The Dayton Art Institute has been gifted the largest collection of diverse artists in its history. The donation of close to 500 pieces comes from a nationally recognized collection of feminist art.
The collection has been praised for its scope, quality and focus on feminist and socially engaged art.
Head curator and curatorial affairs director at the DAI, Jerry Smith, said this collection will contribute more than monetary value to the institution.
"You can buy a fender here, you can buy a tire there, but it's not a Mercedes until it's all together. And if you just disperse everything everywhere, it diminishes what the entire thing is. And as a collection, as this full thing, it is going to be so important that it stays together," he said.
The collection is made up of a variety of works by local, national and international women artists, donated by Sara and Michelle Vance Waddell of Cincinnati.
“I collect political things, I collect things that are in your face, I collect difficult subject matters. Because, life isn't always pretty," Sara Vance Waddell said.
The pair have also decided to endow a four-year curator position to further the DAI's efforts to showcase feminist works. The new curator will be Mariah Postlewait, who has been with the DAI for over two years.
"What we decided to do is to do it for four years, see how that rolls," Vance Waddell said. "Hopefully Mariah's still there and we still continue it. Maybe it's something we continue forever."
Rooted in history
Looking back at the foundation of the DAI in 1919, Postlewait said this massive donation echoes the institute's very first gift from a woman patron of a female artist's work.
“So right from the start, there was a strong female presence in this institution, and to feel like we're honoring that and continuing that is really meaningful," she said.
Just last year, the Cincinnati couple helped curate "Riveting: Women Artists from the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection." From there, Vance Waddell said she fell in love with the museum.
"[They] did such an amazing job curating from our collection," she said. "And to have a male curator come to me and say, 'Hey, I want to do an exhibition of work from your collection of all women artists.' I was like, 'Yes, thank you. Where have you been?' So Dayton made the effort."
This exhibition was Postlewait's first major curatorial project at the DAI, and she said its entire message reflects what initially drew her to take up a curatorial role at the institute.
"To know that that was already on the books and underway, and have someone go, 'I think this would benefit from your perspective,' and then make a change and follow through means a lot. Because it's one thing to give lip service to a good idea, and it's another to actually act on it," she said.
Vance Waddell said she chose the local institute as a final resting place for her collection because of its dedication to diversity and her own vision for the works.
"So I said you so you have to really use some of those objects, and then you also have to pay some homage to local and regional artists as well, and not just the national and international ones," she said. "And they they did it and you know, I that sold me. That really sold me on on them and on Dayton."
Becoming a "center for feminist art"
The DAI will also establish the Sara M. & Michelle Vance Waddell Gallery for Feminist Art to showcase the voices and visions of women artists. Smith said this gallery and the gift from the Vance Waddells could drive further engagement at the museum and establish its collection as a center for feminist art.
"We will have scholars from around the country, around the world potentially, coming and visiting and studying and doing research here and eventually we'll be doing symposium," he said.
Postlewait said the space will have around three exhibitions a year, with its first year focusing in on what feminism is and how we understand it.
Its first show, Exploring Feminism, will open on Feb.7. Smith said while the collection will be a major part of that new gallery, the museum will show pieces from the donation all throughout its historic halls.
"The work will still reflect Sarah and Michelle's personal interests, and that if a subject might be a little sticky, we're not going to shy away from that," he said.
