I'm legit investigating going back to school for a Master's so I can run a SFF art museum with a robust print/gift shop. Afaict most "genre" art is in the hands of private collectors, and that's a TON of work that's inaccessible to the public. I'd like to change that.
I have an illustration degree, 15+ years of working retail (including management), and 10+ years of running art shows at conventions. Getting a master's to be the mortar in those building blocks seems like the next step.
I just told my mom about this idea and she GUSHED ENTHUSIASTICALLY about it for a solid ten minutes. Not just for my sake - she's the one who got me into Pern, after all!
I have some relatively minor genre art I picked up over the years (not including the illos to some of my stories in mags) and would love to find a home for them some day, because my wife won't want to keep them and I'm betting my boys won't have room for them. So yeah, a great idea.
As fandom ages, I suspect this will become a bigger and bigger issue. Some spectacular works will go to auction and do well, but lots of interesting but smaller stuff will fall by the wayside.
That's one reason why I want to do a museum instead of a gallery - even if everything can't be on display all the time, it can be lovingly archived by folks who appreciate the importance these pieces held for those who made/commissioned/collected them.
