, John
LeCourbusier,
Layton, Peter
Lipofsky, Marvin
Lipofsky, Marvin
Lin, W.H.
Lobteff, M.
Loftus, Linda
Lohse, Susan
Luevano, Leslie
Ceramic
Print
Ceramic
Misc.
Misc.
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Ceramic
Litho 67/100
Ceramic
Mixed Media
Mixed Media
Print
Lithograph
Wood 2/4
Lithograph
Etching 3/5
Vessel (6” x 11”)
Unite 4 color 8/13/53
Red, White & Blue
Tall Glass Form
Red Breasted Glass Form
Marlet Man Proof
Afternoon
American Way of Life 1967
Untitled (4 color)
Landscape 1967
-MMackie, Bob
Marcus, Irving
Marcus, Irving
Marcus, Irving
Matsubara, Naoko
McCormick, Patrick
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
Ceramic
Litho 15/15
Litho 1/6
Lithograph
Lithograph 24/25
Color Woodcut
Ceramic
Untitled (man w/ shells in hair)
20 x 16
Children’s Zoo 1970
11 x 15
The Listeners
25 x 16 ½
Staged Brawl, 1976
Autumn Color
Porcelain Box
7 High
-HHawley, Joseph
Heim, E.F. Jr
Heim, E.F. Jr.
Heim, E.F. Jr.
Vase
16 x 18
5x9
5x9
-I-
Don. by artist
11.30/66 Pur.
21 High
30 High
6 x 13 ½
20 ½ x 26 ½
17 x 23
8 x 12
17 ¾ x 11 5/8
72
McGee, James
McGee, James
McGee, James
McGee, James
McKelby, L.R.
Miller, Gary
Moment, Joan
Moment, Joan
Moment, Joan
Moment, Joan
Monti, R. L.
Mooney, Patrick
Moquin, Richard
-NNash, Jerry
-OOgden, Jack
Ogden, Jack
Ogden, Jack
Oliveira, Nathan
Ortega,
Otsuka, Hisashi
-PPachecho, Gerald
Pachecho, Gerald
Paguette, John
Parker, Ray
Pasto, Tarmo
Pasto, Tarmo
Phillips, John Ransome
Picasso, Pablo
Plotkin, Linda
Post, George
Pruner, Gary
Pruner, Gary
Pruner, Gary
Pruner, Gary
-Q-RReim
Rippon, Ruth
Rippon, Ruth
Rippon, Ruth
Rippon, Ruth
Rippon, Ruth
-SScarborough
Selinsky, V.
Sernatz
Shafer, Jack
Shiner, Nate
Silva, Jerald
Silva, Jerald
Silva, Jerald
Soldner, Paul
Soldner, Paul
Spagnolo, David
Steinmetz, Nicholas
Stella, Frank
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Print
Print
Print
Painting
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Etching
Litho 8/14
Lithograph
Painting
Drawing
Drawing
Latex, etc.
Watercolor
Oil
Ceramic
Slate Colored Urn
19 High
Brown & White Free Form 9 High
Large Abstract Slab Form
Composition 1967
Green Grass Machine 1966 15 ½ x 10 ½
December Dance 1966
Atom
Column w/ Cosmic Rings 1983
18 x 14
Ghostly Presences 1983
18 x 14
Arc 1983
5’ x 8’
Mountain Birch 1975
14 x 19
The Sorrow Dance
61 x 72 ¾
Pot w/Pearl lid
10/8/69 Purch
Print
Litho 5/10
Still Life (4 Color)
Print
Painting/Drawing
Print
Print
Print
Painting
Lithograph
Watercolor
Lithograph
Litho 2/10
Litho 15/75
On Silk
Proof III 1967
13 x 19 ½
Forward, Forward 1971
21 ½ x 17
Untitled (2 woman/1 man)
Homage to Carriere 1963 22 x 30
Two Women 4 color
2 – Framed Paintings on Silk
Ceramic
Ceramic
Print
Print
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Painting
Painting/Drawing
Print
Painting/Drawing
Painting/Drawing
Print
Print
Drawing
Ceramic
Ceramic
Litho 16/17
Litho 49/50
Oil
Oil
Oil
Print
Lithograph
Watercolor
Watercolor
Print
Print
Charcoal
Green & Blue Vase 70s
6 Diameter
Brown Vessel 70s
7 High
Four Warlocks (4 color) 1971 18 x 24
Untitled ( 3 color)
22 x 20
Untitled
6’ x 8’
22 x 30
Freeway 1969
Le Vieux Roi 1959
26 ¼ x 20
Cliff Shadows 1938
Untitled (Man on Bridge) 1937
17 x 22
Seal Scream 1966
4 ½ x 5 1/2
Painting/Drawing
Painting
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Porcelain
Collage
Watercolor
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Untitled
Untitled Still Life Flowers
The Judgment of Paris 70s
Heavenly Bodies, 1974
Monk, 1973
Peacock Vase, n.d.
16 x 18
Print
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Ceramic
Painting/Drawing
Print
Painting
Painting
Ceramic
Ceramic
Photograph
Print
Print
Wood 3/3
Acrylic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Gauche
Lithograph
Painting
Watercolor
Ceramic
Ceramic
Photograph
Litho 1/10
Litho 84/92
Untitled
Untitled (Abstract)
Untitled (brw lip bl/gr/wh)
Plate w/ face
The Corrective Place 1972
Posers 1967
Paul Beckmann
Gerald Wahlburg
Raku Plate
Raku Vase
Study #1 August 1996
Untitled Thing 3/14/67
Star of Persia II 1967
23 ½ x 23
30 x 40
23 x 29
16 x 16
16 x 20
19 ¼ x 23 ½
23 x 17
The American Cherry (175/225)
20 ¼ x 17 ¼
Barn 1962
16 x 20
16 ½ dia
Arrington/O’Toole
Arrington/O’Toole
Arrington/O’Toole
Don. by artist
14 dia.
18 x 22
16 x 20
73
Stelzner, Richard
Summers, Carol
Suzuki, Jimi
-TTaylor, Norman
Taylor, Norman
Thiebaud, Wayne
Tripp
Tschabasov, Nahum
-U–
Unknown
Ceramic
Print
Mixed Media
Ceramic
Litho 6/9
Mixed Media
Urn on Pedestal
21 High
Spring 2/13/67 2 color
29 x 21 ¼
Untitled Map – The Next Call
Ceramic
Ceramic
Painting
Print
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Ceramic
Watercolor
Litho 10/16
Oil
Abstract
28 x 36
Black Slab on Pedestal (24” x Don.
23”) by artist
Untitled 1952
A Slice of Tomatoe 11/27/89 17 x 13
Choir Boy 1963
30 x40
Ceramic
Ceramic
Unknown
Ceramic
Ceramic
Unknown
Ceramic
Ceramic
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Untersjher, Chris
-VVan Sloan, Frank
VandenBerge, Peter
VesGridis, Ramos
-WWallace, Vicki
Warhol, Andy
Ceramic
Drawing
Painting
Painting
Painting
Painting
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Painting
Painting
Ceramic
Ceramic
Drawing
Watercolor
Watercolor
Watercolor
Watercolor
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Ceramic
Painting
Painting
Ceramic
Shibui Antique – Gelatin Mold11 ½ Wide
Stoneware
Shibui Antique – Chinese Jar 11 x 10
(late 18th c.)
Antique (Japanese Brass Wire7 Wide
Wrapped Tea Bowl)
White Platter (cloud/rain) 11 ½ dia
Geometric
Red mark
Two sharks as people
Sun on fire
Japanese letters
Urn/Black
Black/White Fish
Square/Octagon White Vase
Two Grayish Bowls in box
Red Small Drum
White set of bowls
2 vases/urns
2 teacups
Large White/brown vase
Not on Inventory list
Not on Inventory list
House w/ tiled room
9½x9½
Print
Ceramic
Ceramic
Etchings
Ceramic
Ceramic
50 Selected Etchings Portfolio
Lg Chalice 1 of 2
24 High
Banded Vessel (brown/blue) 12 High
Ceramic
Print
Ceramic
Litho 2/8
Waterstreet, Ken
Widenhofer, Alan
Witt, R.W.
Witt, Robert
Witt, Robert
Witt, R.W.
Wohlinger
-X-Y-ZNOTE: DIDN’T DO
BOX OF PHOTOS
Painting/Drawing
Ceramic
Painting/Drawing
Painting
Painting/Drawing
Oil
Ceramic
Oil
Oil
Oil on Canvas
Ceramic
Ceramic
Breast Form (on Disc)
8x2
Cooking Pot/Kansas 1930
(Illustrated from L’Avanguardia)
Coca-Cola 1967
28 x 30
Kooki Jar 1966
Untitled (Stones on water0 Large
Untitled (Lamppost/RR)
Mendocino Coast
36 x 60 ½
Holman House
Kookie Jar
NEED TO ADD Photographs and
Student Prints
74
APPENDIX C
MISSING ARTWORKS
(updated 9/27/12 by J. Grossfeld)
ARTIST
MEDIUM
TITLE
NOTES
Anker, Suzanne
Silk-screen print
Genealogy 2001
No slide/GAF in Art Dept.
Cornelius, Philip
Ceramic
Ceramic Pot #130 w/ lid
Slide 40/1992 Inventory
Evans, Jay
Ceramic
Green Pressed Urn
No slide
Evans, Jay
Ceramic
White Round Pressed Urn
No slide
Ng, David
Ceramic
Mushrooms (2 white pieces)
No slide
Steltzner, Richard
Ceramic
Urn w/ lid
Slide 79/1992 Inventory
Unknown
Ceramic
Large White/brown/blue vase
Slide 362/1992 Inventory
Unknown
Ceramic
Large Brown/white form
Slide 363/1992 Inventory
Haskell, Eben
Table
Solid Walnut
Slide 359/1992 Inventory
Brown, Joan
Hockney, David
Per Elaine O’Brien
Litho
Still Life (3 Flowers in vase)
Slide 141/1992 Inventory
Kane, Karen
18/20 Shaping Sounds 1997
No slide
Keller, Kathe
Exercise in Bowling
Slide 147/1992 Inven/Missing
Lawrence, Jacob
Per President Donald Gerth
Moment, Joan
Drawing
Pertaining to the Planets 1983
No slide
Moment, Joan
Drawing
Tree
No slide
Naumann, Bruce
Knee Imprints
Per Guest at 9/13/12 Panel
Ogden, Jack
“Explosive…..”
Per Jack Ogden
Ogden, Jack
5 Works/Made for Faculty Show
Per Jack Ogden
Picasso, Pablo
Drawing
L’Ecuyere
Slide 13/1992 Inven/Missing
Rothenstein, Michael
Wood 32/35
Red Gothic
Slide 166/1992 Inventory
Saul, Peter
Per G. Wahlburg
Skalisky, Stephanie
Oil on wood
Seven Beauties
No Slide
Uhlin, Donald
Etching
Market Man
No Slide
Witt, Raymond
Painting
Autumn Woods 48.5 x 30.5
GAF/Driesbach ltr
75
APPENDIX D
EXHIBITION GUESTBOOK COMMENTS
Comments from the Exhibition Gallery Guestbook at the Lost & Found Exhibition, Robert Else
Gallery, Kadema Hall, Sacramento State
August 28, 2012 through September 27, 2012
August 29, 2012 –
It would be great if we could have these works of art on view more often and accessible to
students and faculty. Great exhibit!
Loved the gallery! They are all beautiful pieces of art. It is unfortunate very few have seen these.
My favorite was the unknown/untitled by Jimi Suzuki.
It was very pleasant being here. All the art work is very inspiring. This stuff kind of tells the Sac
State art department story. Once again really good work. Plz continue this great work.
Great exhibit! All the art works are amazing. I didn’t expect Picasso’s work in the gallery. Very
fascinating art works!
August 30, 2012 –
Amazing collection and history. Thanks for uncovering such wonderful work and allowing us to
be able to view them.
My son brought me here for my 60th Birthday. What a treat!
Fantastic collection. It’s wonderful to have and preserve this collection of people from the past!
So exciting to see these; an inspiration and such a legacy from the early art dept. faculty!
Thank you for showing us these important artworks.
The show is amazing!!! I’m so glad I could play a small part in helping to document the
permanent collection at my alma mater.
A wonderful visual feast! Thank you.
Looks incredible!
September 4, 2012
This is the second time I came to see this show.
Thank you for taking these amazing works out of storage for all to appreciate and enjoy!
76
September 5, 2012 –
Wonderful pieces!
Love all these art works.
September 6, 2012–
Great to see such a unique collection of works by familiar artists both locally and globally.
September 10, 2012 –
These are significant works by “known” artists. If you don’t secure them as a department, you
are remiss – I’d love to have them!!!
A beautiful collection!
Trippy!!
Very beautiful and inspiring pieces of work!! I love the ‘Lost & Found’!
September 11, 2012 –
I wanted a wow moment – nope  (Pasto, I like)
Looking for something man made
September 12, 2012 –
A very intriguing exhibit – please continue until you’ve shown all the works in the collection.
Nice to see a piece of what is considered important enough work to retain.
Wow…glad they were found.
September 13, 2012–
Amazing historical art. Great receptionist, felt at home.
Excellent.
I enjoyed a lot!
Fun & exciting.
Beautiful artwork.
Fantastic!!! Great job!
A great exhibit; so impressive to have artists, teachers and other talented souls mingling in one
place.
77
This must be the tip of the iceberg….can’t wait to see the rest!
Thank you!
Wld luv to see more!.....
Very cool to see works by professors I’ve had in the past like Phil Hitchcock and Fred Dalkey!!
Hope the collection continues to be taken care of by art lovers in the future!
Student rebellion, huh? There are plenty of students willing to make things happen. Wonderful
show, I hope to see them again next year!
