If you’re one of the few people who still read, you might occasionally reach for a bookmark. The Bureau for Open Culture at Columbus College of Art & Design has issued a set of bookmarks featuring librarians. Portraits on the front, stats on the back, like a baseball card. We are very proud that our own Deirdre Lawrence is one of the bookmarked librarians (portrait by Brooklyn-based artist, Katie Tuss).
If you’re in Columbus, Ohio, you might be able to get some of the Reference Collection bookmarks at participating libraries and independent bookstores (supplies are limited). Everyone else, check out the gallery of 42 bookmarks here.
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Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
Thank you Beth! I encourage folks who are interested in books and libraries to check out their website and listen to the interview with me and several others re artists books:
http://www.bureauforopenculture.org/deweydecimaldays.html
See
Book Arts Today II
In this conference call recording Suzanne Silver, assistant professor of art at The Ohio State University, and Bob Tauber, Director of [Logan Elm Press]>>>, speak with Deirdre Lawrence, curator of artist books and chief librarian at [Brooklyn Museum]>>>.
Discussion topics include the impossible-to-define artist book, economic conditions affecting small presses, the tricky predicament of exhibiting while preserving artist books, and funding sources. They also discuss Suzanne’s book, Blacklists/Whitelists, currently in production with Bob at Logan Elm Press.
What a great idea! In our culture that seems to spend most of its time on video games and online chatter, it’s great to see this focused promotion on the gentle art of reading.
This is a great way to promote libraries and librarians.
In this age of Internet superiority, books are seemingly forgotton. I would never have survived to adulthood without my community, grammer and high school, and college libraries.
Reading is what sustained me and made me want to write!
Long live the librarians, who were always kind, patient and interested,
Thanks for your support, Virginia. You can nominate exceptional librarians for The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. Nominations for 2008 are closed but there’s always next year.
What a brilliant idea!
It would be great to see this concept expanded to include Authors.
Beth – any idea how they picked the artists for these? I noticed that in many of the cases they found an artist in the area where the librarian was working…pretty cool.
Hi!
Jim Voorhies is the curator of the show. You should drop him a line.
I am thrilled to read the enthusiastic responses to Reference Collection. The project was a special part of Dewey Decimals Days (www.bureauforopenculture.org).
I want to respond to Shelley’s question. Artists and librarians were selected through friends and colleagues around the country. If an artist wanted to participate in the project, we strongly urged to them sit down with a librarian while they drew the portrait (in some cases artists worked from photographs but we still encouraged them to spend time talking with the librarian). The insistence on a one-on-one contact was an important part of the project because, in an age of online communication (like I’m doing now!), the lack of personal contact is significant. By putting artists and librarians together it gave them a chance to talk about their practices and disciplines. A simple premise, but, I think, something that is not experienced regularly today. So, on one hand, we have the tangible bookmarks and, on the other, a kind of hidden richness of conversations in person that took place in making the portraits.