The OWU permanent collection housed at the Ross Art Museum includes more than 2,500 works that are used in exhibitions, teaching, and research.
The collection focuses largely on works on paper - primarily American and European prints, drawings, and photographs - but also includes three-dimensional objects and works such as paintings on canvas.
One loyal alum and two New York-based collectors gifted the initial works that helped shape the orientation of the collection. Most important among those early gifts were prints by George Bellows, John Sloan, Thomas Hart Benton, Pablo Picasso, Juan Miro, Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, and Jules Olitski.
Other important works in the collection include photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Ralph Gibson; paintings by Terrence LaNoue and Randall Tiedman; sculpture by Jackie Ferrara and David Hays; jewelry by Robert Ebendorf; and ceramics by Pablo Picasso and Andrea Gill.
Objects from the collection are regularly displayed in the museum's Sallie Thompson Humphreys Gallery and in exhibitions mounted in one or more of the museum's other galleries during each school year. Works not on display are available to supplement classroom teaching and for research upon request.
Because this is a teaching collection, acquisitions are made with attention to how a given object relates to academic needs. While the emphasis on paper-based works will continue to be a major focus of our collecting activities, we endeavor to add works in all areas and encourage gifts that would be beyond the ambitions of our limited acquisition funds.