This was so wonderful to present work that have been long lost and presented here in the gallery.
Hope more could be found for display. Thank you for a great show.
Very interesting show! Fun to see artist’s early works.
Beautiful show – please keep them coming!
September 17, 2012
I was lost….now I’m found.
It’s like a memory, hazy, confusing, disorienting but when you’re done you look back and see
beauty.
Show flows well, but am curious about the rest of the “hidden” works. Thank you.
September 19, 2012
Amazing! Some fine pieces in this collection.
This was my first trip to the art side of the school. I like that teacher’s works are being exhibited.
I’m especially impressed by Else’s Beach painting. Thank you!
September 20, 2012
Great collection.
Fabulous – thank you!
What a wonderful collection and great enthusiasm from staff.
Really cool stuff!! Thanks.
Great show.
Cool!
Thank you!
Interesting – would love more of a perspective on why these pieces. What else is hidden?
78
There when Candy Store opened.
Went as a child in the mid 60s – later went to the Sunday openings to enjoy art and artists.
Many fond memories of Adleza and Candy Store.
Wonderful show!
September 24, 2012
A lovely, diverse collection. It goes to show what talented people are here and have taught. We
are lucky to have them!
September 26, 2012
Thank you.
I really enjoyed the exhibit. It was really nice and I’m surprised to see the artistic talent people
have. Thank you.
Really, really beautiful! Thank you. Let there be light.
79
APPENDIX E
COMPARISON STUDY OF
CSU MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
Spring, 2013
SCHOOL
GALLERY/MUSEUM
NAME
POSITION
CSU
Bakersfield
Todd Madigan Gallery
Art Dept.
CSU Channel
Islands
CSU Chico
Art Gallery, Napa Hall Art
Complex
Janet Turner Print Museum
Partnership
Yes
Endowment
No
CSU
Dominguez
Hills
CSU East Bay
University Art Gallery
Art & Design
Dept.
Art Gallery
Art Dept.
Fresno State
CSU Fullerton
Conley Art Gallery
Grand Central Art Center
Art Dept.
Partnership
Yes
CSU Long
Beach
University Art Museum
Captl
Improvement
No
CSU Los
Angeles
CSU Monterey
CSU Northridge
Cal Poly
Pomona
Fine Arts Gallery
Art Dept.
Yes
Balfour/Brutzman Gallery
Art Galleries
The Kellogg Gallery
Art Dept.
University
College of
Env. Design
CSU San
Bernardino
San Diego State
Robert & Frances
Fullerton Museum of Art
University Art Gallery
San Francisco
State
San Jose State
Fine Arts Gallery
Art Dept.
Natalie & James
Thompson Gallery
University Art Gallery
Yes
Direct link to academic curricula
CSUSM Art Gallery
Art & Design
Dept.
Art & Design
Dept.
Art Dept.
Yes
University Art Gallery
University Art Gallery
Art Dept.
Art Dept.
Yes
Yes
Off-campus art gallery, art and
live music
Exhibitions Mgr. position also
During 90s, donated art added to
make University Fine Art
collection
Cal Poly, San
Luis Obispo
CSU San
Marcos
Sonoma State
CSU Stanislaus
TEACH
INTERNS
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
University
No
Yes
Art Dept.
Yes
Yes
MISC.
CSUB Foundation Fine Arts
Committee; Children’s Art
Institute
CI Exhibitions (Palm Gallery)
cultural outreach program in City
Will be consolidating University
collection under Museum
Directed by Committee of Art
Dept. Chair and Sr. Faculty
Members
Center for Creativity and the Arts
Partnership between City and
University; 10 miles from campus
Began as campus gallery 1973;
funds from Chancellor’s
office/gift
Student led curatorial committee
Has office mgr/exhibitions coor.
4000 sq. ft; juried exhibition
annually w/ support from
President’s office
10,000 visitors annually; handson work experience
SDSU Downtown Gallery in
conjunction w/ City of San Diego
Staffed by Art Dept. students
80
APPENDIX F
UC DAVIS ART COLLECTIONS STORAGE FACILITY
January 10, 2013
81
82
83
APPENDIX G
ANTICIPATED SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR INITIAL START-UP
UNIVERSITY ART COLLECTION
9/20/13
SUPPLY
PRICE
VENDOR
Plastic – 2 Rolls
$44.00/ Roll x 2 = $88.00, (10’
x 90’ 3.75 mil)
Ashley Distributors
$129.00/Roll x 2 = $258.00
(33.25” x 100 ft)
Conservation Resources
Paper – 2 Rolls
MISC.
Top quality polyethylene
sheeting. Virgin quality
plastic, also called Plastic
Sheeting or Poly Sheeting is
chemically inert, pH neutral,
and water repellent.
OR
OR
Paper – Brown Kraft – 2 Rolls
$58.00/Roll x 2 = $116.00
(36” x 1025 ft)
Ashley Distributors
Glassine – 1 Roll
$70.00 (36” x 100 yds)
Ashley Distributors
Foam Roll - Polyethylene
$81.00 (36”)
Ashley Distributors
Broad spectrum paper for
wrapping, lining and
packing. The black side of
the paper contains alkaline
buffers and an especially
effective activated carbon.
The white side of the paper
contains alkaline buffers and
our proprietary
hydrophobic, acid-resistant
SPZ zeolite. This
combination offers wide
ranging protection for
collections.
Glassine made from a
selected chemical pulp is
acid free, has a neutral pH
and is unbuffered. This
"archival" grade of glassine
is used for a variety of
applications - interleaving
between prints, drawings,
pastels, book illustrations
and textiles, making
temporary envelopes for
shipping unframed or unmatted works on paper. It is
translucent, off white in
color. Glassine is not
recommended for long term
storage.
Foam roll used as foam
cushioning made from lowdensity polyethylene resins.
It is lightweight, non
abrasive, water resistant,
CFCs and HCFCS free, and
100% recyclable. It prevents
scratches of polished
surfaces and cushions
84
Paper Roll Dispenser/Cutter
(3)
(for paper/glassine/foam
rolls)
$90.30 x 3 = $270.90 (36”)
Grainger
HEPA Vacuum (Dustless
Technologies)
$439.00
Home Depot
Metal Racks (4)
$349.95 x 4 = $1399.80 (72”
W x 24” D x 74” H)
Global Industrial
Flat File Storage Cabinet (5drawer)
$529.99 x 4 = $2119.96 (46
¼”W x 32”D x 16 ¼”H)
Engineer Supply
against shock for fragile
objects. It also serves as
"interleaving" between
products to ensure compact
packaging, void filling and
protective over-wrapping . It
is excellent protection for
easily marred items like
picture frames and
furniture.1/8" white
compressed foam, 450' per
roll.
Paper Dispenser with Cutter,
Width 36 In., Holds One Roll,
Wall, Countertop or Under
Counter Mount, Material
Steel, Includes Rubber
Grommet
Dustless Technologies HEPA
Vacuum is certified and
provides many benefits not
found in other vacuums. It
captures particles down to
0.5 micron very close to the
HEPA filtration of 0.3
micron. Because the HEPA
filter is used for just the
tiniest of particles, it can last
up to 30 times longer when
used with a Micro Pre-filter.
This vacuum emits only 81
decibels of noise, has a
powerful 5 hp motor, runs at
24,140 RPMs and produces
76.9 In. water lift at
126.CFM. A 16 gallon
canister and Micro Pre-filter
bag support optimum air
flow while holding up to 40
lbs of dirt and debris.
Global's premium quality,
exclusive Nexelon™ wire
shelving has a unique, supertough finish that withstands
wet, hot or cold extremes.
The brilliant blue metallic
surface resists impacts and
chemicals, includes a limited
lifetime guarantee against
corrosion and features
Nexgard, an anti microbial
agent that protects the
epoxy coating from growth
of bacteria, mildew and
molds.
They are an economical
solution for all non-archival
storage needs. Functionally
designed label holders and
chrome drawer handles.
Drawer capacity is 60 lbs.
Unit can be stacked up to 2
85
Oversized File Folders –
(200)
Gloves – Cotton
Researcher’s (20?)
$1.73/each = $346.00
Conservation Resources
$2.00/pair x 20 = $40.00
Conservation Resources
Gloves – Disposable Vinyl
(3 boxes of 50/each box)
$24.00/box x 3 boxes (small,
medium, large) = $72.00
Conservation Resources
Trapper Sticky Insect Traps
$23.00 (90 traps)
Amazon
Misc. Incidentals
Marking Pens, Labels, Tape,
etc.
$200.00
APPROXIMATE TOTAL
$5265.66
high.
Microchamber .012 Folders
for oversize, flat boxes
Bleached jersey gloves for
general use in conservation,
archives, and collections
care departments.
Ideal for handling small
objects, but are not
recommended for use with
chemicals other than
alcohols. Vinyl gloves are
disposable, and come
packed in boxes of fifty of a
size.
Contains no pesticides,
Includes all the essentials
you'll need to trap the most
common pests
86
APPENDIX H (without original attachments)
ART COLLECTION MANAGEMENT PLAN
Sacramento State University Permanent Art Collection
Collection Management Plan
Submitted at the request of Ed Inch, Dean of Arts & Letters, and Charles Gossett, University Provost, on
October 22, 2012
Prepared by: Jennifer Grossfeld, Arts Administration graduate student, Sheila O’Neill, Director of CSUS
Library Special Collections, and Professor Elaine O’Brien of the Art Department with the advice of the
advisory committee of community and campus professionals: Diana Daniels of the Crocker Art Museum,
Beth Jones and Lynda Jolley of the Jay-Jay Gallery; Sonya Lovine, CSUS Sponsored Research Officer; and
Terri Castaneda, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Anthropology Museum. Dan Frye, Phil
Hitchcock, Leslie Rivers and Kevin Ptak made essential contributions. All contributors approved this plan.
Mission:
Beginning with the plan outlined here for that part of the university’s permanent collection held by the
Art Department and the School of the Arts, the overall mission of the collection management plan is to
secure, manage, and develop the entire permanent collection of Sacramento State University at the level
of university collection standards, protecting it as a heritage and making it available for education,
exhibition, research and community service, especially visual-arts teaching and scholarship at every level
through original works of art.
The Art Department and School of the Arts collections have been created by Art department professors
who have shared the same values and purposes for over half a century. The artworks in both collections
share the same consistently high quality and regional focus and must be managed as one collection that
represents the art history of Greater Sacramento. Because of the wide-spread influence of art produced in
this region since the 1960s, local art history has national and international significance.
Art Department Collection:
The Art department collection includes several hundred works of art on paper (drawings, prints, and
photographs), paintings, and sculptures, almost all of them by artists of the Greater Sacramento region.
Examples are ceramic sculptures by Robert Arneson, Jun Kaneko, and Ruth Rippon; paintings and
drawings by Fred Dalkey, Robert Else, Phil Hitchcock, Irving Marcus, Raymond Witt, Joan Moment, Tarmo
Pasto, Jimi Suzuki, and Raymond Witt; and prints by John Driesbach, Anne Gregory, Jack Ogden, and
Nathan Oliveira. The collection also holds works that were purchased for pedagogical purposes by Art
faculty in the nineteen sixties through sales of student artworks, such as the limited-edition lithographs by
art stars Pablo Picasso, Rufino Tamayo, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.

