Suzanne Fischer, PhD, joins Cleary University as Curator for the Arthur Secunda Museum, the largest collection of art in Livingston County and the largest collection of Secunda’s art in any location in the world.
“Suzanne has an impressive background in curation,” announces Alan Drimmer, PhD, president of Cleary. “She has worked with prominent institutions including the Michigan History Museum in Lansing, The Henry Ford in Dearborn, the Oakland Museum of California and many other museums across the country as a consultant.” Dr. Fischer also works as an assistant professor in the Museum Studies program at Michigan State University, where she co-develops art exhibits with students at the school’s museum.
“This is an historic moment for Cleary to welcome a full-time curator for the Arthur Secunda collection on our campus,” Dr. Drimmer adds.
Arthur Secunda, an internationally acclaimed artist, traveled the world for nearly seven decades, purposefully to study a wide range of artistic techniques from the most renown talents. Through his journeys, he learned and mastered most art forms – lithographs, serigraphs, monotypes, etchings, collages, block prints, welded sculptures. He was a distinguished printmaker and even made his own paper.
“Cleary University is honored and privileged to serve as the site of more than 800 pieces of Secunda’s art on display in the Chrysler building,” Dr. Drimmer reports.
Unfortunately, Arthur Secunda passed away in August 2022, but his legacy lives on at Cleary. Thanks to grant funding, Cleary was able to hire a curator.
In her newly established role, Dr. Fischer will preserve, maintain and share the art collection in the Arthur Secunda Museum. She will organize exhibitions, guided tours, community outreach programs and hands-on workshops; and collaborate with Cleary faculty to integrate Secunda’s art collection into academic curricula, creating opportunities for educational engagement. Dr. Fischer also will establish relationships with local museums and academic institutions to advance a long-term preservation and enrichment plan for Secunda’s collection. This includes working in collaboration with C. Edward Wall, founder of Fairlane Music Guild and former director of the U-M Dearborn Campus Library, who collected more than 1,200 art pieces of Secunda during his 57-year friendship with the artist, and donated hundreds of these works to Cleary for its Arthur Secunda Museum. It was Wall who encouraged Secunda to complete the famous Torah and Old Testament collection, on display at Cleary. Wall was very influential in establishing the Arthur Secunda Museum at Cleary.
“I’m excited to bring my museum expertise to Cleary University and the Arthur Secunda Museum,” says Dr. Fischer. “I’m looking forward to raising awareness of this great artist and institution, taking care of the collections, and connecting with local communities interested in learning about, and making art. The Arthur Secunda Museum is a hidden gem with national importance – so much importance that the federal government awarded Cleary a major competitive grant to preserve, restore and enhance the collection,” she adds.
Thanks to a “Save America’s Treasures” grant awarded to Cleary from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in coordination with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Cleary was able to hire a curator.
“Our goal is to ensure the legacy of this internationally recognized artist lives on for generations to come,” announces Tom Egan, Cleary director of Development and project director of the Save America’s Treasures grant. “Through Arthur Secunda’s art, Cleary will preserve the history and cultures that have shaped the world for decades.
“Cleary’s Secunda art collection, with its exceptional quality, breadth and depth, emerges as a nationally significant cultural and educational asset, poised to contribute significantly to the understanding and appreciation of the cultural heritage of our country for all to experience,” Egan points out.
Prior to joining Cleary, Dr. Fischer worked with museums in Michigan and across the country on exhibit planning and development as founder of Exhibit Coach, a consulting firm. As Museum
Director of the Michigan History Center from 2016 to 2021, Dr. Fischer oversaw the Michigan History Museum and 10 museum and historic sites across the state. She also has held curatorial positions at The Henry Ford and the Oakland Museum of California, where she received an American Alliance of Museums Excellence in Exhibitions award, the highest honor in the exhibitions field, as well as two other national awards.
Dr. Fischer is highly involved in the statewide and national museum communities.
She completed a BA in Biology and Comparative Literature from Oberlin College, and a PhD in History of Science and Technology from the University of Minnesota.
Near the end of his life, Secunda requested that his art be preserved, explored, treasured and appreciated by everyone of all ages. He wanted children as well as adults to view his work, talk about it, feel inspired by it, and learn from it. His art life spanned three quarters of the 20th century, several wars, and a dozen great art movements and revolutions of technology.
His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Art Institute of Chicago and in more than 100 museums throughout the United States and Europe. Many pieces were donated to the Smithsonian Institute. The Arthur Secunda Museum in Howell houses his largest collection. He created 350 original works over 67 years, and most are on display at Cleary, including Metamorphosis: From Darkness to Light – a 65 foot long, 9 ½ foot high mural created after the Arthur Secunda Museum opened and near the end of Secunda’s life.
“With the generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the extensive and inspirational work of Arthur Secunda can make a lasting impact on the world, right here at Cleary University,” Egan notes.
Cleary University has been collaborating with the University of Michigan Museum Studies program on a capstone project focused on advancing collection stewardship at the Arthur Secunda Museum. Museum studies’ students will begin visiting the Arthur Secunda Museum this year under the guidance of Dr. Fischer to assess the Secunda collection, clarify its mission, and recommend best practices for cataloging, storage design and collections management systems for small museums.
Students, local organizations, schools and small groups are welcome to tour the Arthur Secunda Museum. To schedule a guided tour, contact Brett Rogers, director of Marketing at brogers@cleary.edu.