Gifts of Artwork

Yes. The Museum is collecting California representational artwork, original animation art, movie production art and works of American illustration. At this time, we are only accepting donations and not purchasing artwork for our collection. If you are interested in donating a work of art, first review the Museum’s mission statement and collections policy. If you believe the work of art meets those criteria, please email the museum’s registrar, Emily Valdez at evaldez@chapman.edu. Please include the following information:

• Artist Name
• Title
• Date
• Medium
• Dimensions
• Digital image (*absolutely required; image should be shown completely and clearly)

If the Museum is interested in the work, a staff member will contact you. All proposed donations are reviewed by our Acquisitions Committee. Although the work may be valuable or significant, it may not be appropriate for the Museum to accept at the present time under the more complex criteria defined in the collections policy.

Please note, the Museum does not take walk-in appointments and will not accept any donations at the Visitor Services desk.

No outside works of art of any kind may be brought into the museum without a prior appointment made with Museum staff to view the work in advance of a potential donation. If unsolicited materials are dropped off or sent to the Museum without an appointment or prior agreement made with a staff member, we are not responsible for such materials nor obligated to return them.

No. The Internal Revenue Service considers such activity by a 501c(3) (nonprofit organization) a conflict of interest. The following agency is available to assist donors with appraisals.

Appraisers Association of America, Inc.
386 Park Avenue South, Suite 2000, New York, NY 10016
(212) 889-5404 x 10
aaa@appraisersassoc.org
www.appraisersassoc.org

Or contact the following organization for a list of professional appraisers.

American Society of Appraisers
11107 Sunset Hills Rd, Suite 310
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 478-2228
asainfo@appraisers.org
www.appraisers.org

 If you plan to get an appraisal for your artwork, please get the work(s) photographed, photocopied and/or appraised before sending them. The Museum does not offer these services.

Our entire collection is rotated on a regular basis in line with our mission and exhibition schedule. Some objects will also be used for research by University faculty, students and visiting scholars. Your donation might serve both purposes. Because we cannot display all of the artwork at once due to space issues, we do rotate and use as much of our collection as possible for the public to enjoy.

The Museum does not guarantee your artwork will be exhibited at any specific time or for a specific duration. This is based on our mission and our exhibition schedule. However, you will be notified by the Museum if your artwork does go on exhibit.  All artworks are safely archived in storage when not on display.

The Museum allows, within reason, the individual donors to include what they want the credit line to read. This will be specified in the paperwork accompanying the donation. For example, “Gift of Mr. Bob Smith Jr.” or “Donated in Memory of Bob Smith Sr.”

The Museum uses their collection for exhibits organized and displayed in the Museum, traveling exhibitions, and short-term loans to other museums in the United States.  Art pieces are also used for research by Chapman faculty, students and visiting scholars.

The Museum does not accept artwork that it cannot reasonably expect to use for its interpretative themes in the present or future. We accept only those items that we believe will fulfill our mission. The Museum does not place any artworks on “permanent display” – all pieces in our collection are rotated into public displays as needed.

All artwork is housed in a fine art storage facility in a temperature and humidity controlled environment with 24 hour surveillance and security. All items are packed and safely stored in fine art quality packaging.