See attachment #1 for a list of works in the Art Department collection.
87
The School of the Arts Collection:
As Director of the School of the Arts and as Director of the University Library Gallery, Phil Hitchcock has
acquired, displayed and stored in the university library an outstanding collection of artworks by Sac State
affiliated artists. The collection holds over one hundred art objects of high quality and historical value,
including works in various media by Frank Owen, Joseph Raffael, Stephen Kaltenbach, Joan Moment, Julia
Couzens, Robert Brady, Jim Nutt, Wayne Thiebaud, and artists affiliated with the Royal Chicano Air Force
(RCAF), including Jose Montoya and Esteban Villa. The RCAF poster collection and the Wayne Thiebaud
print collection are housed in Special Collections. A conservative estimate of the monetary value of the
SOTA collection at time of donation is $3 million.

See attachment #2 for a list of works in the School of the Arts collection.
First Phase of Collection Management Plan: 2012-2013
1.
Create the Position of Collection Manager / Registrar
 The maintenance of accurate, complete, and updated record keeping and cataloguing is one of
the most important responsibilities in collection management. Records regarding the
acquisition, identification, provenance, condition, insurance value, location, photographic
documentation, conservation history, exhibition, and publication history of works of art should
be maintained by a Collection Manager/Registrar. This position is integral to providing access to
a collection for study and scholarship.
Extend the job of the current Assistant to the Director of the Library Gallery from a 10-month
contract to include the Collections Manager/Registrar position with a 12-month contract, which
includes support for training in collection system software and collection management.

Leslie Rivers is currently the Assistant to the Director in the University Library Gallery (see
Attachment #3, University Staff Position Description Form). This position is a ten-month position
with a payroll title, ASC I. Her current functions in this position include managerial/curatorial
responsibilities for the two exhibition galleries within the University Library Gallery. Registrar
responsibilities, along with other related duties are also noted. In establishing the School of
Art/Art Department Collection as a significant and relevant resource for the University, we are
recommending that Ms. River’s job be expanded to a twelve-month position as a Collection
Manager/Registrar. The additional time would allow for professional development to insure
implementation of current practices, which include:
1. Proper collection record keeping in establishing a database
2. Researching works in the collection
3. Developing inventories
4. Processing new acquisitions
5. Overseeing artwork storage and maintaining archival materials
6. Documenting condition of artworks
7. Noting conservation requirements and recommending procedure for conservation or
mitigation
8. Recommending works of art for de-accessioning and process removal
9. Supervising and handling all aspects of incoming, outgoing, extended and on-campus loans
10. Working with faculty to prepare artwork lists and pulling works for class review
88
11. Supervising part-time assistant and/or student assistants
12. Maintaining insurance records
13. Supervising photography of collection and other related duties
Accountability:

The Assistant to the Director of the Library Gallery (Collection Manager/Registrar) will submit a
written monthly report on collection management progress to both the Library Gallery Director
and the Chair of the Art Department and enter a third copy of the report in the collection’s
archive. In consideration of these added responsibilities to the job of the Assistant to the Director
of the Library Gallery, attached is the Association of Art Museum Directors 2012 Salary Survey
(Attachment #4), specifically page sixty-three, ‘University Museum Salary Ranges’ as a reference.

The job description of the Director of the Library Gallery should be revised to include
responsibility for the oversight of art collection management.
2. Relocate the Art Department and School of Arts Collections to a Suitable Permanent
Storage/Management Facility
 Retrieve artworks on loan and discontinue loans until the collection management policy,
including a loan policy, is written and implemented.
Collection Storage and Physical Management
 The storage environment can be the most cost-effective tool in preserving the holdings,
preventing damage, and minimizing deterioration, it is critical that the storage facility meets
environmental and security standards. This can be done most efficiently if collection storage is
located above the ground level where dampness and flooding is less likely. The walls should have
limited exposure to southern and western directions, due to high temperatures of the summer
months. Finally, a simple integrated pest management program should be carried out by staff on
a monthly basis to ensure that storage areas are free of pests.

Storage and Transport Equipment, Facility Controls
1. Light, humidity, and temperature controlled/constant temp/humidity. In general, cooler
temperatures and drier relative humidity is ideal. (Purchase of 2-3 environmental monitors)
2. Security system connected to University police department
3. Fire detection and suppression. Minimal: A fire alarm system that can be triggered manually
24 hours a day
4. Shelving for small sculpture and other three dimensional objects
5. Oversize flat/horizontal files for unframed works on paper
6. Racks for paintings
7. Elevated platform for storage of large and heavy objects (if on ground level)
8. Heavy duty flat bed truck for transport of large, heavy objects
9. Two small objects truck for transport of small objects
10. Vault for high value objects

Collection Processing Area
In addition to ensuring proper storage for the University Art collection, the collection
management program will also carry out functions such as accessioning, condition appraisal,
photographing of works, description, measurement, data entry, and preparation of works for
storage. Ideally, the collection processing area should be adjacent to the storage area so that
collection items can be removed for processing and returned to storage with limited obstacles to
89
the safety of collection materials. At a minimum, both storage and processing locations should be
located in one building with access to a large/freight elevator (restricted to the public) for
transport of collection objects between floors. Ideally, the building should also include a loading
dock or receiving area for delivery and pick up of works.

Facilities and Equipment/Collection Processing Area
Processing room furniture and equipment:
1. Two large work tables
2. Low table for staging, measuring, and photographing objects
3. High (or adjustable table for packing and/or creating storage containers, et al.
4. One computer workstation and immediate desk area
5. Photocopy machine
6. PC and printer
7. Digital camera
8. Phone and fax machine
9. Office file cabinet for storage of collection files
10. Shelving for staging basic tools, manuals, basic preservation supplies
11. Organized area for storage of oversize preservation supplies (large rolls of foam wrap,
tissue, etc.)
12. Oversize roll dispenser (for accessing oversize rolls of tissue, foam wrap, etc. during
storage prep)
13. Canister style vacuum cleaner (with ability to control suction for cleaning objects)
3. Purchase and Support Collection Management Software
Collection Database

Managing and organizing collection information and media through a database is essential in
collection management. Establishing this repository of information about the University’s art
collection will create a well of information that can be utilized by students, staff and faculty for
research and reference. By creating an accessible method for the ongoing accountability of the
collection, the university gains a method for meeting its goal to provide excellence in teaching,
learning, and scholarship through the observation and study of the visual arts.

