Abstract
In 1967, a small group of passionate art enthusiasts formed a permanent art collection committee made up of Davis Art Center board members, local art patrons and University of California, Davis art faculty. The committee’s original mission was to develop a museum for Davis and to enhance the Art Center’s standing within Northern California’s art community. They had the foresight and vision to acquire artworks from regional artists who were relatively unknown at the time, but would go on to become prominent painters, sculptors, and photographers. A large majority of acquisitions were obtained between 1968 and 1985. Since the beginning of the acquisition process, the Davis Art Center has fronted a variety of challenging issues. During the last four decades, the permanent art collection committee endured inconsistent support from a rotating executive board and extremely limited funding sources, along with problems of storage for the artworks. The original vision for a museum was forgotten and, after 1985, the artwork was left largely un-cataloged, stored with minimal protection, and rarely exhibited. The last exhibition was staged in 1983. Sources of Data Between 1967 and 1992 the Davis Art Center, a non-profit center for the arts in Davis, California, amassed a collection of artworks from the region. The Davis Art Center’s permanent collection was the source of data for this thesis project. Identifying the artwork and determining art pieces for inclusion in an exhibition and corresponding catalog, required extensive research over a two and one-half year period. Each art piece was identified, examined and cataloged using standard museum methods. The history of the committee and acquisition of the artworks was conducted primarily through available resources from the Davis Art Center personal archives, including board minutes, artists’ files and biographies, letters of correspondence, past gallery exhibits, auction records, and art center scrapbooks. To understand the impact the art collection had on the artists and Davis community during its infancy, local and regional newspapers were studied, as were regional galleries of this period. Extensive research and analysis was required in order to understand the California art movements during the 1960s and 1970s. This includes the evolution of artistic styles and the artists within the permanent collection. Research was conducted using scholarly journals, educational art books, museum exhibition catalogs, art critic reviews, online galleries and artists’ websites, and obituaries. In order to survey the collection for the exhibition, artists were researched for his or her connection to the Davis Art Center. Oral interviews were conducted with former Davis Art Center permanent art collection committee and board members, artists, and with descendants of deceased artists. Conclusions Reached Lost and Found: Visions of the Davis Art Center, an exhibition mounted in October 2010, celebrates the powerful imagery and artistic diversity of the collection by showcasing, for the first time in 27 years, 54 artworks by 34 artists. Although the entire collection consists of 148 artworks by 92 artists, the exhibit manages to capture the full vision of the Davis Art Center’s original permanent collection committee, whose members shared a passion for art and a sharp eye for artistic talent. Several artworks within the exhibition could easily complement a major contemporary museum collection. However, due to the lack of a proper storage facility, several artworks are now in poor condition. Thus, most objects in the collection require minimum to major restoration. In order to visually document the lack of proper care and the transformation of these artworks, they were exhibited in their current condition with only minimal cleaning. This made for an eclectic exhibit and returned these artworks to the community for reflection and enjoyment. Through extensive research, the exhibition catalog documents the timeline of these artworks and explores the deep connection the Davis Art Center fostered with the art community during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as discusses the history of the committee members, as they fell short of their mission.