It all started innocently enough, just a few prints from a local artist in Iowa City. But as time has passed, Lou and Pat Schneider’s art collection has crept into every portion of their home.

“We are definitely starting to run out of room,” Pat Schneider said. “I think we’re done for a while, unless we get rid of something.”

Their daughter, Allison, agrees.

“I told them that it was time for an intervention,” she said. “There is no wall space left.”

It has been more than 30 years since the Schneiders began collecting art, and now prints and sculptures from all over the world decorate their home, some from renowned artists such as Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, and some from lesser-known and local artists.

“My husband started this when he was in Iowa City and went into a frame shop and bought a Lasansky,” Pat Schneider said. “While he was in medical school, we would buy one piece of art every year. That was all we could do, because we had no money.”

Now, not only has their collection of Lasansky’s work grown, so has their friendship with the artist himself.

Mauricio Lasansky has been making prints for more than 65 years — first in his native Argentina, then in New York City and finally in Iowa City, where his home and gallery now reside. He became known worldwide for the “Nazi Drawings,” which examine the brutality of Nazi Germany.

The Schneider art collection contains many works by Lasansky, including a portrait of Pat Schneider commissioned for her birthday.

“It’s really nice that we’ve become friends with some of these artists because we’ve been collecting their work for so long,” Pat Schneider said.

The couple travels a lot in their pursuit of artwork, gradually adding pieces from shows in Chicago and New York. But now, Schneider said she and her husband don’t have to do as much traveling to find the art they are looking for.

“Locally you can get just about anything,” she said. “Ten to 15 years ago, you had to go someplace else. You don’t have to do that anymore.”

They’ve even gotten their daughter into the act. Allison Schneider has begun her own art collection, partially, she said, from slowly stealing from mom and dad’s collection.

“They have so much, they don’t even notice,” she said, jokingly. “A lot of these, I’ve grown up with, so its like they’re members of the family.”

Allison, a graphic design major at Drake University, said the Des Moines Art Center has done wonders to bring great art to the community.

“They have a phenomenal collection, especially for a town this size,” she said.

One resource available locally is the Art Center’s print club, Pat Schneider said. The museum will commission a famous artist do a print, and members of the club, for a monthly fee, will have access to the limited-edition print before the general public, she said.

“Most of the prints run about $100,” she said, “so it is a great way to get some really nice pieces of art for not a lot of money.”

Prints are not the couple’s only love in the art world. Sculptures from East Asia and tribal masks from Africa also decorate their home, and each one has a story to tell.

“Some of the masks we have, you can still smell smoke or other scents from the rituals being performed while they were being worn,” Pat Schneider said. “They’re so big and clunky, I can’t even imagine a human being actually wearing those things. And my husband has a love for the Far East, so we have many things from that region.”

Allison Schneider said her parents never had to worry about her touching any of the masks or statues, because when she was younger they scared her so much she wouldn’t go near them.

“They were really scary to me when I was little,” she said. “I wouldn’t even go into the room they were in.”

Over the years, the couple has donated some pieces to the Art Center, given some away and sold others, but at only one point in their life did they feel like they absolutely had to get rid of a piece.

“We had to sell one piece during (my husband’s) last year in medical school,” Pat Schneider said. “We just didn’t have enough money. We agonized about it, but there was nothing we could do. But thank God we had it, because selling it allowed him to get all the way through school without taking any student loans.”

The most recent purchase was a print by South African artist William Kentridge. The purchase of the massive work, which now hangs in the family’s living room, was actually kept a secret from Pat Schneider, leaving her to discover it when she came home one day.

“Dad and I bought this and didn’t tell Mom,” Allison Schneider said. “But it was too big to keep a secret for long.”

Even the kitchen, a place many wouldn’t consider prime real estate for artwork, is full of pieces, the most noticeable being a giant Diet Coke can sculpture by artist T.J. Moberg.

“We painted our kitchen red based on this work,” Pat Schneider said. “And we also have the brush he painted it with. Because of all the detail, and all the tiny red dots, he retired the brush he used and said he never wanted to see it again.”

Pieces in their home range in price from $100 for some of the small prints to $40,000 for one of Jasper Johns’ prints.

Their collection hasn’t remained static over the years, either. As time has passed, some pieces have left with others taking their place. It represents their changing tastes, Pat Schneider said, and gives a glimpse at how much their collection has evolved.

“Our tastes have changed a lot, and sometimes you look at a piece and it just doesn’t seem like you anymore,” she said. “But some we do keep around for sentimental reasons.”

Art is something everyone can enjoy, Pat Schneider said, because it all depends on individual tastes. As long as people stick to that simple advice, she said, they can’t go wrong.

“Once you’re exposed to it, it’s hard not to love it,” she said. “But my best advice is buy what you like. When you see it, it needs to say ‘take me home.’”