After researching the many programs and options which are currently available on the market,
we are recommending GallerySystems/EmbARK Collections Manager Software (Attachment #5).
This process of digitally and electronically cataloguing each item (including a visual image) will
create a database of the items and information in the collection. This program will enable the
Collection Manager/Registrar to:
1. Track extensive details about the activity and history of an object
2. Manage conservation, exhibitions, loans and shipping
3. Generate relevant reports

The Web Kiosk on this software presents specified catalogued information in a read-only format
over the Internet, which opens the collection up for further study and scholarship.

The Art department is currently drafting a U.E.I grant proposal (due in early November) to
purchase this software and one year of support from EmbARK. We are working with IRT to
secure ongoing technical support of the system.
90
4. Develop a Collection Management Policy

The policy will be drawn from existing codes of ethics and professional standards established by
the American Association of Museums and used by comparable university art museums and
collections in the CSU system. (See examples from CSU Long Beach, Attachment #5 and CSU
Chico, Attachment #6). It will be collaboratively written by Jennifer Grossfeld, Sheila O’Neill, and
Elaine O’Brien with the advice of the Art Collection Advisory Committee.
Purpose: To establish a systematic framework to guide the ongoing management of the
University Art Collection, based upon the mission and collecting scope of the collection.
Elements of the Collection Management Policy:












Provides guidelines on the acquisition, care, and ongoing development of the collection
Describes the role of Art Collection Advisory Committee, the Collection Manager and Registrar,
and designates authority in the selection of works to acquire by donation or purchase
Establishes policies and procedures for documenting and caring for the collection: criteria and
method for accessioning, credit to donors, catalogue standards, preservation storage, online
access tools, and management of collection records maintained by the management program
Provides guidelines for deaccession and removal of art works deemed out of collecting scope
including manner of disposition; allocation of proceeds and credit to donors
Sets the terms and conditions of loans; establishes procedures for management of internal and
external loans
Develops long range conservation plan
Establishes physical and environmental protection
Provides criteria for temporary custody and criteria for unsolicited/abandoned work
Determines reproduction fees and reproduction rights
Ascertains insurance needs, including valuation of collection; insurance records and claims
Provides packing and shipping requirements
Establishes Code of Ethics, which includes responsibility to the collection; discretion and
confidentiality; and conflict of interest
Beyond 2013: Vision Statement



