Susan Colaricci Sauls: art collection “MacGyver”
 Sauls |
Art collection registrar Susan Colaricci Sauls has three primary work spaces: the closet, “the cage,” and “the cave.”
The closet is located near the McCutchan Exhibition Space in the Wright Administration Building and serves as Sauls’ office until she moves into a permanent space later this semester. “The cage” and “the cave” are nicknames for areas on campus where the University’s art collection is stored.
Sauls is responsible for the care and maintenance of the art collection, including cataloguing and conservation. She thinks of herself as a bit of a “MacGyver,” a 1980s television character known for his resourcefulness.
Last year she assembled an exhibit about Kenneth P. McCutchan in the McCutchan Exhibition Space in the Wright Administration Building. “He used a lot of duct tape and cardboard, which isn’t archivally sound, so I had to pull things apart and rig the frames up so they would work in an archival way,” she said. “Registrars take a little bit of this and that and put it together for an exhibit. We fill in between curators and directors, in terms of what has to be done to get the show up.”
In addition to planning and assembling exhibits for the McCutchan Exhibition Space, Sauls serves on the advisory committee for the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries and is a member of the art collection committee that develops the collection through its art collection management plan.
“The University’s art collection is primarily made up of two dimensional (2D) prints executed during the 1970s and 1980s and student and faculty work,” she said. “We want the collection to be more balanced, so we plan to expand into more photography, ceramics, and sculpture.”
She said that for the last year, her life has been about the artist Stephen Pace, who moved to Evansville from New York with his wife Pam in 2007. A portion of the couple’s $1.5 million gift established the Palmina F. and Stephen S. Pace Galleries in the Kenneth P. McCutchan Art Center, which – among many other benefits – allows students to learn about art management, gallery work, and art collection management.
With student help, Sauls catalogued more than 550 Pace paintings last semester. “Cataloguing artwork is like cataloguing a book,” she said. Physical attributes - artist, title, medium, and size of the work – are noted. Subject matter, colors, and period are researched and cross-referenced.
“Then there’s also its condition. Does it require conservation? And if so, what kind of conservation? I’ve had students research the best way to store a piece. I ask them, ‘How would The Getty Museum store this? How can we store it within our budget and keep it sound so it doesn’t get destroyed?’ That’s all part of conservation management.”
She is currently working on 640 Pace sketchbooks and 5,000 drawings. “He never threw anything away,” she said. “You can see the progression of his work from the 1940s to the present day. You can see where a small drawing became a huge painting.”
Among the sketchbooks, she found a doodle of Pam on a paper napkin. “Here’s this famous artist, and even he doodles,” she said. “Everywhere he went, anything was a canvas.
“Once the Pace work is catalogued, it will be a great tool to research art. It’s an incredible opportunity for students. There is a lot to learn there.”
A student is currently at work on an online exhibit of Pace work that will link from the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries webpage. “When exhibits in the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries close, they will go virtual,” Sauls said.
The virtual exhibitions will include portions of the University collection that have not been placed on display. “This gives students an opportunity to learn about preparing exhibitions without physically having artwork in the gallery.”
Sauls envisions an online resource to build on the reputation of Pace and the collection. “I’d like us to be the Pace hub. If anyone wants to do anything Stephen Pace, they should think of USI right away,” she said.
Sauls is a graduate of the University of Evansville with a bachelor’s degree in art and a minor in business. She was a registrar at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science and worked for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield before she joined USI in 2005.
Wendy Knipe Bredhold
News & Information Services
812/461-5259 or wkbredhold@usi.edu
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