A walk into Alamance Storage seems like an unglamorous endeavor, but among units of old mattresses and veneered plywood panels, a unit rented by Elon University is home to priceless works of art.
Ethan Moore, coordinator of the Elon University Art Collection, oversees the handling, codification and organization of the art and artifacts. The university collection is made up of nine distinct collections, from the portrait heavy Joseph Wallace King Collection to the more contemporary Davidson Print Collection.
Not all art that is donated to the school is moved into the collection. The pieces must fit into one of the nine collections to meet the collections policy criteria.
Once the art reaches the collection, Moore works with students, faculty, staff and interior designers to pull objects from storage and display them on campus.
"The idea of the collection is to have it have a life outside of storage," Moore said. "Having it out can help raise awareness of the collection, but it can also sort of highlight engaged academic processes that are going on in various classrooms, or particular departments or jobs that staff are doing."
An object without a record — like the sculpture pictured — is given the designation: "found in collections."Photo by AJ Mandell
The art collection spans thousands of years, from cuneiform tablets that are estimated to be over four thousand years old, to recent Elon student work.
"The collection that I am most pleased that we were able to create here is the one of student art," Moore said.
Faculty from the art and art history department choose pieces of student work from three different student art shows on campus — the Student Art Exhibition, the Senior Thesis Exhibition and the Faculty Select Show.
"We have a criteria and we'll select pieces of student work and we'll pay a small honorarium to the students, and then we'll put those pieces in the collection," Moore said. "It's my hope that we can get these pieces out on campus to show some of the great work that our students here are doing."
Students are also involved behind the scenes in the upkeep and transport of the artifacts.
"I have seven student workers, and they're trained on object handling, so they’re usually who we rely on," Moore said.
The students work closely with the collection in different ways depending on their varying interests. Sophomore Lindsay Maldari, an art history major, learned about the collection after taking a class with Moore.
"Some students work more with organizing the collection in storage, while others are currently working to create an art catalogue on a recent donation, " said Maldari. "I personally specialize in curating an annual exhibit that the Collection displays in the Isabella Canon Room over the summer."
When the pieces are larger or more cumbersome to move, the heavier work is assisted by Physical Plant. In some cases, Moore will use his own truck or van to move pieces back and forth.
"Sometimes there are logistic issues, but like with any small museum or cultural institutions we kind of make due with what we have and try to be creative."
The art collection is undeniably dynamic, and a certain piece may spend its life in several different locations around campus once it is brought out of storage, before coming back to settle for years before it is brought out again.
A bible containing a bookplate that indicates that the book was a gift from Elon College (signed by Dr. Danieley.) Photo by AJ Mandell.
"It gets recycled from area to area. Oftentimes if someone is renovating a space and wants something new, perhaps wants something that we don’t have in the collection, we'll receive those pieces back. And then another person down the line will say they want those pieces," Moore said. "So it comes to storage for a little while, we'll do some condition reporting, and then we'll send them back out."
Sometimes artwork leaves the limelight for other reasons.
During Moore's years as a coordinator, a portrait was found by campus security in the bushes outside McMichael. The portrait, which had been originally hung inside the building, cost the collection hundreds of dollars in restoration fees due to damage to the plaster frame and the removal of a pencil-drawn mustache. "All of the pieces in the collection have a life and story of their own," Moore said.
Collection pieces are on display all across campus, including second floor of Belk Library and the Moseley Center. A new student-organized exhibition will soon be on display in the Great Hall of Global Commons.