Once the collection is under professional management, develop and make use of its earning
potential. The RCAF poster collection and the Wayne Thiebaud print collection, for example, are
in high demand for museum exhibition and can be loaned for fees that will support the
permanent collection.
Apply for grants and external development support for the collection. We have applied for a U.E.I
grant to purchase management software. We are working with Research to find appropriate
grants. See attachment #6 for two examples. When there is adequate staff to manage the
collection, grant writing can be handled by them.
Take advantage of the collection’s great potential to serve a role in the advancement of the
University, the College of Arts & Letters, the Art Department, and the University Library Gallery.
Regional collectors have expressed keen interest in donating works to the collection, including
alumni and emeritus Art professors with distinguished personal collections, and the Crocker Art
Museum. Until the Sacramento State art collection is under proper management guided by
professional policies, no additional works can be added.
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Develop the collection through carefully-considered accession and deaccession policy to make it
comprehensive of the best art of the region from 1950 to the present. The collection and
associated documentation will define the art history of this region and make Sacramento State
an important destination for art enrichment, study and scholarship.
Create a new art history course in Art of the Greater Sacramento Region: 1950 to the Present that
will work from art in the permanent collection. Students’ historical research will be added to the
online catalogue of the collection.
Create an online catalogue of the permanent collection linked to relevant university webpages
and global collection databases.
Develop pedagogical opportunities for the campus and the public, such as maps for campus art
walks that can be downloaded from the website. The collection will draw scholars. The 2012
Festival of the Arts Art History Lectures, for example, will be three scholars specializing in art of
Greater Sacramento. There will be a related art historical documents exhibition in the Witt
Gallery and display cases of Kadema Hall. Sacramento City College has hired a professional art
curator to archive their collection and is interested in collaborating with Sacramento State to give
both collections cohesion and public presence, which would result in significant outreach
pedagogy.
Establish an ongoing student internship program in art collection management with one or two
students each semester from the Art History, Public History, or Anthropology Programs
supervised by the Collection Manager/Registrar. Students will learn useful career skills in the
management and care of art objects.
Establish an interdisciplinary museum studies program. The Art department, History department,
and Anthropology department all currently offer courses in museum studies and art gallery
management.
Place the entire Sacramento State University collection, including works in Sacramento Hall and
the University Union under one central curatorial management policy with dedicated staffing and
a university art museum.
Attachment #1: List of works in the Art Department collection
Attachment #2: List of works in the School of the Arts collection
Attachment #3: University Staff Position Description Form (Leslie Rivers)
Attachment #4: The Association of Art Museum Directors 2012 Salary Survey
Attachment #5: CSU Long Beach Collections Management Policy
Attachment #6: CSU Chico Collections Management Policy
Attachment #7: GallerySystems/EmbARK Collections Manager Software description
Attachment #8: Grant descriptions from Sonya Lovine, Sponsored Research Officer
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APPENDIX I (without original attachments/salary information redacted)
ART COLLECTION MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL
Sacramento State University Art Collection Management Proposal
Submitted June 28, 2013 at the request of Dean Inch by the Sac State University Art
Collection Task Group: Terri Castaneda, Jennifer Grossfeld, Phil Hitchcock, Sheila
O’Neill, Elaine O’Brien, and Nancy Wylie with the advice of community
professionals: Diana Daniels of the Crocker Art Museum and Beth Jones and
Lynda Jolley of the Jay-Jay Gallery. Dan Frye, Nancy Tooker, Leslie Rivers and
Kevin Ptak made essential contributions. This is a substantial revision of the
proposal submitted on October 22, 2012.
Contents:
Mission …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
Description
of
ARTS
Collection
………………………………………………………
1
Proposed Plan, Phase 1……………………………………………………………………………….. 1
Proposed Plan, Phase 2 ……………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Beyond 2015: Vision Statement …………………………………………………………….…..…. 7
Table: Supplies needed for startup: specifications and prices ……………………….. 8
Art Collection Manager: Comparable 2013 Job Description
[for the Massachusetts State House]…………………………………………………….………..10
CSU Chico Janet Turner Museum: Comparable Art Collection
Management Policy……………………………………………………………….……………………..12
Proposed Curatorial Studies Minor/Certificate …………………………………………….. 20
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Revised Sacramento State University Art Collection Management
Proposal
Mission: to secure, manage, and develop, at the national standard of public
collections, the entire permanent collection of Sacramento State University,
which includes works held by the Art Department/School of the Arts (ARTS
collection), the Anthropology Museum, University Enterprises Incorporated, the
University Library, artworks in administrative buildings, and campus public art:
sculptures and murals. Overall, the university stewards thousands of valuable,
unique objects worth millions of dollars, almost all of them donated by artists
and collectors who trusted the university to exhibit and care for them properly
and in perpetuity. Beginning with Phase 1 outlined below for that part of the
university’s collection held by the Art Department/School of the Arts (ARTS
collection) the aim is t o protect Sacramento State’s finest possessions and its
most significant material heritage and make the objects available for community
service, outreach and public relations, exhibition, research, and education.
Description of ARTS Collection: The approximately 1000 artworks in the ARTS
collection are distinguished by their high quality and regional focus that
represents the art history of Greater Sacramento (from the foot hills to the Bay)
since the 1960s. Because of the national and international influence of art
produced in this region since the 1960s, the university collection has outstanding
historical significance. The collection also holds works that were purchased for
pedagogical purposes by Art faculty in the nineteen sixties through sales of
student artworks, such as the limited-edition lithographs by art stars Pablo
Picasso, Rufino Tamayo, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.
The Art Department collection includes around four hundred works of art
on paper (drawings, prints, and photographs), paintings, and sculptures,
almost all of them by artists of the Greater Sacramento region. Examples
are ceramic sculptures by Robert Arneson, Jun Kaneko, and Ruth Rippon;
paintings and drawings by Fred Dalkey, Robert Else, Phil Hitchcock, Irving
Marcus, Raymond Witt, Joan Moment, Tarmo Pasto, Jimi Suzuki, and
Raymond Witt; and prints by John Driesbach, Anne Gregory, Jack Ogden,
and Nathan Oliveira.
The School of the Arts Collection holds outstanding artworks by
university-affiliated artists: works in various media by Frank Owen,
Joseph Raffael, Stephen Kaltenbach, Joan Moment, Julia Couzens, Robert
Brady, Jim Nutt, Wayne Thiebaud, and artist members of the Royal Chicano
Air Force (RCAF), including Jose Montoya and Esteban Villa. The RCAF
poster collection and the Wayne Thiebaud print collection are catalogued
and housed in the University Library Special Collections.
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Proposed Plan:
Phase 1: tasks to be completed by September 20, 2013 - in sequence as needed,
otherwise simultaneously. Note: No artworks will be moved from current
installation or storage locations until the completion of Phase 1 and Phase 2.
1) Select 100 of the most valuable artworks in the Art Department/
School of the Arts collection
(approximately 10% of the total collection)
Phil Hitchcock and Elaine O’Brien will select the artworks
o Criteria: historical and market value
o Artworks on the top-100 list that are installed and on view will
be catalogued (including assignment of accession number,
photograph if possible, rough condition report, and current
market value estimated for insurance purposes) but they will not
be moved or handled.
o Artworks on the list that are currently stored in El Dorado Hall
will be stored properly (according to professional standards)
after they are catalogued
2) Hire temporary staff for Phase 1
Note: All Phase 1 tasks will be directed by Sac State faculty members: Terri
Castaneda, Phil Hitchcock, Elaine O’Brien, Sheila O’Neill, and Dan Frye.
Alphabetical list of temporary staff, duties, and salary:
Robin Bernhard, UC Davis Art Collection Manager/Registrar and
consultant:
Set up the Sacramento State University digital catalogue according to professional
standards with relational search categories and the ability to link to relevant
Sacramento State websites and public collection databases off campus
o Format FMP software for data entry by Sac State temporary staff
o Create Sac State collection accession numbering system, security systems
o Train Nancy Wylie in how to professionally manage the digital catalogue
Jennifer Grossfeld, Arts Management MA:
o Responsibilities: Appraise individual artworks (current market
estimates based on online research) as they are recorded in the art
collection catalogue. Work with the Office of Risk Management to
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secure insurance coverage. Assist with the assignment/recording of
accession numbers, measuring, photographing, and evaluating the
condition of artworks.
Kevin Ptak, Art Department Instructional Support Technician III:
o Overseeing the preparation of El Dorado Hall for art collection
storage. Removal of built-in shelves and cabinets that cannot be
adapted for art storage. Removal of equipment not related to
collection storage. Clearing of work stations. Oversee all handling of
the art as it is catalogued and moved safely to safe storage. Overseeing
the installation of storage facilities and equipment.
Leslie Rivers, Assistant to the Director of the University Library Gallery:
o Enter accession numbers and data for each artwork into the catalogue
database; assist with the assignment/recording of accession numbers;
measure, photograph, and evaluate the condition of artworks.
Nancy Wylie: Web/Graphic Designer, PEMSA Division, Sacramento State,
and first year Art Collection Management MA student supervised by
Sheila O’Neill, University Library Director of Special Collections:
o Train with Robin Bernhard on formatting the art collection software
(File Maker Pro) to create the university art collection catalogue; enter
accession numbers and data for each artwork into the catalogue
database; assist with the assignment/recording of accession numbers;
measure, photograph, and evaluate the condition of artworks.
3) Set up the art collection digital catalogue for data entry:
Install FileMaker Pro, art collection management software owned by the
College, on three campus computers.
o One for software programming and data entry by Nancy Wylie
o One for data entry by Leslie Rivers
o One for data entry in the El Dorado Hall collection workspace
o Accession numbering system designed
o Creation of a relational database using File Maker Pro that will be a
repository for object data and media and link artworks with
corresponding conservation reports, loan and exhibition records,
lender and shipping documentation, and publications.
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4) Complete data entry for the 100 artworks selected by Hitchcock and
O’Brien using discipline-standard categories
5) Prepare the storage space in El Dorado Hall
Remove all stored objects not related to the collection
Remove built-in cabinets and shelves unsuitable for art storage
Cover wood shelves with Mylar
Arrange art storage cabinets, equipment and supplies according to
professional guidelines
o Create workspaces for a) data entry, b) photographing, c) condition
assessment
o
o
o
o
6) Purchase supplies needed for startup (*see page 8 for table with specs and
prices*)
7) Locate suitable permanent facility for storage with contiguous
space for collection processing, research, teaching and learning
In addition to ensuring proper storage for the University Art collection, the
collection management program will also carry out functions such as
accessioning, condition appraisal, photographing of works, description,
measurement, data entry, and preparation of works for storage. Curatorial studies
minor/certificate students will be developing the collection in a required
internship.
Requirements:
 Overall square footage:
 3200 Permanent location
 Accessible to teaching, exhibition, and research spaces on campus
 Above ground level where dampness and flooding is less likely
 Exterior walls with limited exposure to the sun in summer
 No low ceilings
 Wide doors from storage and preparation space to the building exterior for
moving artworks in and out of the building for exhibition without damage.
o Ideally, the building would include a loading dock or receiving area
for delivery and pick up of works
 Good light, humidity, and temperature control
 Security system connected to the university police department
 Fire detection and suppression. Minimal: A fire alarm system that can be
triggered manually 24 hours a day
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Collection processing area adjacent to the storage area so that collection
items can be removed for processing and returned to storage with limited
obstacles to the safety of collection materials. At a minimum, both storage
and processing locations should be located in one building with access to a
large/freight elevator (restricted to the public) for transport of collection
objects between floors.
2) Institute a permanent university art collection advisory board comprised
of university faculty and community professionals. The advisory committee
advises the collection manager in writing the art collection policy and meets
quarterly with the collection manager to oversee the development of the
collection toward the university vision plan. Members help with community
outreach, fundraising, advising on accession and deaccession and assure proper
stewardship of donations. Membership includes a representative from the
Advancement office and otherwise is based on the membership of the current
task group: the Library Gallery Director, the Director of University Library Special
Collections, the Director of the Anthropology Museum, a Sac State professor of
modern and contemporary art history, two curatorial studies graduate
students, a curator from the Crocker Art Museum, and a representative of the UEI
art collection.
Phase II: To begin in October, 2013 and ideally completed by the end of the
academic year, May 2014, depending on available funds and staff
1) Hire Art Collection Manager/Registrar (current U.S. average salary is
$55,000, higher and lower depending on qualifications, experience, and required
duties) *See page 10 for comparable job posting with standard qualifications and
duties for this position.* Typically, an Art Collection Manager/Registrar performs
the following duties:1
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1
manages the movement of artworks within and between facilities
supervises packing and labeling
assesses and implements strategies to
improve storage spaces monitors
