McGinn: Springfield Museum of Art deserves regional props

Andrew McGinn

Op art pioneer Julian Stanczak, who specializes in trippy stuff like this (“Concurrent Colours,” 1965), was the subject of a retrospective at the Springfield Museum of Art in 2005.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer Updated 4:19 PM Friday, June 19, 2009

All through high school, I was never much for school spirit.

I moved on to college, never bought a sweatshirt, only attended the fourth quarter of one football game and will probably never write a check to the alumni foundation.

Now I’m 32, pay property taxes, wear khakis and belong to a church (no, really; my skin only slightly sizzled at first).

I’m supposed to now have civic pride, which is like school spirit for grown-ups.

Rah, rah. Go Springfield.

Because I often use this forum to vent, though, I’m seen as the equivalent of the Grinch — sneering from atop my mountain lair at the singing Whos down below.

But just as the Grinch’s shriveled heart grew three sizes in one day, I’m beginning to feel all weird inside.

It started several years ago when I noticed that every press release from the Dayton Art Institute ended by declaring that it was the “Miami Valley’s only fine art museum.”

The same claim is made on the DAI Web site.

I initially didn’t think too much about it.

Then the Springfield Museum of Art announced it was in a world of hurt — a projected $380,000 budget shortfall as of this spring — and I started to actually take offense.

Oh, I know. I’m supposed to be impartial as a reporter, blah, blah, blah.

But I live here, pay taxes here and before I knew it, I was sending an e-mail to the DAI questioning its claim.

Since 1977, the Springfield Museum of Art has had the same level of accreditation from the American Association of Museums as the DAI.

“It’s a lesson learned and I appreciate lessons,” DAI development director Dona Vella e-mailed back.

I freely admit that the DAI dwarfs this museum — it has 27,000 objects to Springfield’s 1,700.

Just one of its works — one of Monet’s “Waterlilies” — is likely more valuable than the entire Springfield collection (valued at $5 million).

But it’s not like Springfield has a bunch of Thomas Kinkade stuff on the walls.

And while the rotating exhibits are rarely blockbusters, every so often, I can’t believe my eyes.

Sometimes literally.

I remember standing nose-to-canvas with Julian Stanczak’s op art in 2005 — he pioneered the trippy style in the ’60s — and thinking how cool it was that it was here.

Another show included a piece by abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell.

If that’s not fine art, do tell.

But the Springfield museum isn’t entirely without fault. (For starters, it might try a less confusing Web address than springfieldart.museum.)

The museum has such a low-key presence on Cliff Park Road you’d never know that money is an issue.

Our business columnist mistakenly left the Springfield museum off a recent list of free cultural sites — admission is free on Sundays — but included the DAI. No one from the local museum made a peep about the omission.

Truth is, I rarely encounter another soul in the galleries. The museum draws 25,000 people annually, but it counts everyone who walks through the door for anything.

While marketing has been slashed, batting down the DAI’s false claim required only seconds.

Like it or not, Springfield is always going to be welded to the hip with Dayton, and the Springfield Museum of Art should be given the chance to compete for eyeballs.

Now more than ever.

If that’s civic pride, so be it.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.

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