There’s an aardvark who lives in a small building in Findlay, Ohio. He wears circular glasses and sits at a human-sized desk, pencil in hand and ready to learn. He goes by Arthur.
Wednesday to Sunday, a small building on the east side of the University of Findlay opens its doors to everyone to marvel at a one-of-a-kind collection. The University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum holds two floors of exhibitions displaying the largest collection of art by children’s book illustrators in the world, including work by Marc Brown — the mind behind Arthur the Aardvark.
The museum is on a mission to have their extensive collection “promote literacy and enrich the lives of all people.” But to Dan Chudzinski, the museum’s current director (and Arthur’s sculptor), that is only one piece of the puzzle: “I would say that our mission is to give people a reason to care.”
Chudzinski served as a curator at the museum for eight years before being asked to take on a directorial role. He even contributes some of his own sculptures to the gallery spaces.
“Picture books are often our first exposure to art and literature,” Chudzinski said. “If you can assess a work of art and read a story out of that — that has value.”
Since the early days of working with Mazza, Chudzinski has held on to his belief in the power of imaginative, visual storytelling.
“Art and storytelling transcend language and cultural barriers,” Chudzinski said. “Even our books with text do such a good job with the illustrations alone that you can get a very good sense of the narrative.”
Although Chudzinski officially joined the Mazza team in 2015, the museum has existed since 1982, when the University of Findlay celebrated its 100th birthday. The Mazza Collection began as a humble four-piece display, starting out as a passion project of education professor Jerry Mallett.
But the small collection quickly exceeded the grant budget, and University of Findlay graduates August and Aleda Mazza stepped in to provide further funding. It was Mallett’s long-term goal for Mazza to collect at least one new piece of art every year.
Since its humble beginnings, the institution has grown to house over 18,000 pieces in the collection and host events including summer camps and weekly story times. Among the current collection at Mazza are a selection of Dr. Seuss’ drawings, an entire gallery of paper-engineered books and even a replica of the quilt in Patricia Polacco’s “Keeping Quilt.”
The museum boasts rave reviews from parents (and their kids, of course). But its charm lies tucked away in a corner of a relatively unassuming city; many are often surprised to learn the space exists.
This was the case for Jaime Zollars, an accredited author/illustrator with a decades-long career in the children’s book industry.
“Once I started looking, I was like, ‘Oh man!’ A: It’s an amazing resource in a place like no other, and B: When I started looking into it, a ton of my friends and people I know had spoken there,” Zollars said. “I was like, ‘How did this not cross my path?’”
Zollars first became aware of Mazza’s mission upon an offer to speak at last year’s annual Weekend Conference, a series of presentations Mazza aims at local librarians, educators and university students to hear from authors and illustrators across the picture book industry.
“There’s so much care that goes into not only the amazing collection — which is super impressive — but [in] how not to display it as high and mighty; to display it as something aspirational, and something you can really interact with and maybe even do yourself,” Zollars said.
For Zollars, the museum feels like a place where art doesn’t need to feel out of reach or intimidating.
“I think sometimes art feels like it’s on a pedestal,” Zollars said. “It can be too self-important or important to appreciate. Some people don’t know how to approach it.”
Zollars appreciates Mazza’s lack of pedestals — literally. The works are displayed at “kid-height.” Plus, admission is free for children under 12.
According to Chudzinski, accessibility and outreach is a top priority in the museum’s goals to promote the works of beloved illustrators.
“Our job is to make the people that aren’t aware that they love literature and art suddenly fall in love with it,” Chudzinski said. “And they will do that with a good story, or with a work of art that just speaks to them at a very personal level.”
He specifically mentioned adults who may not believe they are in the target demographic, thinking that the museum simply displays “children’s art.” Chudzinski believes everyone can appreciate the displays.
The collection hosts art by acclaimed original picture book illustrators like Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak, but it hardly stops there. New works regularly join Mazza’s halls, in part due to one of Chudzinski’s most notable projects for the museum: The Enchanted Brush, an annual exhibit and sale featuring fantasy art from world-class illustrators. Artists featured in the exhibit make 100% commission on every piece sold.
“It became kind of a personal mission of mine to bring these world-class artists to Northwest Ohio, to make it free — as frequently as I could — and then just to see what that inspires,” Chudzinski said.
And for Chudzinski, Mazza being in Findlay is part of a growing cultural movement.
“Florence wasn’t always Florence,” Chudzinski said. “Why not Findlay?”