environmental conditions in both exhibition
and storage areas
ensures safety of artworks during installation at the university and at all
venues exhibiting its objects maintains accurate location records in the
collections management database
List derived from Boston University and other university collection management websites
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develops a centralized collections management system and online
catalogue for all university art collections
conducts an annual audit
documents previously uncatalogued objects and new donations
ensures adherence to national and international museum data standards
and nomenclature
continually assesses collections-related operational requirements to
facilitate data collection and ensure effective and efficient use of the
system
trains staff, faculty, volunteers and interns
organizes all aspects of transporting works of art to and from the
collection space as potential acquisitions, for inclusion in the in-house
special exhibitions program, or as loans to borrowing institutions
works closely with faculty and staff in developing and using the collection
for university purposes
coordinate shipping of artworks to national and international borrowers
ensures safe packing and crating in accordance with conservation
requirements
works with customs agents and brokers to procure security and customs
permits
secures insurance and indemnity coverage
manages facility reports and contracts
prepares official documentation, such as receipts and loan agreements
for international loans, provides proper customs declarations and applies
for government indemnity, immunity from seizure and licenses to ship
materials comprised of endangered species or from sanctioned countries
keeps current with international regulations for transporting art
Accountability: The Collection Manager/Registrar) will submit a quarterly report
on the collection management progress to the Dean of Arts & Letters, University
Provost, Library Gallery Director, the University Art Collection Advisory Board
and enter a copy of the report in the collection’s archive.
2) Institute a Sacramento State Art Collection Management Policy
The policy will be written by the Art Collection Manager with the advice of
faculty members of the University Art Collection Advisory Board following
existing codes of ethics and professional standards established by the American
Association of Museums and used by comparable university art museums and
collections in the CSU system. *(See example policy from CSU Chico, page 12)*
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Purpose: To establish a systematic framework to guide the ongoing
management of the University Art Collection, based upon the mission and
collecting scope of the collection.
Typical Elements of an Art Collection Management Policy:
Provides guidelines on the acquisition, care, and ongoing development of
the collection
Describes the role of Art Collection Manager and Registrar and designates
authority in the selection of works to acquire by donation or purchase
Establishes policies and procedures for documenting and caring for the
collection: criteria and method for accessioning, credit to donors,
catalogue standards, preservation storage, online access tools, and
management of collection records maintained by the management
program
Provides guidelines for deaccession and removal of art works deemed out
of collecting scope including manner of disposition; allocation of proceeds
and credit to donors
Sets the terms and conditions of loans; establishes procedures for
management of internal and external loans
Develops long range conservation plan
Establishes physical and environmental protection
Provides criteria for temporary custody and criteria for unsolicited/
abandoned work
Determines reproduction fees and reproduction rights
Ascertains insurance needs, including valuation of collection; insurance
records and claims
Provides packing and shipping requirements
Establishes Code of Ethics, which includes responsibility to the collection;
discretion and confidentiality; and conflict of interest
2) Institute a Curatorial Studies Minor/Certificate: *see full description, page 20 *
Offered by the university for matriculated and Continuing Education students in
the Fall semester of 2015. Through courses and internships, students will assist
in managing the collection, research objects, and write supporting art historical
and critical texts for the online public catalogue/virtual exhibition space.
 Institute two new courses for the Curatorial Studies Minor/Certificate:
Introduction to Curatorial Studies, and an art history course, Modern and
Contemporary Art in the Sacramento Region that will (with the other
courses in the Curatorial Studies curriculum) use objects in the
permanent collection for teaching. Students will help develop the
collection database, and their historical research on art and artists in
the collection will be published in the online catalogue of the collection.
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Beyond 2015: Vision Statement
•
Develop the collection through carefully-considered accession and
deaccession policy to make it comprehensive of the best art of the region
from 1960 to the present. The collection and associated documentation
will define the art history of this region and make Sacramento State an
important destination for art enrichment, study and scholarship.
Place all Sacramento State University art collections – ARTS,
Anthropology, U.E.I., University Library, public artworks, and art in
administrative buildings – under one central curatorial management
program with dedicated staffing led by the University Art Collection
Manager; one catalog system and inclusive online public catalogue linked
to relevant university webpages and world-wide art collection
databases; one collection policy; and storage, preparation, preservation,
teaching and exhibition spaces ideally located in one university museum.
Exploit the collection’s potential to advance the mission, prestige, and
increase the cultural capital of the University. Regional collectors have
expressed keen interest in donating works to the collection, including
alumni and emeritus Art professors with distinguished personal
collections, and the Crocker Art Museum.
Develop and make use of the collection’s earning potential.
Gain external development support for the collection. Grant writing can
be handled by the collection manager and faculty and students in the
curatorial studies program.
Develop pedagogical opportunities for the campus and the public, such as
maps for campus art walks that can be downloaded from the website.
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APPENDIX J
PROPOSED INTERIM COLLECTION MANAGEMENT POLICY
(under review and revision as of date of this writing)
California State University, Sacramento
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Sacramento State
Interim ARTS Collection Management Policy
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
PARAMETERS OF COLLECTION, PURPOSE, MISSION, AND OVERSIGHT
II.
CODE OF ETHICS
A. Responsibility to the Collection
B. Discretion and Confidentiality
C. Conflict of Interest
III.
COLLECTING POLICY
A. Collection s Advisory Committee
B. Information for Prospective Donors
IV.
ACQUISITIONS
A. Acquisition Guidelines
B. Procedures
V.
DEACCESSIONING
A. General Policies
B. Criteria
C. Procedure
D. Methods of Disposal
VI.
LOANS
A. On-Campus Loans
B. Incoming Loans/Temporary Custody
C. Outgoing Loans
VII.
CARE OF THE COLLECTION
A. Responsibilities
B. Collection Environment
C. Records
D. Access
E. Insurance
F. Inventory
VIII.
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
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I. PARAMETERS OF COLLECTION, PURPOSE, MISSION, AND OVERSIGHT
Parameters of the Collection: The following interim policy pertains only to the
University ARTS Collection (referred to below as ARTS Collection). The University
ARTS Collection is only part of the large collection of valuable objects of visual culture
owned by California State University, Sacramento. The University ARTS Collection, to
be managed according to the Interim Collection Management Policy below, consists of
artworks formerly held by the Art Department and the now-defunct School of the Arts.
The ARTS Collection includes works of art acquired and accepted on behalf of the
university for over half a century by Art department professors who shared the same
values and purposes. The artworks are of consistently high quality and have a regional
focus. Together they form an outstanding collection that represents the art history of
Greater Sacramento. Because of the wide-spread influence of art produced in this region
since the 1960s, the ARTS Collection has national and international significance.
Artworks held by the Art Department: Several hundred works of art on paper
(drawings, prints, and photographs), paintings, and sculptures: almost all of them by
artists of the Greater Sacramento region. Examples are ceramic sculptures by
Robert Arneson, Jun Kaneko, and Ruth Rippon; paintings and drawings by Fred
Dalkey, Robert Else, Phil Hitchcock, Irving Marcus, Raymond Witt, Joan Moment,
Tarmo Pasto, Jimi Suzuki, and Raymond Witt; and prints by John Driesbach, Anne
Gregory, Jack Ogden, and Nathan Oliveira. The collection also holds works that
were purchased for pedagogical purposes by Art faculty in the nineteen sixties
through sales of student artworks, such as the limited-edition lithographs by art stars
Pablo Picasso, Rufino Tamayo, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.
Artworks held by the former School of the Arts: An outstanding collection of
artworks by Sac State affiliated artists totaling over one hundred art objects of high
quality and historical value, including works in various media by Frank Owen,
Joseph Raffael, Stephen Kaltenbach, Joan Moment, Julia Couzens, Robert Brady,
Jim Nutt, Wayne Thiebaud, and artists affiliated with the Royal Chicano Air Force
(RCAF), including Jose Montoya and Esteban Villa. The RCAF poster collection
and the Wayne Thiebaud print collection are housed in University Library Archives
and Special Collections.
Purpose and Mission:
The purpose of the Interim Collection Management Policy is to guide the stewardship,
orderly growth and enhancement of the ARTS Collection of California State University,
Sacramento. This Interim Collection Management Policy is for the ARTS Collection
only. It thus establishes guidelines for achieving only part of the overall mission stated in
the Collection Management Plan (revised June 2013): to secure, manage, and develop the
entire permanent collection of all objects of visual culture held by California State
University, Sacramento at the professional level of university collection standards,
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protecting generous gifts to the University as a heritage and making them available for
education, exhibition, research and community service, especially visual learning,
teaching, and scholarship at every level through original works of art and visual culture.
To achieve the overall mission of the California State University, Sacramento Collection
Management Plan (June 2013), a permanent California State University, Sacramento
Collection Management Policy will be drafted at a later date for the care of all objects of
visual culture owned by the university, including collections held by the Anthropology
Museum, the University Library, and University Auxiliary Organizations, as well as the
campus Public Art Collection and artworks in administrative buildings.
Oversight:
The institution of a permanent California State University, Sacramento Collection
Management Policy requires the engagement of a professional University Collection
Manager. Without a professional University Collection Manager, the Interim Collection
Management Policy will be carried out by current faculty, temporary collection
management staff and student interns.
Oversight of the Interim Collection Management Policy is the responsibility of California
State University, Sacramento. In the absence of a professional University Collection
Manager, the University Library Gallery Director is responsible for the administration of
the Interim Collection Management Policy. The University Library Gallery Director will
follow the policy below in consultation with the University ARTS Collection Advisory
Committee (see UACAC, below), and for artworks valued at over $5000, the Dean of
Arts & Letters and the University Advancement, Development Office will be consulted.
The education and management of student collection management interns is the
responsibility of the University Library Gallery Director. In cases where the student
intern’s faculty supervisor is not the University Library Gallery Director, the student
intern’s faculty supervisor and the University Library Gallery Director will work
collaboratively to achieve the faculty supervisor’s teaching goals and the student intern’s
learning goals.
II. CODE OF ETHICS
The ARTS Collection Code of Ethics pertains to all administrators, faculty, staff,
committee members, and volunteers of the ARTS Collection. All individuals having an
affiliation with the ARTS Collection are expected to be familiar with and abide by the
Code of Ethics.
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A. Responsibility to the ARTS Collection
The possession of the works of art in the ARTS Collection incurs legal, social, and
ethical obligations of California State University, Sacramento to provide proper storage,
management, care, and associated documentation according to standards defined by the
American Alliance of Museums. For these reasons, university representatives responsible
for the ARTS Collection must assure that its management, development and use are
aligned with the mission of California State University, Sacramento (March 29, 2004):
(http://www.csus.edu/about/mission.html) and the mission described in the Collection
Management Plan (June 2013): to secure, manage, and develop the permanent collection
of objects of visual culture held by California State University, Sacramento at the
professional level of university collection standards, protecting it as a heritage and
making it available for education, exhibition, research and community service, especially
visual learning, teaching, and scholarship at every level through original works of art and
visual culture.
B. Discretion and Confidentiality
Individuals associated with the ARTS Collection have unique responsibilities related to
maintaining the image, trust, and credibility to the public of California State University,
Sacramento and the ARTS Collection. For this reason, affiliated individuals must 1)
represent properly the University and their position in association with the ARTS
Collection when interacting with others; 2) exercise professional discretion about
activities and concerns regarding the ARTS collection; 3) hold in confidence relevant
information concerning matters such as donors, finances, personnel and security.
C. Conflict of Interest
Individuals having an affiliation with the ARTS Collection must avoid situations that
may be construed as a conflict of interest. Concerns about potential conflicts of interest
should be handled according to the Conflict of Interest Policy outlined in the Sacramento
State Development Policy Manual:
http://www.csus.edu/giving/PDF/2009DevelopmentPolicyManual.pdf. The purpose is to
prevent real or perceived conflict between interested parties and the objectives of the
ARTS Collection. Potential conflicts of interest specific to the management of the ARTS
Collection include: 1) personal collecting within the curatorial area of the ARTS
Collection; 2) using ARTS Collection affiliation, resources, or the influence of one’s
position for personal benefit, or to serve the interests of persons outside the ARTS
Collection; 3) placing the ARTS Collection in a situation that compromises its missions,
policies, functions, practices, or philosophies.
III. Collecting Scope and Policy
