The thing that struck Patricia Scudder about the Helen Frankenthaler painting was its wonderful sense of balance.

She also liked the orange-and-yellow combination in the 1973 untitled piece, an abstract acrylic on canvas.

But the best part, she said, is that Frankenthaler - a pioneer in American abstraction - painted it.

"Having a Frankenthaler in your home … How many people get to do that?" she said.

Probably not many.

But Scudder and her husband, Earl, a Lincoln attorney, will be able to do just that as new members of The Collectors Fund, an art investment club based in Kansas City, Mo.

The Frankenthaler will adorn a wall in their home, beginning in June.

"The reason we were attracted and interested in joining the fund at all was the opportunity to display and enjoy this level of art in our home," Patricia Scudder said. "We couldn't afford it otherwise. It's safe to say our tastes far outweigh our budget."

***

On Oct. 23, the Sheldon Museum of Art opened a new exhibition featuring Nebraska native Dan Christensen.

Among his paintings is "Conjugate," an abstract acrylic on canvas on loan from The Collectors Fund.

Fund founder Sandy Kemper was in Lincoln for the opening with his wife, Christine, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate and daughter of Earl and Patricia Scudder.

While here, the couple gave a presentation about the investment club to potential new members at the home of Robert and Karen Duncan.

The Collectors Fund began in May 2007 with the Kempers and five other families who are passionate about art, particularly 20th- century American art.

Kemper is a former banker whose family donated both the landmark Gunnar Birkerts-designed building and the core art collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City.

Fund members loved art and were interested in collecting, but didn't have the time or resources to do it properly, Kemper said.

"In many cases, (the members) wanted to have a little bit more diversity in their art collections than maybe they could if they did it by themselves," he said. "Everyone had the ability to make some acquisitions of art, but together we could acquire more art. We could have it rotating in our homes. Because of that we would have exposure to a great number of pieces."

Since then, fund membership has grown to 120 families, mainly through word of mouth, with most of the membership based in major museum cities, such as Kansas City, New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Dallas and Miami. The minimum one-time investment is $130,000 for 10 years, with members covering additional insurance and shipping fees.

The fund employs a full-time curator and currently boasts more than 120 pieces, including works by such 20th-century American artists as Milton Avery, Joan Mitchell and Franz Kline.

Kemper said pieces are chosen based on value and promise of appreciation, noting most works are acquired through private collectors in order to avoid transaction fees levied by auction houses and galleries.

Members rotate the collection among themselves. To secure a work, they participate in auctions, bidding points they've accumulated based on investment levels. They keep works for three months, but have opportunities either to hang on to them longer or to purchase them from the fund.

Kansas City businessman Peter Brown, for instance, retained the Dan Budnik dye transfer color prints and an Angelo Musco photo he has in his office.

"I liked them so much, I wanted to secure them again," he said.

Like the Scudders, Brown is a new fund member, joining about six months ago. As an investor, he said he's interested in "niche funds that are focused on asset classes." He also is interested in fine art. He sees the fund as a marriage of his interests.

"The third ingredient," he said, "is that when you find the right asset class, you need a really good manager. In a professional sense, with Sandy Kemper and his team, I felt they are at the pinnacle of what they do."

In addition to the art, the fund also has a social aspect, with several events organized each year. At the beginning of October, there was an auction preview party in Kansas City, and in December exclusive tours of private collections will take place during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009.

"We're a very proactive group," Kemper said. "We've enjoyed getting to know each other."

***

With the nation in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the question is whether or not art is a good investment.

Artnet Magazine posed the question to Michael Moses, a finance professor at New York University. Moses, along with colleague Jianping Mei, co-developed the oft-quoted Mei Moses Index, a fine-art price index.

When asked if art could become a substitute investment, Moses said "when individuals sell equities, they need to put the proceeds somewhere, whether it's gold, cash or art.

"Historically, art has been basically an asset class, and money flows to it during good times and bad times. The question is how much is flowing. And when people are disposing of other assets, there may be an opportunity for some of those assets to flow into the art market."

Kemper declined to reveal how much The Collectors Fund collection is worth or what it returns on investments, but said the fund maintains a $10 million yearly balance for acquisitions.

The Scudders said they watched the fund for two years before investing, seeing a 30 percent return.

"In this horrible economy what other kind of investment has a 30 percent return," Earl Scudder said.

Of course, he said, fund managers don't expect to maintain 30 percent.

"But in time, they hope to achieve 15 percent return," he said. "When it's something you also can enjoy, then it's a win-win."

Brown called the fund a "moderate, middle of the road risk" because it's dealing in a scarce commodity.

"I think you have to monitor the durability of the asset and a lot has to do with how we manage the fund," he said. "If we picked the right type of art, that mitigates a lot of the risk."

Kemper called the fund an investment opportunity, but said the enjoyment members derive from the pieces is just as relevant.

"We put a premium on collecting and sharing the art," Kemper said. "We've achieved great goodwill because of this. We don't see this as simply putting it in a vault and flipping it when the price is right."

Enjoying the art is why the Scudders became involved. They watched Sandy Kemper build and grow the collection in two years.

"We've always had art in our home," Patricia Scudder said. "We didn't have the the confidence or expertise to spend a lot on a painting.

"The Collectors Fund gives us an opportunity not to have to make a (big) expenditure, but still have world-class art."

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.