“Fiercely independent” collectors Bob and Nancy Mollers give a tour of their extensive and diverse home collection and talk about collecting major contemporary works of art on a middle class income over the course of the past forty years, including considerations of conservation and how they find new artists.
“When it comes to the word “collecting,” I don’t know when you could say we were collecting, or even what that necessarily means. Because if you talk to a dealer, a client is a collector to them, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily what I would call a collector. I think a collector is a person who has some sort of direction or intent in what they’re doing.”
Having lived in Chicago and Houston, Bob and Nancy Mollers have been passionate collectors of work by living artists for the duration of their marriage of more than forty years. Bob, who was an elementary school teacher and has a background as a ceramicist, and Nancy, who worked in risk assessment management and has a background as a weaver, have often made sacrifices to afford new work. Included in their collection is a portrait of Nancy painted by Ed Paschke that has been exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago, a museum to which they regularly donate work. In 2008, Bob Mollers co-curated “Stories to be Looked at, Pictures to be Read" at Zolla Lieberman Gallery and in 2007 curated “Presence” at Tony Wight Gallery in Chicago.