Celebrating the Museum Without Walls

A MILESTONE FOR THE MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS

BY STACE DUMOSKI

CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY’S ESCALETTE PERMANENT COLLECTION OF ART CELEBRATES “10+2” YEARS AS A CENTER OF PUBLIC ART FOR THE CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY.

Since it was first established in 2010, Chapman University’s Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art has served as an important research institute and learning laboratory for students, while curating an ever-growing collection of public art.

The collection has grown to include 830 works – contemporary and modern paintings, prints and sculptures displayed throughout Chapman’s Orange and Rinker campuses, in hallways, study spaces and other public areas where they can be freely viewed.

This year, the Escalette Collection celebrates its “10+2” anniversary, a somewhat tonguein-cheek acknowledgement that official 10-year celebrations were postponed by the pandemic in 2020.

“Along with those of everyone else, our plans for 2020 were upended, but now in 2022 we’re determined to celebrate the generosity of Phyllis and Ross Escalette and their family, as well as every artist whose work is part of the collection,” says Fiona Lindsay Shen, director of the collection.

Over the past five years, the Escalette staff has focused on increasing the equity and inclusion of the collection, acquiring nearly 100 works by women artists and more than 100 artworks by artists from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

“We’ve seen first-hand the positive impact that art can have on a space and the people who work, study and learn within it,” says Jessica Bocinski, registrar of the collection. “In acquiring and displaying artwork by diverse artists, we contribute to the sense of inclusivity on campus in a very tangible way.”

Housed nominally in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the collection exists as “a museum without walls,” with artworks exhibited throughout campus. In addition, thanks to the addition of “EMuseum” in 2019, the entire collection can now be viewed online at chapman. emuseum.com/collections.

“As curators of an academic collection, we’re committed to sharing research through eMuseum, as well as providing opportunities for students to contribute to a growing body of research,” says Shen, Ph.D. “So eMuseum isn’t simply a static catalog of the collection, but a dynamic teaching tool and resource for everybody, whether they’re on campus or anywhere in the world.”

Last year, the Escalette Collection received a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is being used to commission a unique work of interactive public art for Chapman and the Orange community. “Code becomes Palette” by internationally renowned artist Daniel Canogar will use electronic animations that continuously shift, mutate and ooze bright color to visualize data unearthed by another highprofile Wilkinson College research project – the Survey of American Fears. Using custom software to run existing and realtime data, the artwork will literally unmask America’s deep-held fears.

The new artwork will be unveiled by summer 2023. To learn more about the Escalette Collection of Art, including how you can support this important acquisition, visit Chapman.edu/escalette.

“In acquiring and displaying artwork by diverse artists, we contribute to the sense of inclusivity on campus in a very tangible way.”

- Jessica Bocinski

Bovey Lee, Cross Section, oil on canvas, 1994. Gift of the artist.