Permanent Collection

The Permanent Collection currently includes more than 1,000 works from Midwestern, National, and International artists, with a particular focus on artists and art related to the greater Midwest, and is a regional educational resource.

The ground floor Permanent Collection Gallery has been dedicated as the Margaret Ann Martin Everist Permanent Collection Gallery in recognition of her significant contribution to the Sioux City Art Center over many years, and her foundational role in establishing the Art Center in its current location.

About

The Sioux City Art Center's Selections From The Permanent Art Collection in the Margaret Ann Martin Everist Permanent Collection Gallery off the ground floor of the T.S. Martin Atrium, and in the third floor circulating hall. Grant Wood's Corn Room mural is on extended exhibition in a special exhibition room constructed for it in the Everist Gallery, also on the Third Floor. The Margaret Ann Martin Everist Permanent Collection Gallery and Educational Initiative is a major step in the Sioux City Art Center’s strategic plan to create a Permanent Art Collection that is both a unique cultural attraction and a regional educational resource. The long-term installation of the Permanent Collection provides a historical framework for works on view in The Margaret Ann Martin Everist Permanent Collection Gallery.

History

Begun by the Society of Fine Arts in 1938 when the WPA Art Center first opened, the Sioux City Art Center has devoted its primary energies from the very beginning to supporting living artists through exhibitions and collecting.

The Art Center’s collecting focus is two fold: first, is our commitment in supporting artists from Iowa and the greater Midwest; second, is a more general program of acquisition of work by national and international artists. Thematically, the collection focuses on subject matter that helps define and identify a particular Midwestern aesthetic centered around the region’s diverse rural, prairie, and urban landscapes, lifestyles, and visual culture.

The Art Center’s collection includes William Bailey, Thomas Hart Benton, Dale Chihuly, John Steuart Curry, Salvador Dali, John Henry, Keith Jacobshagen, Käthe Kollwitz, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Paschke, Philip Pearlstein, Bridget Riley, Marital Rubenstein, Ernst Trova, Jerry Uelsmann, James McNeil Whistler, and Grant Wood. Strengths of the collection are in painting, prints, and works on paper such as photographs and drawings. Not all artists in the Permanent Collection are on view.

The ground floor Permanent Collection Gallery was dedicated as the Margaret Ann Martin Everist Permanent Collection Gallery on July 12, 2008 in recognition of her significant contribution to the Sioux City Art Center over many years, and her foundational role in establishing the Art Center in its current location.

Underwriters

Underwriting for the Margaret Ann Martin Everist Permanent Collection Gallery and Educational Initiative is provided by the generous support of the M. A. Martin Everist Foundation.