The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Permanent Art Collection is a unique visual resource for students, staff, faculty and visitors to the campus. Featuring nearly 800 pieces of art, the collection is housed in multiple locations across campus. All major art media including paintings, photography, drawings, sculpture, prints, fiber works, and metal works, are in the collection.

Although art has been present on campus since its founding in 1916, the collection grew in importance in the 1960s with the rapid expansion of buildings on campus. Until 2014, the collection was managed by the Department of Art and Design.

Today, McIntyre Library, on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, stewards and maintains the Permanent Art Collection (PAC) and strives to provide visual environments for students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the pursuit of academic excellence and community enrichment. Another equally important function of the collection concerns instruction and research. 

The collection has grown in three ways: through gifts; through purchases by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation; and through purchases selected from exhibits at the Ruth Foster Gallery.

Our digital exhibits are curated by student researchers with funding from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and McIntyre Library.