A. Scope of Collecting
The overwhelming strength of the ARTS Collection is the art of the Greater Sacramento region,
1950-present, with a focus on the production of Sacramento State affiliated artists. The ARTS
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Collection will continue to develop within the parameters of the existing collection, which
includes hundreds of historically significant works of two- and three-dimensions in a range of
media by artists of the Greater Sacramento region, including: Robert Arneson, Robert Brady,
Julia Couzens, Fred Dalkey, Robert Else, Stephen Kaltenbach, Jun Kaneko, Irving Marcus, Joan
Moment, Jim Nutt, Jack Ogden, Nathan Oliveira, Frank Owen, Tarmo Pasto, Ruth Rippon,
Joseph Raffael, Jimi Suzuki, Wayne Thiebaud, Raymond Witt, and artists affiliated with the
Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF), including Jose Montoya and Esteban Villa.
The University ARTS Collection will continue to build within existing parameters: the art of the
Greater Sacramento region, 1950-present. Through its collecting goals, the ARTS Collection will
strive to support the academic mission of Sacramento State University and be responsive to the
cultural needs and aspirations of the regional community.
B. Collecting Policy
The University ARTS Collection policy will follow the Sacramento State Development Policy
Manual http://www.csus.edu/giving/PDF/2009DevelopmentPolicyManual.pdf, in particular the
guidelines for Special Collections outlined on pages 10-12 of the University Development Policy
Manual, partly copied below:
Gifts of Special Collections
Special Collections—gifts-in-kind that consist of collections such as works of art,
memorabilia, artifacts or other types of tangible personal property—must be considered
on a case-by-case before they can be accepted.
A Special Collections Proposal Form
(http://www.csus.edu/giving/docs/SpecialCollectionsGiftProposalForm.doc ) must be
signed by the Dean of the program area where the gift will reside and by the Vice
President for Advancement. On the Special Collections Proposal Form, the campus
representative working with the donor will specify how the gift will benefit the campus or
the department where it will be housed, and will be asked to consider and identify
potential issues that could have a negative effect on the institution financially or legally,
or bring harm to the institution’s reputation. They will also outline any specifications for
insuring and maintaining the collection, along with provisions for funding those
requirements.
Once accepted, the gift becomes the property of the University. The donor gives, transfers
and assigns all rights, title and interest in and to the property as an unrestricted gift. If
the donor plans to claim a tax deduction for the value of the collection, valuation and
appraisal requirements will apply as for other gifts-in-kind, as detailed in the Gift
Procedures manual.
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As part of the gift approval process, the Vice President for University Advancement may
choose to convene a Gift Acceptance Committee, which is responsible for reviewing
proposals for special major gifts. The composition of the committee will be determined by
the type of collection being proposed. The Vice President for University Advancement
shall sign the Gift Acceptance Form (GAF) for any new Special Collection, or gift being
considered by the Gift Acceptance Committee, thereby indicating final approval.
Special Collections are subject to the following criteria:
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The collection must be of value in promoting and supporting the role and scope of the
mission of Sacramento State.
The cost and expenditure of staff time and other resources in acquiring, researching,
transporting, processing, and storing the objects must fit within the University's available
resources or provision for funding of such must be included as part of the gift.
The collection must be of a size and physical state for which Sacramento State can
provide adequate storage space and security.
Objects must be the legal property of the donor and he/she/it must have legal authority to
transfer ownership.
The acquisition of objects must comply legally and ethically with:
a. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and
Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, November, 1970; Article 9 Convention
under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (1983)
b. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Public Law 101601; 25 U.S.C. 3001-13; 104 Stat. 3042
c. Treaty of Cooperation between the United States and Mexico for the Recovery and
Return of Stolen Cultural Properties for Pre-Columbian Artifacts
d. Antiquities Act, Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, Public Law 96-95;
16 U.S.C. 470aa-mm
e. Treaties, memoranda of understanding, or other legal agreements between the United
States and other countries regulating importation of archaeological and ethnographic
materials
f. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), 1977
g. African Elephant Conservation Act 16 USCS 4203
h. Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, 16 U.S.C. 703-712, Ch. 128; July 13, 1918; 40
Stat. 755 and subsequent amendments
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i. Endangered Species Act of 1973 16 U.S.C. 1531-1544, 87 Stat. 884 and subsequent
amendments
j. Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1943, 16 U.S.C. 668-668d, 54 Stat. 250 and subsequent
amendments
k. USFW and USDA regulations relating to biological material imported from outside the
U.S.
l. Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 relating to biological material, Public Law 97-79, 16
U.S.C. 3371-3373
m. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, 16 U.S.C. 1361-1407, P.L. 92-522 and
subsequent amendments
n. All other applicable local, state, federal and international laws and regulations
Collections of human remains and sacred materials will not be acquired if it is known at
the time of acquisition that their presence and use is considered to be offensive or
inappropriate by the relevant cultural group, whether or not they are governed by public
law.
Materials subject to copyright must be accompanied by documentation of the transfer of
named copyrights or by documentation identifying copyright status.
The collection must be free of restrictions that it remain intact or at the University in
perpetuity. If the collection no longer serves the mission of Sacramento State, the
University retains the right to sell the collection, or objects in it, upon notification of the
donor.
The Committee should evaluate the gift’s potential to bring adverse publicity or financial
liability to the University, or if accepting the gift could restrict academic freedom or the
University’s ability to act independently. The Committee should also review expectations
or needs to catalog, archive or lend the collection and how those efforts will be funded.
C. University ARTS Collection Advisory Committee (UACAC)
Instituted by the Dean of Arts and Letters as a permanent University ARTS Collection
Advisory Committee (UACAC) with the following responsibilities:
1. Advises the University Library Gallery Director on the acceptance or
rejection of works of art proposed as gifts, purchases and/or exchanges for
the permanent ARTS Collection, and in the case of major gifts (as per
Sacramento State Development Policy for Special Collections), advises the
University Gift Acceptance Committee that may be convened by the Vice
President for University Advancement.
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2. Advises the University Library Gallery Director on the deaccessioning of
works of art through transfer, sale, exchange or other means when such
works are no longer of clear interest to the ARTS Collection.
3. In its deliberations and relations with the University Library Gallery
Director, the UACAC will follow the guidelines published in Professional
Practices in Art Museums (2001) distributed by the Association of Art
Museum Directors. The UACAC shall meet monthly as scheduled by the
committee chair. Additional meetings may be called at the discretion of the
University Library Gallery Director.
4. UACAC members include at least three professors with expertise in
contemporary art and/or collections professionals, at least two community art
and/or collections professionals, at least one member of the ARTS Collection
Staff and at least one student ARTS Collection intern.
5. All members of the UACAC are committed to the ARTS Collections’ Code
of Ethics. College faculty, administrators, and staff affiliated with UACAC
and the ARTS Collection are required to meet the ethical standards required
by the California State University and the American Alliance of Museums in
the performance of ARTS Collection duties.
6. Sensitive and confidential information may be disclosed during UACAC
meetings. All committee members are obligated to respect such information.
The use of such information for personal gain is prohibited as a conflict of
interest (described above).
D. Information for Prospective Donors
The ARTS Collection appreciates the generous individuals who offer gifts of art
to the university. The ARTS Collection follows the established acquisitions
procedure and policy outlined in the Sacramento State Development Policy
Manual and conforms to professional standards set by the American Alliance of
Museums.
The ARTS Collection has established the University ARTS Collection Advisory
Committee that meets monthly to consider gifts for the Collection presented by
the University Library Gallery Director. The committee follows established
professional standards in the museum field. Sacramento State Development
Policy requires the university to collect purposefully and carefully within its
capacity to house and preserve the artwork in its care. The university is mandated
not to accept work that it is unlikely to be able to exhibit, catalogue or care for in
an appropriate manner. See the Sacramento State Development Policy Manual:
http://www.csus.edu/giving/PDF/2009DevelopmentPolicyManual.pdf
In general, the University ARTS Collection Advisory Committee cannot accept
works that are duplications of specific artists or types of art, currently represented
in the ARTS Collection; works that have storage requirements beyond our present
space; works that are exceedingly fragile or require extensive conservation
treatment; works that have no relationship to other objects in the ARTS
Collection; and finally, by law, works where the donor has no clear title to
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ownership and or attribution of the work. In accordance with the American
Alliance of Museums guidelines concerning cultural patrimony issues, the
potential gifts to the ARTS Collection must be accompanied by as much
background (provenance) material as possible. These are the major criteria used
in considering works of art for the ARTS Collection. Other restrictions and
criteria may be posed by specific works and categories of art.
IV. ACQUISITIONS
The ARTS Collection follows policies for donations of gifts to California State
University, Sacramento as outlined in the Sacramento State Development Policy Manual.
It also strives to meet the following standard acquisitions criteria based on the
recommendations of the International Council of Museums Code of Ethics:
http://icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Codes/code_ethics2013_eng.pdf; the
Association of Art Museum Curators 2007 Professional Practices in Art Museums
guidelines: http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/AAMC_Professional_Practices.pdf; the
American Alliance of Museums report, Museums for a New Century (1984); and other
sources.
The ARTS Collection will not acquire works of art that it is unable to conserve, store,
exhibit, or catalogue in according to standard practice for university collections. The
ARTS Collection will collect carefully and purposefully within its capacity to house and
preserve the works of art in its care.
A. Acquisition Guidelines
Acquisitions to the ARTS Collection shall be made to strengthen the mission and
holdings of the collection for the purposes of research, teaching, curricular
development, and exhibitions. Artwork or objects acquired shall be of
historical/aesthetic significance and merit and may be added to the collection through
gift, bequest, purchase, or exchange following the guidelines described below.
1. The object is consistent with the ARTS Collection mission, scope of
collecting, and vision as stated in the California State University,
Sacramento ARTS Collection Management Plan.
2. The object has merit and aesthetic quality and does not duplicate a work
already in the ARTS Collection.
3. Following standard professional practices and conflict of interest
guidelines, there will be no private sale to staff, faculty, members of the
Advisory Committee, or their representatives.
4. The legality and ethical propriety of all potential acquisitions will be
evaluated according to documentation as to origin, previous ownership,
history.
5. No object will be knowingly acquired whose ownership or current legal
status is questionable or whose circumstances of acquisition were
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6.
7.
8.
9.
unethical or contrary to the legal goals and practices of California State
University, Sacramento, the ARTS Collection, and professional archival
and cultural property standards.
The ARTS Collection will not knowingly acquire works of art that have
been illegally exported or otherwise transferred in violation of the
principles of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of
Cultural Property (1970). Nor will the ARTS Collection acquire gifts of
human remains and cultural items from Native Americans as outlined in
NAGPRA (1993).
No work of art will be acquired by the ARTS Collection if professional
standards of care and storage cannot be provided.
The ARTS Collection will not accept gifts unreasonably encumbered with
conditions set by the donor regarding ownership, use, display, or future
disposition.
Estate gifts to the ARTS Collection that do not meet the above criteria
may be accepted for sale by the university to support the ARTS Collection
following the policies and procedures outlined in the Sacramento State
Development Policy Manual.
B. Procedures
All acquisition procedures of the ARTS Collection must follow policies outlined in the
Sacramento State Development Policy Manual and Sacramento State Gift Procedures.
For gifts of art valued at $5000 or more, the University Library Gallery Director notifies
the Dean of Arts & Letters and follows University Development and Advancement
procedures for Special Collections.
Procedures specific to the ARTS Collection:
If a work of art is offered or solicited as a promised gift to the ARTS Collection, it
may be presented to the University Library Gallery Director so that the donor may
be assured that the gift will be accepted at a later date and as an Estate Gift. The
object will be assigned an incoming loan number and the donor’s offer of a
promised gift and the official acceptance of the University Library Gallery
Director and UACAC should be documented in writing. Whenever possible, the
donor will maintain physical custody until such time as the actual Transfer of
Title takes place.
Potential acquisitions of works of art are submitted for approval to the University
Library Gallery Director, who presents them to the UACAC, which meets
monthly and as needed at the request of the University Library Gallery Director
and/or the UACAC Chair.
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As per Sacramento State Development Policy for Gifts of Special Collections, a
Gift Acceptance form or a Special Collections Gift Proposal Form must be
completed by the University Library Gallery Director and donor, transferring title
to the works of art to the ARTS Collection. Gift agreements must be signed by the
donor, and the Dean of Arts & Letters must formally accept the gift in writing. A
