Where can you see a pair of lions carved from Styrofoam, a statue of a fish dressed like Marilyn Monroe and a metal tree crafted from stripper poles all under one roof?
Just ask Darl Schaaff for a tour of his collection, arranged as a museum in a former library in Cleveland’s Slavic Village.
Five years ago, he would’ve said he had no aspirations to open a museum. He just wanted a place for all his “stuff.”
“It's never all been in one place, and my dream was simply to find a place where I could exhibit it and enjoy it and have my friends enjoy it,” Schaaff said.
He traveled extensively for decades while running an event production company and has visited every continent except Antarctica. Over the years, he amassed a large collection of sculptures, paintings, antiques and oddities from places he’s been and people he’s met along the way.
The old library, reborn as the Darl Center for the Arts, is a gallery space with a theater on the lower level. It's become the perfect home for everything Schaaff holds dear, a collection of memories as much as a collection of things.
“This collection represents 60 years of my life,” Schaaff said. “It's the story of success, it's a story of failure, it’s a story of tragedy, but mostly it's the story of just sheer excitement and curiosity in a life really well-lived, almost accidentally.”
Schaaff’s stories are as plentiful as the objects on view.
The perfect location
The former Broadway branch of the Cleveland Public Library was built in 1904 and served the community until it was decommissioned in the late ‘80s.
“Historically it's important, because this is the oldest existing Andrew Carnegie Library in Cleveland,” Schaaff said. “It's architecturally important because it is one of the only 10-sided buildings in the United States.”
The deed to the building changed hands several times before it had been left abandoned in a state of disrepair. But that didn’t deter Schaaff.
The first time he walked inside, he said he could see every piece of art he owned in the space.
“I took on the challenge,” he said. “It was an amazing challenge.”
After years of neglect, holes dotted the roof and significant water damage spread throughout the building. Schaaff and his crew also removed around 150 cubic yards of trash from the lower level, piled about five feet high.
It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore the 20,000-square foot building to its former architectural glory. During the process, he said he began seeing similarities between his life and the old library, both “glamorous and important in our day” but now stepping into different roles.
“This building has completely reinvented me, and I have completely reinvented this building. And so, we have this crazy love affair that goes on every single day,” he said. “And the love affair doesn't change, it just gets better.”
'The Darl Collection'
Upon entering the Darl Center, a sign on the wall greets guests with a question: If you wanted to display what your life collected, what would that look like?
Schaaff’s collection is eccentric – he’s got a resin sculpture of a one-eyed cat – as well as culturally significant. A neon sign for the year 1969 pays tribute to the Stonewall Inn demonstrations in New York City and the fight for gay rights.
There’s also a large section dedicated to Alaska where Schaaff lived for more than 40 years, complete with moose antlers, giant polar bears and a Styrofoam replica of an arch marking the end of the Iditarod race in Nome.
While hosting private tours of his museum, Schaff may mention his time in South Africa, which involved a visit to Nelson Mandela’s home. Or he may talk about meeting Andy Warhol during an event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. - He also spent time with JFK’s sister and Elizabeth Taylor that day.
All tours end with a narrow gallery dedicated to one artist – Schaaff’s partner for nearly 30 years, Rick Leman.
“Rick and I met on the street. This was 1966, and we had the most amazing love affair that lasted until the ‘90s,” he said. “Much of who I am is because of who he was.”
When Leman was diagnosed with AIDS in the ‘90s, Schaaff spent the last year of Leman’s life taking care of him, during which Leman secretly created a dozen vibrant, mixed media collages.
“It’s called ‘Just a Year,’” Schaaff said, pointing out 12 frames arranged on a long column. “It was presented to me after he died … but it was still full of color and movement and joy, and that’s just who he was.”
Just as the former library held countless stories within books, Schaaff’s museum now holds a collection of stories within his art – some complete and others still being written.
“The world wouldn't be as interesting as it is if we didn't have great stories,” Schaaff said. “And they can't all belong to one person. They have to belong to everybody.”
The Darl Center is open to the public by appointment.
