Julia and Larry Pollock donate $1 million to the Cleveland Museum of Art's $350 million campaign

Posted August 30, 2013 in Articles

Author: Steven Litt

The Focus Gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art, a space intended to highlight specific works in the institution’s permanent collection, has new namesakes: Larry and Julia Pollock of Shaker Heights.

The Pollocks have donated $1 million to the museum’s $350 million capital campaign, which is paying for the massive expansion and renovation due for completion in December.

In recognition, the museum named the new gallery for the Pollocks.

“Both of us have always focused on in philanthropic causes and institutions that are innovative and relevant,” said Pollock, the managing partner of Lucky Stars Partners LLC, a private investment firm, and the former president and CEO of Cole National Corp.

The museum has raised $256 million so far in its campaign, or nearly three quarters of what it needs. It has called the expansion and renovation the largest cultural project in Ohio history.

Pollock serves on the the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation. He is also a trustee of organizations including The Musical Arts Association, the parent organization of the Cleveland Orchestra; and IdeaStream, which operates WVIZ / PBS and 90.3 WCPN.

Julia Pollock serves on the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Art Museum and Cleveland Rock & Roll, Inc., which runs the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; and the Arts & Medicine Board of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

David Franklin, the museum’s director, praised the Pollocks for supporting the Focus Gallery, which he said is “something I really pushed for.”

The Focus Gallery, located off the museum's big new atrium, can be experienced as part of Gallery One, the nationally-acclaimed educational space accessible from the atrium and the museum's North Lobby, or as a separate and discrete space.

Occasional shows in the gallery will be accompanied by catalogues that will explore a specific work in the collection in depth.

The Focus Gallery is currently featuring an exhibition on Tantra imagery in Buddhist art. A show on the museum’s controversial ancient bronze statue of Apollo Sauroktonos will open in the gallery on Sunday, Sept. 29.

“The philosophy behind focus is to have a single object highlighted,” Franklin said. “It could be just one work on its own.”

Original Article: http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2013/08/julia_and_larry_pollock_donate.html