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Meet Your Neighbor: Dan Chudzinski oversees art at Findlay museum

Sheri Trusty
·4 min read
Fremont native and St. Joe graduate Dan Chudzinski is the curator of the University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum. Here, he stands near his original carving of a polar bear in the museum's Miller Gallery ,which currently features the work of picture book author and illustrator Jim Arnosky.
Fremont native and St. Joe graduate Dan Chudzinski is the curator of the University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum. Here, he stands near his original carving of a polar bear in the museum's Miller Gallery ,which currently features the work of picture book author and illustrator Jim Arnosky.

FREMONT - A 2003 St. Joe graduate has made a very colorful mark on the world. Artist Dan Chudzinski studied marble carving in Italy, learned to build traditional totem poles with the Tlingit people of Alaska, and has contributed to the art at the Toledo Zoo for years.

Today, Chudzinski manages and protects the world’s largest collection of original picture book art in the world as curator of the University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum.

The Mazza Museum began in 1982 with four original artworks from celebrated children’s book illustrators Eric Carle, Ezra Jack Keats, Peter Spier and Steven Kellogg. Today, the collection includes thousands of original works.

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“Art comes in every day,” Chudzinski said. “We’ll have over 19,000 pieces by this summer.”

Chudzinski first learned of the Mazza Museum while participating in the Rotary Group Study Exchange which took a group of Northwest Ohio professionals to Italy. A woman on the team talked about the Mazza Museum, and after connecting with her, Chudzinski was invited to attend a summer conference at the museum as a visiting artist. In 2015, he was asked to become the museum’s guest curator. A couple days later, after the unexpected death of the curator, he was asked to take his place permanently.

Dan Chudzinski created this fanciful, school bus-sized sculpture of Bessie, the Lake Erie monster, which hangs at the Mazza Museum.
Dan Chudzinski created this fanciful, school bus-sized sculpture of Bessie, the Lake Erie monster, which hangs at the Mazza Museum.

Chudzinski had a memorable first day on the job. The museum was hosting an important annual conference, and the guest speaker canceled. As Chudzinski waited for the conference to begin, a man sat down next to him and began a casual conversation. He didn’t introduce himself but allowed Chudzinski to believe he was just another conference attendee. Unbeknownst to Chudzinski, he was the replacement guest speaker.

The man was Marc Brown, famed author and illustrator of the “Arthur” picture books series based on Arthur the aardvark.

“So my introduction to the museum was Marc Brown,” Chudzinski said. “He said, ‘For being a good sport, I’ll donate anything you want to the collection.’”

Brown donated two original works, and then, on a whim, Chudzinski made a request.  He had plaster supplies at the museum, and he asked if he could make a mold of Brown’s hand.

“He asked me why, and I told him that, in a hundred years, someone might want to know what the hand which made Arthur looked like,” Chudzinski said.

A former girlfriend of John Lennon commissioned Dan Chudzinski to create this bust of Lennon based off the song “Yellow Submarine.”
A former girlfriend of John Lennon commissioned Dan Chudzinski to create this bust of Lennon based off the song “Yellow Submarine.”

Chudzinski's idea became the 'Show of Hands'

That impromptu idea inspired the “Show of Hands” exhibition at the Mazza Museum which features plaster molds of famous picture book illustrators.

“It became a tradition,” Chudzinski said. “I’ve done at least 100. Thirty-one are on display.”

Among the plaster casts is the hand of the late Floyd Cooper, whom Chudzinski first met as a student at St. Joe’s.

“When I was at St. Joe’s in second grade, Floyd Cooper presented a program to the school. I remember I was in awe of him as an artist,” Chudzinski said. “I didn’t go to recess that day. I was drawing, and he came up to me and handed me a kneaded eraser. He was famous for them. I never thought I’d see him again.”

Years later at the Mazza Museum, Chudzinski not only met Cooper again, but he also cast his hand in plaster. Cooper died in 2021, making him the first “Show of Hands” artist to die.

Chudzinski created the “Show of Hands” exhibition at the Mazza Museum which features hand casts of more than 100 famous children’s book illustrators.
Chudzinski created the “Show of Hands” exhibition at the Mazza Museum which features hand casts of more than 100 famous children’s book illustrators.

“He was the first artist I met and the first of the hand casts to pass,” Chudzinski said. “That was the idea — to preserve the artist.”

Museum boasts sculpture of Lake Erie's 'Bessie'

Displayed amongst the illustrators’ art at Mazza Museum are varied works created by Chudzinski, including a school-bus size sculpture of “Bessie,” the Lake Erie Monster, and another of “Turbulence,” a chimp carrying a jetpack numbered “F419.”

“It’s a nod to Fremont,” Chudzinski said.

Chudzinski pulls from international art training as he creates using a wide range of mediums.

“I create whatever the occasion calls for and use whatever medium is conducive for it, although sculpture is what I’m primarily known for now,” he said. “I work with more mediums than most artists. I’m always looking for a better way to tell the story.”

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Dan Chudzinski oversees art at Mazza Museum at U of Findlay