It all started with Finds. Dudley Finds. He was the Head of the Fat City School of Finds Art. His big finds was the "This is Your Life" sign somewhere in Hollywood. There was a graduation ceremony in 1974. The staff of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art who didn't have masters' degrees received Masters of Finds Art from the Fat City School. Along with the graduation ceremony (Fanny Footstar and I went to the airport and held up a twelve foot long sign saying "Lelcome Wowell") the mooseum was born. It was first located in Room 305 of the Veterans' Building in San Francisco.
The first exhibition was held in 1975: photographs by Joel Sackett. Perhaps it was an insubordinate act-- hanging "unsanctioned art" in a technically non-viewing area of the larger museum. This caused an uproar with the chief curator. (Something about a non-curator putting up art.) After not being fired, I decided to continue. The idea was to give artists who would not ordinarily have an exhibition in the SFMOMA, a place to be seen.
Announcements were sent to a growing mailing list of public and press. For the most part, the press chose to ignore the activities of the mooseum. However, it was listed in underground guide books to San Francisco in the 1970s and also in articles on "odd and unusual museums." Exhibitions were held through 1979, even after a change of jobs to the San Francisco Art Institute, where the exhibition space became a window sill.
In addition to the exhibitions, one event was sponsored by the MMOFA: the Bruce Conner Look Alike Contest and Bake Sale. The bake sale portion was to raise funds for the Chloe Footstar Fellowship for Museum Professionals, which granted one award, allowing a museum staff member to attend a symposium which the SFMOMA would not subsidize.
In 1979, annual Chloe Footstar Memorial Picnics were organized to bring the disparate group of members together. The picnic was a potluck affair held at Port View Park, just south of the Bay Bridge on the Oakland side. The location offered a spectacular view of San Francisco and the Bay, as well as aircraft activity from the Alameda Naval Air Station. The picnics continued for eight or nine years, until the earthquake of 1989 closed the park forever.
The Members' Birthday Calendars were instituted as a gift to members who attended the picnic in 1987. It continued in the spirit of a museum without walls by giving artists a page to illustrate each month of the year.
Most recently, the museum exists only in the minds of its members. We welcome the opportunity to share a small portion of it with visitors to the www.
these are some items in the permanent collection: