A
Day in the Life
Johnny Appleseed, in
his dorm room, was reading Slaughterhouse
Five by Kurt Vonnegut and paused a moment early in the book when he
discovered Kurt studied Anthropology as an undergraduate in college. Andrew
Valentine was a frequent visitor to the music rooms for students on campus,
mostly because he enjoyed impromptu sessions where voice was a welcome addition
to the instrumentation. Alicia Apricot, with some help from her father, was
sure to have part time employment close to campus at the Via Christi hospital.
(Close to the Pittsburg State campus, she’d be a gopher running errands with flexibility
to clock in and clock out to attend classes and study).
The Executive Director
of the Art Museum at Oberlin College, Brie Baker was aware of the Nana
Valentine collection and was plotting carefully how she would get close to
Andrew Valentine. She knew she could work with his advisor on campus to
increase the likelihood of Andrew landing in one of her art history survey
classes. Still it would be overly presumptuous to assume Andrew would have any
control of that estate before he even reached the age of 21.
At the same time, the
auction house/appraisers in Cleveland completed a beautiful and detailed
catalogue of the works down to the various artist sketches, writings and
ephemeral memorabilia. The appraisal was, without a doubt, in excess of eighty
million dollars. That valuation could be even higher if the managers of this
trust allow selective sales, but for the time being no part of the collection
was for sale.
Katherine Hinds, the chief curator at
the Marguiles Warehouse in Miami was hoping to make a connection with Brie
Baker and Oberlin College during Art Basel if not sooner. They exchanged
periodic correspondence on various contemporary artists. Several months ago it
surfaced that they were both interested in the Nana Valentine Collection for
different reasons. Marguiles was looking to loan various works and the curator
knew that one way to accomplish this was to work with a curator capable of
pulling together an exhibition. The Nana Valentine Collection included pieces
that would complement important links to The Martin Marguiles Collection with
regard to Minimal and Conceptual Art. Brie Baker believed that a Nana Valentine
museum trust could take Oberlin to the next level through a combination of
loans and acquisitions. She was working with the college development office on
strategies. Both Oberlin College and the Martin Margulies Foundation had open
lines of communication with Rachel Davis Fine Arts, the Cleveland auction house/appraisers.
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Jan Abbeshire was spending
a couple of hours on a Saturday straightening things up. The St. Louis downtown
office space of Abbeshire & Bluestone was designed to be open, with semi-private
cubicles, high ceilings and exposed duct-work. Jan knew this layout was
attractive to the ambitious type A-players she needed to keep the place going.
Her office, however, was not isolated enough to keep the cacophony of sound during
business hours from giving her periodic headaches. So she felt compelled to
spend a few quiet hours at work on Saturdays. On this particular Saturday she was focusing on
the profiles of the AEFFSF scholars. In the process, Jan decided to start a new
file on the Nana Valentine Collection because one of her research assistants
kept bringing her articles. It seemed to her that the Cleveland auction house
was doing a pretty good job of showcasing the collection without making blatant
solicitation to prospective buyers. Jan made a note to follow up with the
people in Cleveland. Similarly, she made a note for interns to get background
information on the Via Christi hospital construction project of which Alicia
Apricot would be working. (Easy enough to dig up in local media channels.)
Alan Edgewater and Bob
Caster were enjoying a Budweiser after a round of golf at Creve Coeur Golf
Course. It had been a while since they’d played. They laughed about playing on
a Saturday with the regular crowd since scheduling midweek proved difficult
these days with their respective busy schedules.
Coach Robert Siena was
asleep on his living room couch in Red Bud, IL while his wife quietly baked a
cake for his birthday.
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