Donations Don’t Just Walk In

Laguna Art Museum officials aren’t simply sitting by and waiting for someone to drive up with a carload of pieces to die for. Director Charles Desmarais has taken several steps to improve the acquisition program during the 2 1/2 years he has been at the museum.

A collections committee now helps identify potential collectors who might donate to the museum, keeps tabs on what’s for sale at affordable prices and approves proposed acquisitions before the full board of trustees takes a final (generally rubber-stamping) vote. The committee consists of museum staff, trustees and several art professionals (including four dealers, who are asked to step out of the room when decisions are made on artists they represent).

The museum’s Historical Collection Council mustered $10,000 last year for a gift of art, and the Contemporary Collection Council raises $10,000 to $20,000 a year. There is also a fledgling Photography Collection Council.

Works of art purchased with council donations--which are, alas, very tiny sums in today’s art market--represent a delicate blend of curatorial expertise and members’ tastes. The curators are eager to fill historical gaps in the museum’s collection and balance affordability against the importance of a given work in an artist’s career; the members are probably more motivated by personal taste.

The historical council allows the curators to cull potential acquisitions from slides of art solicited from dealers. Council members pick their donation from this group of works. The contemporary council is somewhat more independent. Members collect slides from their own studio and gallery visits, then ask the curatorial department to make a selection. For the most part, says Colburn, the council has been “real responsive to our need and suggestions.”

Museum staff also hope to have as much as $50,000 for new acquisitions after selling works in the collection that have nothing to do with California, such as Chinese ceramics and European paintings. There is also a $75,000 memorial-fund pool that can be drawn from to buy more art.

And there will be a big push to attract new donations for a big collection show planned to coincide with the museum’s 75th anniversary in 1993. Plans are afoot to publish an illustrated catalogue--if the money can be raised--of all the works in the collection. There’s nothing like a printed-and-bound tribute to make a proud donor’s heart beat faster.