Kohler Foundation gifts works of art to Ripon College

From the Kohler Foundation’s Gifts of Art program, Ripon College has received works by three artists for its permanent collection: Jean Stamsta, Schomer Lichtner and Ruth Grotenrath.

The Kohler Foundation has a legacy of supporting the arts and education that reaches back to the 1940s. Much of the work that the foundation does benefits the art community through the preservation and restoration of artworks. Although The Kohler Foundation preserves pieces by trained artists, most of the work the foundation does involves self-taught artists.

After these works have been processed, the Kohler Foundation gifts these pieces to nonprofit or educational institutions, such as the Smithsonian, Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

The Kohler Foundation also gifts pieces to colleges and universities for educational use. In doing so, the Kohler Foundation creates communities that appreciate artwork from a diverse range of artists and fosters a sense of learning that helps students and faculty contribute to discussions in the art community.

When the Kohler Foundation reached out to Ripon College about donating work by Stamsta, Associate Professor of Art Mollie Oblinger says she jumped at the opportunity to work with them.

Stamsta, a well-known Wisconsin artist who had recently died, had donated a collection of work that the Kohler foundation was looking to place at Ripon. Oblinger was familiar with Stamsta’s work from her shows at other colleges and universities.

“Though Jean passed away before I had a chance to meet her, the opportunity to work with the foundation and select a range of her work for our collection was amazing,” Oblinger says. She selected 10 of Stamsta’s pieces that now are part of Ripon’s permanent collection.

Stamsta’s work on campus can be found in the B-12 conference room in the lower level of S.N. Pickard Commons, and in the resource center of C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts.

Andrea Schulner ’16
Caledonia, Wisconsin

Posted August 10, 2015 in Fine Arts, Funding and gifts.

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