CGN's Collectors: A Recap of Collector Interviews

Features
Oct 8, 2024
The artist Joseph Seigenthaler in his studio
The top floor of Bob Buford’s home is devoted to art. Pictured from left to right are works by Martin Kippenberger, Laura Owens, Peter Halley, and Marc Camille Chaimowicz.

 

By GINNY VAN ALYEA

CGN has been interviewing art collectors for well over a decade. To date we have profiled over 30 collections in print. 

When CGN was founded in 1982, it was created as a resource for collectors and a guide to area gallery openings. Over time CGN has evolved to be a resource for many players in the art world and beyond. After CGN Publisher Ginny Van Alyea took over from founder Natalie van Straaten in 2007, we began to conduct a series of interviews with many art community leaders, from dealers and artists to curators and local collectors. Some collectors have professional lives unaffiliated with the art world, while others see collecting as a natural extension of a profession they love. A few are anonymous. All have art collections that are lovingly built and cared for, and we are grateful for their generosity and candor.

By building a catalog of collection profiles, we aimed to share the range of collecting experiences, practices and focuses, hopefully inspiring others to build their own art collections in their own unique way. 

You can read past interviews on chicagogallerynews.com any time, but we wanted to gather our collector profiles in one place and encourage you to revisit each one or read them all for the first time. These collections are proof of Chicago's deep, rich, long collecting history, and CGN's interviews are a means of recording that history for generations to come. 

 

2012

Collector Conversations: Deone Jackman

Collector Profile: Marilyn + Larry Fields

 

2013

Collector Profile: Anne and Mark Siebert

Collector Profile: An Eye for the Outsider

 

2014

Collector profile: Eileen and Peter Broido

Collector Profile: Janis Kanter and Tom McCormick

Collector Profile: Linda and Paul Gotskind

 

2015

Carlos Martinez: A Classic Setting for Eclectic Art

Ellen and Richard Sandor’s Art Obsession

Helen Zell’s Old Fashioned Approach to Collecting Contemporary Art

 

2016

An Art World Figure: Howard Tullman

Nancy and Bob Mollers: Down-to-Earth Collectors

Collector Jason Pickleman’s Creative Life

 

2017

Young Couple Eyes Chicago’s Future: Jessica and Tim Canning

Sally Schwartz: In Search of the Eclectic

The Personal Art of Collecting: Christopher Slapak and Michael Robertson

Collector Irving Stenn Jr.: A Lifetime of Relationships Through Art

Seth Stolbun: Today's Collector

 

2018

Building a Home for Art: Reviving an Industrial Space in Ravenswood – Brian Westphal and Michael McVickar

Collecting Stories: Sebastian Campos' Artistic Admiration

 

2019

Stewards of Art and History: The Expansive Collection of Lee Wesley and Vicki Granacki

Collector Robert Buford: Embracing the Connectivity of Art

 

2020

Art Dealer Ann Nathan: The Perpetual Collector

Behind The Orange Door: The Thoma Art Foundation Builds a Collection to Share With the World

A Collector's Personal Focus: Discovering the Value of Engagement

 

2021

Stewards For Generations: The Neal Family's Influential Support for Black Artists

Vibrant Art Enlivens a Home: Collectors Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson

 

2022

Chris Craft: A Collector Discovers Friends and History Through Art

 

2023

The Art Dealer as Collector and Connector: William Lieberman

Building a Next Gen Collection: Zach Smith

 

2024

A Living Collection: Sundeep Mullangi and Trissa Babrowski Support Their City Through Art

Nurturing a Garden of Art: Michelle Edwards Tends to Her Collection

 

 

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