Semi-annual AMAM rental takes place on Wednesday

Next Thursday, security guards will aid and abet Oberlin students in carrying works of art out of the museum.

Twice a year, the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) makes their rental collection available to Oberlin students at $5.00 per work, the same fee used when the program began 57 years ago. Students can rent the works for the duration of the semester.

"The works in the rental collection aren't valued over $500.00. Technically, they are insured." AMAM museum registrar Lucille Stiger explained. "We've never had any problems with it."

Beginning next Wednesday, art enthusiasts can whet their appetites with the all-day preview of the rental collection. Stiger remembered the zeal of Oberlin students from past years. "Students camp out on Wednesday, starting at about five o'clock," she said.

The official rental process begins on Thursday at 9 a.m. "The first thing in the day, you see a whole slew of tents and sleeping bags all the way," Stiger explained. "They are let in five people at a time, so they can get what they want, and it's first come, first serve."

According to Stiger, the rental program was established by the late Professor Ellen H. Johnson to introduce fine art into the everyday lives of students. "[Johnson] was an art history faculty member. She wanted to let students live with art in their room," she said.

"I think it's an incredible idea," said first-year Anna Strong. However, she was hesitant to take on the responsiblility of having art in her room. "I wouldn't want to rent a piece of art, because I'd be afraid I'd destroy it," she said.

The rental program works similarly to an honor system; AMAM curators rent the works under the presumption that students will take good care of their pieces and return them unscathed. Stiger commented that the works for rent mostly consist of prints and drawings, but "few paintings, because they tend to get damaged."

Security guards have been known to confiscate over-due works from students' rooms and houses in cases of forgetting to return the works at the semester's end. However, as Stiger said, this is not common. "The students are great. They take care of the artwork."

The AMAM rental preview takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The student rental begins on Thursday, Sept. 18 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the open rental, for faculty and the general public, is on Friday, Sept. 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Works are $5.