Collectors make a difference

"I chose to donate this collection to the South Dakota Art Museum because I knew the staff and university are very supportive of the museum, and they have a reputation of professionalism and a commitment to preservation. The collection will also attract people to the museum. There isn’t a collection like this in the state or nearby." Cockerline selected each piece to be included in the first exhibition. The South Dakota Art Museum plans to schedule many local exhibitions, as well as send the collection to other venues. Cockerline donated the collection in honor of his late mother because of her influence as his artistic mentor as a child. The donation will be used to educate SDSU students in many departments on campus. "When I put the collection together it was basically to form a context of printmaking from 1960 to 1982," said Cockerline. "I always wanted it to be a teaching collection."  Museum interns will gain experience handling, cataloging, researching and preserving contemporary works of art. History and political science students will be able to visually see the impact social unrest and current events of the period had on the visual arts. 

Lisa Scholten, SDAM Curator of Collections, said the donation impacts the public by exposing people to rarely seen art. "It would take visiting hundreds of different museums to view all of the prints that now call the South Dakota Art Museum home," said Scholten.