A decade of the Daum: SFCC museum put Sedalia art scene on the national map

Today, it’s hard to imagine State Fair Community College without the Stauffacher Center for the Fine Arts, the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center or the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art.

But a decade-and-a-half ago, theater students performed plays in a converted TV studio, the Roadrunners and Lady Roadrunners played in the Agriculture Building and art was exhibited in the Yeater Building.

The opening of the Stauffacher in 1996 and the Davis Center in 2001 began to transform the west side of campus, which formerly featured a three-wing structure that housed the art department. But it was the opening of the Daum Museum in February 2002 that put SFCC — and Sedalia — on the national map.

“I think it certainly has put Sedalia on the map for people in the know in visual arts,” said Douglass Freed, the Daum’s director from its inception through 2007.

“To people in the community, it’s like Scott Joplin. People are proud of it, but maybe don’t get involved as much as you’d like them to. But our audience is a regional audience. When we first opened 10 years ago, we were the only community college art museum in the geographic area. Since then, it’s quite common for community colleges to have nice exhibition spaces, but for a community college to have an art museum is still a really unusual thing.”

The Daum — which will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a director’s lecture and opening reception for its retrospective exhibit at 2 p.m. Saturday — doesn’t merely fill a space on campus.

Befitting the museum’s name, it fills the space in a contemporary way. Freed, art instructor Paul Allen and benefactor Dr. Harold Daum had input into the design of the 16,000-square-foot, three-story building that was designed by Gunn & Smith Architects, of St. Louis.

“We visited numerous college galleries and art museums, and certainly Dr. Daum and I both had specific kind of ideas of what we were looking for,” Freed said. “I love the idea of the three floors. People love traveling two stories of stairs and looking into the galleries from the top to the lower level. It’s three floors all connected with visual means. It really adds to the charm of the space.”

“The space is very adaptable,” said Tom Piche, who will mark his fourth anniversary as the Daum’s director on Saturday. “You can use one room or several rooms. I like the flow of the museum. You can pick and choose what galleries you want to be connected to each other. With this space here, there’s such a nice variety. You can do shows that require large expanses of walls and high ceilings, but you can also do intimate exhibitions.”

When Daum donated $2.25 million in 1999 to build the museum, he also donated about 200 pieces of art. Today, the collection numbers more than 1,000 pieces, but the mission statement remains the same.

“(Daum is) a very private man, but he did realize this collection is far beyond him,” Freed said. “He wanted to keep it intact. He came into my studio in ’95 and said he wanted to give his collection to State Fair Community College. He wanted to show things in public spaces in the Yeater and the Stauffacher, and I just said the work is too valuable for that. It needs to be under security, and I said if we’re going to do this we have to try to build a museum.

“We tried to raise money, but in a community like this it’s very difficult. After we gave it our best try, he went ahead and said ‘Hey, I will do the museum.’ ”

The Daum’s debut exhibit in February 2002 featured the late Sharon Patten’s oil-on-canvas paintings. Because Patten was a 1961 Smith-Cotton High School graduate, it was an appropriate opener for the Daum, which never forgets its Sedalia location — a Freed retrospective was exhibited last spring — but also has a worldwide outlook. Last fall’s exhibition of ceramics by Taiwanese artist Ah Leon was the latest example.

The diversity extends to the permanent collection, which includes everything from Freed to Andy Warhol, all of it from the mid-20th century to present day.

“The permanent collection Dr. Daum had amassed, those original pieces helped to guide us as far as what we hope to add in the future,” Piche said. “We try to fill in the gaps, we try to expand on ideas and we try to honor the spirit of the original artists in the collection.”

While the upcoming exhibit will allow Daum staffers to reflect on the museum’s success, Piche will soon turn his attention to the future. He plans to expand his paid staff, taking advantage of a recent donation, and publish a catalog for Daum Museum enthusiasts.

“A goal for this year is to publish a catalog that would serve as an introduction to the permanent collection,” Piche said. “It’ll tell a bit about the museum’s history and will highlight key pieces in the permanent collection. And we’re trying to strengthen our staffing levels and we’re seeking to diversify our funding sources as we go forward. We want to continue with the strong programming that has always been associated with the museum.”