bill of sale must be obtained for purchase of works of art. Transfer, retention, or
sub-division or copyright protection of works should be established at the time the
object is acquired. The ARTS Collection adheres to international copyright law,
and observes appropriate donor and copyright restrictions as specified by written
agreement.
Works that do not meet ARTS Collection standards will not be accepted for the
permanent collection, although (as above) they may be accepted for sale by the
university to support the ARTS Collection following the policies and procedures
outlined in the Sacramento State Development Policy Manual. In the event that
the University Library Gallery Director and the University Collection Advisory
Committee disagree on acceptance or rejection of works of art for the ARTS
collection, a written report will be prepared for the Dean of Arts & Letters
documenting their views and a final decision will be made by the Dean of Arts &
Letters.
The ARTS Collection abides by the ethical policies of California State University,
Sacramento and the Code of Ethics of the American Alliance of Museums and
thus cannot appraise gifts. Donors must obtain their own appraisals in accordance
with the rules and regulations of the Internal Revenue Service and appropriate
state tax agencies. If requested, the University Library Gallery Director will refer
a donor to the American Society of Appraisers and the Appraisers Association of
America.
V. DEACCESSIONING:
The permanent removal an artwork from the collection through sale, transfer, exchange,
or disposal
A request for deaccession requires careful consideration of public opinion and
professional judgment to ensure that the integrity of the object, artist and public is
respected. The ARTS Collection shall be periodically reviewed by the University Library
Gallery Director. Maintenance assessments and recommendations may be submitted by
appropriate parties to the University Library Gallery Director and the UACAC for
consideration and, in the event that circumstances warrant, a written request may be
submitted to the University Library Gallery Director and the UACAC for the deaccession
of an object. The University Library Gallery Director and/or the UACAC may initiate a
review for deaccession of an object. A request for assessment or review not initiated by
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the University Library Gallery Director or the UACAC may be submitted by staff,
faculty, artist, donor, or an outside party with interest in the disposition of the object.
A request for review for deaccession should include the following:
1. The reason deaccession is requested.
2. The estimated current value of the object.
3. The acquisition method and cost.
4. Written evaluation from a disinterested and qualified professional such as an
engineer, conservator, architect, safety expert, or art historian.
5. Photographs indicating the status of the object.
6. The contract with the artist or any other relevant agreement.
7. Written recommendations of other concerned parties, including staff, faculty, the
artist, donor, or an outside party with interest in the disposition of the object.
8. Any articles regarding the object or evidence of public debate or written
correspondence concerning the object.
The following reasons may be cause for deaccession of an object from the ARTS
Collection:
1. The condition or security of the object cannot be reasonably guaranteed.
2. The object requires excessive maintenance or has faults of design or workmanship
and repair or remedy is impractical or unfeasible.
3. The object has been damaged and repair is impractical or unfeasible.
4. The object endangers public safety.
5. The object has had significant adverse public reaction over an extended period of
time.
6. The artistic merit and/or educational value of the object is called into question
7. The University Library Gallery Director and/or the UACAC wishes to replace the
object with a more appropriate work by the same artist.
8. A written request from the artist has been received.
Review of the Request for Deaccession
1. In the case of deaccessioning objects by living artists, an attempt should be made to
inform them of this intention, and the possibility of an exchange of the object with
the artist will be explored.
2. The University Library Gallery Director and the UACAC shall recommend reasonable
measures to address the concerns outlined in the request for review for deaccession.
3. If the University Library Gallery Director and the UACAC determines that reasonable
efforts have been made to resolve the concern which prompted the review and that
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these efforts have failed to resolve the concerns, then the object may be removed
from the ARTS Collection with the approval of the University Advancement and
Development Office. Consideration will be given to any special conditions attached
to objects acquired through bequest, donation or as part of a larger collection.
The following courses of action in order of priority may be followed if an object must be
removed from the ARTS Collection:
1. The ARTS Collection follows the California State University Policy Manual with
regard to the Property Management, the Safeguarding and Disposal of State Property
http://www.csus.edu/umanual/admin/ADM-0164.html.
2. Objects acquired by donation should be offered in the first instance to the donor. If the
object intended for deaccession was obtained subject to restrictions which are
inconsistent with deaccession, and if the donor is still living, every attempt shall be
made to obtain from the donors a written waiver and consent to its deaccession. If the
donor is no longer living, every attempt will be made to contact the heirs or the estate
to receive such a waiver.
3. Removal from the collection by sale, extended loan, trade or donation. At least two
independent professional appraisals of the fair market value of the object are received
to inform further decisions at this point. If possible, the artist should be given first
option on purchase.
4. The ARTS Collection and the Advancement and Development Office shall retain for
the University all records of the deaccessioned object including the original proposal,
portfolio, approval documents, maintenance records, deaccession request and
approval, etc.
5. Proceeds from the sale of a deaccessioned object shall be used to support the ARTS
Collection.
VI.
LOANS
A. Campus Loans
The stated mission of the ARTS Collection is to secure, manage, and develop the
objects of visual culture it holds according to art collection standards, protecting it
as a heritage and making it available for education, exhibition, research and
community service, especially visual learning, teaching, and scholarship at every
level. Campus loans from the ARTS Collection for use in limited areas (e.g.
President’s Office) that serve the mission of the university and the mission of the
ARTS Collection are made by the requests to the University Library Gallery
Director and require the approval of the University Library Gallery Director and
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the UACAC. Such loans must comply strictly with the outgoing loan policies
outlined below.
B. Incoming Loans, Temporary Custody
The ARTS Collection accepts no incoming loans. If an umbrella insurance policy
is in place that includes artworks held in temporary custody by the ARTS
Collection, the University Library Gallery Director may assume temporary
custody of items other than loans for the purpose of gift consideration. Custody
for any other purpose may not be undertaken.
Works may be placed in the ARTS Collection for temporary custody only if
arrangements have been made with the University Library Gallery Director.
Works placed with the ARTS Collection without the University Library Gallery
Director’s consent will not be insured and will be returned promptly at the
owner’s expense. If the ARTS Collection is unable to return an item after
reasonable attempts, it may be treated as an “abandoned loan” and the ARTS
Collection will comply with Section 1899 of the California Civil Code concerning
unclaimed property: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgibin/displaycode?section=civ&group=01001-02000&file=1899-1899.11
C.
Outgoing Loans:
Loans from the ARTS Collection are generally only made to related noncommercial, educational institutions and require a written request to the
University Library Gallery Director that states the purpose of the loan, the period
for which the work is requested, and the environment in which it will be housed.
Borrowing institutions must submit a Facilities Report.
Loan requests will be reviewed for approval by the University Library Gallery
Director and the UACAC who will consider the following criteria as well as other
criteria which might be pertinent to individual loans:
In order to be approved for loan, the work must be able to withstand the
ordinary strains of packing, transportation, handling, installation, and
exhibition. The loan must not expose the work to undue risk. All risks
must be justified by the merit of the request.
Any borrower must at a minimum meet the ARTS Collection’s standards
of loans governing appropriate environment, handling, security, insurance,
and transportation. Borrowers are expected to pay all costs incurred for
preparation, conservation (if necessary), packing, insuring, and
transporting a loaned work. The borrower must agree to the ARTS
Collection’s conditions of loan in a written Loan Agreement. Borrowers
will assume full responsibility for any loss of or damage to the loaned
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works while they are in transit or on location away from the ARTS
Collection.
Permission to photograph, reproduce in any manner or televise works
must be secured from the University Library Gallery Director. The
borrower may not reproduce images of artworks on objects or documents
made for sale. The borrower may photographically reproduce items from
the ARTS Collection for educational, catalogue, and publicity purposes in
accordance with the copyright, as long as the ARTS Collection receives
copies of all reproductions made.
VII. CARE OF THE ARTS COLLECTION
A.
Responsibilities
The University Library Gallery Director is charged with maintaining the
University’s awareness of its fiduciary responsibilities to the ARTS Collection as
a public trust.
The University Library Gallery Director is responsible for insuring the
maintenance of all security and fire protection devices that affect the ARTS
Collection.
The University Library Gallery Director shall, with the advice of the UACAC,
maintain policies and procedures to assure the proper care of the ARTS Collection
and shall amend the policies and procedures as necessary to assure its continued
care and protection.
While the University Library Gallery Director has primary responsibility for the
day-to-day care and control of the ARTS Collection a concern for their
preservation, security, protection, and accurate documentation must be shared by
every member of the student, volunteer, and paid staff and the UACAC.
The location of each ARTS Collection item moved outside the main storage area
must be recorded by the staff.
The University Library Gallery Director shall have established procedures for
responding to emergencies to protect the Collection s in the case of fire or natural
disasters.
B.
Collection Environment
Access to the Collection storage areas is restricted with keys issued according to
the California State University, Sacramento Policy Manual:
http://www.csus.edu/umanual/admin/ADM-0166.html
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A security alarm system, monitored 24 hours a day by campus police, is armed
whenever the ARTS Collection is not staffed.
Temperature is monitored by ARTS Collection staff and adjustments made at the
thermostat. In the storage area, a portable dehumidifier is operated to prevent
excess humidity.
Ultra-violet light is filtered.
C.
Registration System
An accession numbering system shall be instituted and utilized according to
national standards for museum registration.
Records shall be maintained and updated when changes occur through the
catalogue software program.
Back up of database will be performed regularly pursuant to Sacramento State’s
IT/established procedures.
According to standard university collection practice, the master inventory of the
ARTS Collection shall be kept as 1) a hard copy in fire-proof files as well as 2) in
the digital ARTS Collection catalogue and database.
Individual files with hard copies for each piece of work including acquisition
records, donation records, artist’s biographical information, etc. shall be stored in
a fire-proof file cabinet.
An insurance list shall be stored as a hard copy and in the computer and updated
annually.
Out-going loan records shall 1) be recorded in the ARTS Collection catalogue and
2) backed up as hard copies, as above.
D. Access
The ARTS Collection is a public collection and trust. Every effort will be made
to see that students, faculty, visiting scholars, and others whose projects fall
within the educational goals of the ARTS Collection are given reasonable access.
Such access is subject to limitations of space, staff time, and preservation and
security requirements of the Collection. Collection records cannot be removed
nor copied from the ARTS Collection files. In reply to reasonable inquiries, the
ARTS Collection will make available the identity and description of all
accessioned works. Following Sacramento State Development Policy Manual
procedures for gifts to the university, confidential donor information is not
disclosed to the public.
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Access to the ARTS Collection in storage requires an appointment with the
University Library Gallery Director, Chair of the UACAC, or appropriate staff.
Determination of access to the Collection is at the discretion of the University
Library Gallery Director or the Chair of the UACAC.
All activity or work in the ARTS Collection storage areas is subject to supervision
by the appropriate staff. Admittance of individuals or groups into the storage
areas and the handling and moving of art work for study is the responsibility of
the designated ARTS Collection staff member or the University Library Gallery
Director.
E.
Insurance
Insurance coverage must be maintained on the ARTS Collection and a security
system must be in operation and maintained under contract to provide insurance
coverage. California State University, Sacramento is self-insured and does not
have a separate or “wall-to-wall” policy for artworks. Under this interim policy,
fair market value estimates for each object in the ARTS Collection will be
ascertained and provided to the Office of Risk Management, which will use the
estimates to acquire insurance from the Inland Marine Insurance Program. A
proof-of-insurance document for each insured art object will be kept in the Office
of Risk Management and in the ARTS Collection database, attached to individual
catalogue records.
Outgoing loans are insured by the borrower. "Wall-to-wall" insurance must be
provided at the fair market value of each item loaned as determined by the
University Library Gallery Director. Proof of insurance must be demonstrated.
F.
Inventory
Inventory shall be verified by accession and catalogue number on the master
inventory list and in the catalogue database system.
A comprehensive inventory list will be generated in the catalogue database
system and updated at least every two years. Missing items shall be reported to
the University Library Gallery Director and the UACAC as soon as possible.
The University Library Gallery Director is responsible for reporting missing items
to the University Police and Risk Management (if insured).
VIII.
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
A copy of the ARTS Collection Management Policy will be made available to
donors, staff, and any other interested parties on request.