Rental Lines a Bonding Experience for Art Lovers

Students Wait Out Lines For Fancy Wall Adornments

It is mid-September, and that means it is time for the Elyria Apple Festival and for Art Rental at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Both are exciting events for Lorain County, but only one inspires enthusiastic students to spend more than 24 hours in line.

It isnıt the apples.

More than 75 students spent the night in the Museumıs courtyard Wednesday night, filling the air with songs, conversation, and cigarette smoke. Throughout the day on Thursday, close to 300 students filed through the Allen Memorial Art Museum doors in search of that special work to bring home with them for a mere $5.

The first twenty pieces went relatively quickly, said "Lucky," the smiling security guard who presided over the proceedings in the hallways. "They all came in, got the piece they were looking for, and left." After that, he says, people began to browse more leisurely.

This year, the first piece to go was Frank Stellaıs "Untitled" from 1964. Some of the most famous works, by such artists as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, did not go within the top ten, while eight of the top 20 to leave were works were from the last decade. These include the Museumıs (?) most recent acquisitions, "Time Share" by Douglass Ross and "Star Doll" by Mariko Mori.

In addition, many early Japanese prints went in the early rounds, such as Kawase Hasuiıs "Snow at Saishoin Temple" from 1936. This reflects a trend that Assistant Curator of Western Art Stephan Jost attributed to the dynamic and inspiring teaching of Professor of Art Julie Davis.

Senior (?) Matt Green was the first student in line. "I didnıt mean to be," he said, smiling in the gentle chill of Wednesday evening in the courtyard. "But I showed up at 9 am and there was no one here."

By Wednesday afternoon, a society had already been established in the Art Rental Line. Groups of people shared meals, played Taboo, and read quietly in the corner, awaiting the inevitable onslaught of mosquitos. On the wall stood the Courtyard Rules. Students were allowed leave the courtyard only for specific reasons, like meals and classes, and they had to leave a proxy in their stead. A roll was called every hour on the hour.

Senior Courtney Rucker said the onslaught of regulations is nothing new. "That happens every year. There are always rules. There are always fights."

Dedicated veterans of the line endure it all, the line, the beer, the sleeping bag, and the cigarettes, as a matter of course. While the impromptu society is based on the honor system, there is a fairly strong consensual aura of justice, and despite the occasional conflicts regarding the line, the scene is impressively mellow.

Interestingly, it is the scene itself that draws some students to the event ‹ not the art. "Art is wonderful," say juniors Cynthia Taylor and Emily Hines, both six-semester veterans of Art Rental whose list of rentals includes works by Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol. "Youıve got to admit, itıs nice to tell your parents that youıve got a Picasso in your room. But really, thatıs not why weıre here."

They are there, they said, for the atmosphere, which is mellow with patches of drama throughout the day, and a party by nightfall. For once, everyone has time to spend with each other, and interactions can extend well beyond the time-saving affirmations that so many student conversations fall into. About half of the dedicated students end up getting some sleep on Wednesday night, and the buildings are left open if the weather is absurdly inclement.

What these students are waiting for is the opportunity to rent any two works from a collection that has been growing since 1940 and now includes over 400 works and a dizzying parade of some of artıs biggest names, such as Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Andy Warhol, Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, Jackson Pollack, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns. In addition to an extensive 20th century collection which spans all the major movements, the collection spans over 600 years from the oldest to the most recent works.

The program was founded by the legendary Professor of Art, Ellen Johnson. A graduate of Oberlin in 1933, Johnson began work at the College in 1939. She founded the program in 1940 in order to promote student interaction with art, because "the best way to learn to like something," she says, "is to live with it." Lauren Harkrader (OC 2002) agrees. "Ultimately, we are really lucky. To have the art in our rooms is so much more than seeing it in the museum. You get to chill with it and really relate to it."

Contrary to common belief, the Allan Memorial Art Museum Art Rental program is not unique to Oberlin (both Harvard, MIT and Smith have art rental programs). But the level of trust and the extent and outreach of the collection is nonpareil. No other institution provides such access to the entire student body, faculty, and community as does Oberlin College, and for all of its accessibility, renters have proven unequivocally responsible; in all the 61 years that the program has been in action, no paintings have ever been damaged or stolen. "There are always one or two students who donıt completely understand that they are renting real art," says Jost, "but the level of maturity demonstrated by the renters is remarkable."

The collection is continually improved, and some of the most exciting works are the recent additions of Assistant Curator of Western Art Stephan Jost. Appointed in 1989, he has added numerous works to the collection in his tenure. "What makes curating the rental collection so interesting, and at the same time a challenge," Jost says, "is that I am allotted a budget of only $500 for each new piece that I wish to add. This means that in order to get the best works possible, I have to be either very daring or very creative." Stephan Jost is both of these things. His is a world of wildly creative artists and exciting art, and his energy is reflective of that with which he surrounds himself. In addition to purchasing some exciting works, he has commissioned art and has even convinced some artists to donate their work to the collection. For artists such as Douglass Ross or Masaki Sato, whose works have recently been acquired, there is an appeal in creating art specifically for students. As Professor Erik Inglis notes, "one of the potential down-sides to being a famous artist is that the audience you create for tends to be very limited, and only the very rich can afford to own and live with a valuable piece." Renting art to students, on the other hand, assures a young, attentive audience that would otherwise have difficulty accessing and living with such famous and expensive works of art.

Because most of the student renters are not extraordinarily informed art critics, the paintings are chosen based on immediate emotional appeal, not by their monetary value, a concept that excites Mr. Jost. "It creates an important value system based not on the art worldıs assessments but on immediate human appeal to the heart," he says. Invited into the museum in groups of five, students tend to look through art quickly and intensely, waiting for the piece that feels just right, for the work of art that will define their year. Paul Madavi (OC 2001) waited on line for the first time last night. Speaking of his plans, he said, "I think Iıll just go in and grab whatever catches my eye." Others were more determined; some had even hidden their coveted pieces behind others. Courtney Rucker, who brought a cot with her, says of these practices, "Hey, itıs brutal. If youıre renting a Warhol for $5, people are going to line up and resort to any tactic necessary,"

The fact is that there are more than enough works to go around. While students can be assured a quality piece throughout the day on Friday, enough works remain on Friday to satisfy the community at large. And no matter what work they end up with, over the course of the semester, students are destined to become intimate with their work of art. Niedermeyer Bunkhaüsen (OC 2001), says that while examining the art during the preview session on Wednesday, he encountered some pieces from his Freshman year. "I shuddered," he recalls. "We had been through so much together‹and the pieces were so ugly." Nevertheless, students inevitably come to love the works. In fact, many students find that when they are faced with the choices offered by four-hundred pieces, they cannot avoid the works they have already rented in previous semesters.

[The Art Rental program, one of the most exciting privileges that our school provides, owes its origins to Ellen Johnson, and our collective love affair with art is stronger because of it. As she would say, once we let a work of art into our lives, we are not so willing to give it up. Perhaps the most apt description of the essence of the Art Rental program comes from the façade of the Museum itself: The Cause of Art is the Cause of the Future; the Fine Arts: a Heritage from the Past, a Gift to the Future. ]

While much of the good stuff is gone by Thursday evening, Art Rental remains open to students, faculty, and the community at large on Friday, from 9 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon.