{"id":31473,"date":"2016-02-23T18:05:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T00:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=31473"},"modified":"2016-03-16T11:08:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T16:08:21","slug":"rena-sternberg-collecting-from-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/rena-sternberg-collecting-from-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Rena Sternberg: Collecting from the heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Qingwei Chen and Shanshan Wang<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rena Sternberg\u2019s living room is \u201cdecorated\u201d with artworks such as Frog Substitute,Yellow,<\/em> Henning Bohl\u2019s sculptural mural featuring a yellow bike helmet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was purchased in 2010 from the Casey M. Kaplan Gallery in New York,\u201d said Sternberg, who remembers the source of every work from 40 years of collecting. \u201c[Henning] wants you to see how works start from the construction. It\u2019s really about the art making process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The airy, contemporary North Shore home maximizes the wall and floor space for placing favorite pieces from her collection.<\/p>\n

Works by postmodern and emerging artists – such as a painting ripe with over-sized carrot slices by Lucy Kim, an invented landscape photograph by Xiuzhen Yin \u2013 fill every corner and even the bathroom. Learning about art can open a whole new world for you, said Sternberg, collector, gallery owner and art impresario.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sternberg majored in social work in college but became fascinated with art and educated herself about art by going to galleries and museums and attending any lectures she could find. She turned to collecting and then channeled her passion into a business.<\/p>\n

She provides educational art tours, art consulting and advisory services for collectors and enthusiasts of contemporary art. The Rena Sternberg Gallery in downtown Glencoe provides continuing exhibits and lots of opportunities to meet artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s little bit of a funny story. I never intended this as a business,\u201d said Sternberg. Her husband, Daniel Sternberg, came from a family of art lovers and his mother was a collector. Rena started going to the local galleries with her mother-in-law and bought some inexpensive pieces.<\/p>\n

When her friends and neighbors came to her house and saw the pieces, they commented on the beautiful art works and asked her about each piece and where she got it.<\/p>\n

Then they asked Sternberg to take them to galleries. So she began taking people to downtown Chicago galleries and museums, a few of them at a time or just one individual.<\/p>\n

As word spread, more people sought out Sternberg to bring them to the galleries and mentor their art awareness. And they bought and collected works of art.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a while, one of the dealers told me: \u2018Rena, you might even not know this – \u00a0you have a business. You are bringing these people who would never come on their own. You are really doing a service and you are educating these people about arts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Lucy Kim, \u201cThe Stubborn Double” The work is enlarged from an image of “cross-cut carrot slices puzzled into a rectangle,” Sternberg said. “She painted the carrots onto an enlarged, stretched, and flattened orange-skin cast.” <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"2.pic_hd\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Xiuzhen Yin, \u201cHarp\u201d: the work is about sculpture and installation. Yin made the tree as a sculpture set outdoors and took a picture to document it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"5\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Catherine Andrews, “Ornament.” Sternberg describes the works as pioneering and visionary. “Her works always feature shining surfaces and take things out of context. This is a crystal chip figurine.”<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Every work of art in her house seems to have a story, one going back 40 years to the time Sternberg just started collecting with her husband. A piece of artwork she found then brought an unexpected surprise to her life more recently.<\/p>\n

Daniel fell in love with a painting on glass by Elizabeth Peyton when they visited a New York gallery early in their marriage. He really wanted to buy it. \u00a0Sternberg shied away for it since the man in the portrait looked “so creepy” on the glass. \u201cIf you have to have it, then buy it and put it in your office, I don\u2019t want to see him,\u201d she told him. The painting did hang in his office, fulfilling the wishes of both of them.<\/p>\n

Then, 10 years ago, when they were cataloging their collection. Sternberg, inventorying every work, came across the latest news about Elizabeth Peyton, the painter of the \u201ccreepy guy.\u201d Sternberg couldn\u2019t believe her eyes. After making sure that all the information fit the now famous Peyton, she couldn\u2019t wait to ask her husband if this painting still hung in his office.<\/p>\n

Sternberg gave the painting another look and decided she liked it. As a result, we can see this creepy guy “standing” at one of the conspicuous walls in her house.<\/p>\n

Artist Amanda Ross-Ho graces the bathroom with art made from mundane domestic accessories. \u201cShe very often takes regular objects, things that people disregard or do not highly regard,\u201d Sternberg said, showing Ross-Ho’s sculptural stack of towels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funny thing about this piece is that it should be no wrapping over it. I couldn\u2019t help putting them in the bathroom because I thought it would be funny. But I was really worried that somebody would use them. It\u2019s really just the art. And so I am afraid to take the plastic off,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"bathroom\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Amanda Ross-Ho: Untitled Textile Arrangment (Towel Rack #3)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"creep-guy\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Elizabeth Peyton early art work<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

When buying art, Sternberg doesn\u2019t have any specific criteria. \u201cI have to respond to it. It has to make me think and want to understand it more,\u201d Sternberg said. \u201cIt should be something that clicks with me. It\u2019s hard to articulate.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to learn everything you can about the artist: where they went to school, how long they been showing, what galleries show their work, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have many wonderful galleries and museums here in Chicago. I can\u2019t encourage people enough to look and learn before they purchase a piece of art,\u201d Sternberg suggested to newcomers in collecting. \u201cI think you can learn a lot just by looking. All of a sudden, you can sort of define for yourself what your interests are and what you respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people feel put off by contemporary art because they don\u2019t know how to appreciate it. \u201cBut I think if you spend a little more time looking and sort of learning about it, it would open up a whole new world for you,\u201d Sternberg said. \u201cGo to the museums and galleries as much as you can. You can learn so much. The best thing you can do is to look. That\u2019s where you get it. Even if you see things that you don\u2019t like, you train your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Rena Sternberg talks about Henning Bohl\u2019s sculptural mural at her North Shore home.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Qingwei Chen and Shanshan Wang Rena Sternberg\u2019s living room is \u201cdecorated\u201d with artworks such as Frog Substitute,Yellow, Henning Bohl\u2019s sculptural mural featuring a yellow bike helmet. \u201cIt was purchased in 2010 from the Casey M. Kaplan Gallery in New York,\u201d said Sternberg, who remembers the source of every work from 40 years of collecting. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":31476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,452,28,585],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-31473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-winter-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nRena Sternberg: Collecting from the heart - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/rena-sternberg-collecting-from-the-heart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rena Sternberg: Collecting from the heart - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Qingwei Chen and Shanshan Wang Rena Sternberg\u2019s living room is \u201cdecorated\u201d with artworks such as Frog Substitute,Yellow, Henning Bohl\u2019s sculptural mural featuring a yellow bike helmet. \u201cIt was purchased in 2010 from the Casey M. 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