Strengthening Collections
Alumni make generous contributions to the RISD Museum.
The RISD Museum stewards collections of more than 100,000 works of art representing diverse cultures from ancient times to the present. While the museum purchases objects to add every year, its collections also grow through works donated by generous individuals. Mark Pollack 76 TX and Glenn Gissler BArch 84 have both been working with museum curators to make targeted donations that enhance specific collections.
Pollack has been supporting RISD for many decades through philanthropy and engaging with students as a guest critic and lecturer. “Around 2000 I had the idea to design a fabric collection inspired by pieces in the museum’s Costume and Textiles department. I was looking at details like trims, buttons and how a garment was actually made to spark a creative idea; I was not interested in doing ‘documentary’ fabrics that copied historical designs,” he recalls. His textile company introduced The RISD Museum Collection: Attention to Detail in 2002, followed by Women’s Work in 2007. Royalties based on sales of the fabrics in both collections still help support the museum to this day.
“After I was exposed to the museum’s vast Costume and Textiles collection, and learned how it had become an invaluable resource for Textiles and Apparel Design students, I felt compelled to donate. At first, I gave from my personal collection of textiles and clothing. Later I offered pieces I sourced and bought specifically to donate, while continuing to also give from my personal collection,” he says. “Since I know both Textiles and Apparel Design students have the opportunity to work with the same objects, I try to make selections of interest to both majors. I also began donating to the Prints, Drawings and Photographs collection, another area of interest and collecting.”
When asked about favorite pieces he has donated, he noted that it was impossible to pick just one. He said that Red silk dress with cartridge pleated skirt, circa 1949 by Norman Norell was a standout and lamented that photographs on the website were unable to do it justice. “Since clothing is meant to be touched and worn, looking at pictures is like experiencing food that you can smell but not taste.” He found it extremely gratifying when this dress, along with a few of his other donations, was featured in Cocktail Culture: Ritual and Invention in American Fashion, 1920–1980, an exhibition on view in 2011.
Glenn Gissler took a different route to donating objects to the museum. “My first gift was on my way out of town to start a life in New York City. It was a 1960s rendering of a Valle’s Steak House in Warwick, Rhode Island. I had enjoyed the drawing for a number of years and felt that it should remain in Rhode Island,” recalls Gissler. “It is a funky rendering, not really in the continuum of erudite museum collecting, but it was accepted nevertheless.”
“Periodically I would send things to the museum—not understanding the protocol—including an adding machine from the 1940s. Sent unannounced, the initial response was kind but discouraging,” he says. Gissler persevered and the museum accepted his donation of Victor Adding Machine, 1939, designed by Oscar Sundstrand.
Gissler became increasingly involved with the school with the encouragement of Roger Mandle HD 09, who was then the president of RISD. Eventually he was invited to join the Museum Board of Governors, where he strove to encourage greater integration between the museum and the college. “I may have played a small role in what is now a vibrant connectivity,” he says.
“I have enjoyed living with fine art most of my adult life— initially it was work by my friends—but as my eye and resources developed, I was able to live with the works of many more artists who I really admire,” he says. Where his categories of personal collecting align with the museum collections is where he donates, including Decorative Arts and Design; Prints, Drawings and Photographs; and Contemporary Art.
“Knowing that works of art and objects can inspire current or future generations of artists and designers—while an abstract goal—is exciting and meaningful to me,” he says. “I collect more with my wits and my eyes than a fat checkbook. I learned that by using my resources cleverly I could make a significant contribution to the museum.
“It gives me great pleasure to have the Valentine Typewriter so prominently displayed and used to promote the museum; it is a modest item in many ways and innovative in poetic ways. It is nonthreatening and shows people how design can be a real part of their lives,” adds Gissler.
To learn more about supporting the RISD Museum, please contact Amee Spondike at 401 454-6322 or email aspondike@risd.edu.
