Guests and Visiting Rotarians

Andrew Adamec—son of Brian Adamec

Sandy Kray—friend of Sue Cronin

Tae Sung Yun—Exchange student

ADG Victoria Struzynski-Olson –Coralville North Corridor

Announcements

AM Rotary not have a December Board meeting.  We are trying to develop a processes to establish duties for the board and committees.  Casey would like all committee chairs to provide committee descriptions in the next Rotary File.  We will have a housekeeping meeting soon where Board members will discuss 3 action steps planned for each of their areas of service.  Each member should plan to select at least one committee, and each committee will develop at least one action step to be completed by the end of the club year.

Myrene Hoover distributed a list of websites for contributions for Philippine Typhoon relief. 

Roger Christian announced the need for some dishwashers during January.

Chris Knapp gave a 25th Anniversary update: 28 club members and 19 guests (83) were signed up with 9 PDG’s and assistants expecting to attend.  Want to get to 100 plus, so continue to sign up.

Remember the Month Opener at Peggy Doerge’s house on Monday, Dec 9 at 5:30 p.m.  The event will feature a corn bread taste-off for entries provided by Jim Peterson and Peggy Doerge.  Come for chili and corn bread and a lot of good conversation.

First Book of Johnson Co. is doing a speed read Friday night at Children’s Museum.  Deb Dunkhase is collecting for it money for it.  Shelter House is doing an event Saturday night at the Children’s Museum for homeless kids, a toy giveaway.

Brian Adamec announced that Dec 3 was “Giving Tuesday” and suggested we “give” by buying some of the extra cans of nuts.

Rotarians in the News

Rick Dobyns was pictured in an article on diversity on the Iowa City City Council in the Press Citizen.

Speaker

Sean O'Harrow, the Executive Director of the University of Iowa Museum of Art was the speaker on December 3.  He started at UI in 2010 after serving as the Director of the Figge Museum in Davenport.  Because of his experience at Figge has came to UI with a great understanding of the UI Museum of Art collection and its significance.  He indicated that UI’s collection has long been considered one of the four or five most important university art museums in the country and has an international reputation.  At UI O’Harrow has been actively involved in the FEMA discussions concerning rebuilding the museum.  He has helped to create new venues for the museum collection.  Following the final denial from FEMA O’Harrow and his staff are still moving forward with new building plans. 

After the 2008 flood UI appealed to FEMA five times.  Being denied is not entirely bad because it avoids the many strings that FEMA would have attached to the deal. FEMA would have required the building to go back to its original state and it would not have been possible to insure the valuable art collection in a building put in the same location as the last museum.  The 1969 building was difficult to operate in a 21st century environment, especially when considering student dynamics.  Now that the collection has been temporarily disbursed the University is better able to fulfill its mission to serve the state as a whole because important pieces, such as the Pollok mural have been available on display in Davenport and Des Moines, and is about to go out on tour to the Getty Museum.  Before the highest number of people to view our exhibits has been 41,000 per year.  Now those numbers have gone up to 146,000 in one year, and with the Getty exhibit the viewing of the Pollock is expected to exceed 400,000.  This puts the UI Museum of Art and its collections on the map nationally and internationally.

When the building was denied by FEMA the University went to the Board of Regents to start the process for a new museum facility that is more relevant to students and staff than old one.  Right now a committee is putting together a process for an RFP to go out to developers for a public-private partnership to develop a facility for the new art museum.  Private developer will provide a piece of land that the University will lease for a number of years before they change to actual ownership of the land.  Using a private development is a fast and efficient way of taking care of the new building, most probably at a lower cost and in less time than it would have taken had we developed the project with FEMA. The museum staaff expect that by this coming summer the project will be under way and a private developer will have been selected.

In the meantime the UI Museum of Art is able to work with other institutions including the world’s richest museum, the Getty Museum.  Ironically, the flood has enabled UI to get on the radar with the Getty and to begin working in the “big leagues” of art museums on specific projects.  The Pollock mural is being refurbished at the Getty through that museum’s world-famous conservation department.  Between March and June 2014 the mural will be on display at the Getty Museum.  After that it will be sent on a world tour of museums until we have a new permanent home for the piece in the Iowa City area close to campus.

In the 1940’s UI developed the most important art program in the US with professional artists as the professors.  Grant Wood never had an advanced degree but became a professor gaining world renown for the UI art program.  This notoriety prompted Peggy Guggenheim to donate the Pollok mural to Iowa when she decided to move to Venice and needed to disburse her extensive art collection.  The “Iowa Idea” was the model across the US after World War II and across the Commonwealth as well for university art programs.

Scribe,

Liz Nichols