I’ve recently returned from a week of professional conferences, and am finding myself a bit more effusive than usual about my work as a result. Here’s an example. Just last night, the woman behind me in line at my local grocer noticed my scissor-shaped tieclip that I wear as a pin and asked if I sew.
“Yes, I do. Do you?”
“Yes, I do too. I’m a student at Parsons.”
I expressed jealousy that she got to sew with such focus and purpose. I then stopped the checkout line in its tracks while I gave her my card and invited her to call on me if she ever needed help with her sewing research. That’s what these library conferences do; they turn me into that strange lady buying too many endives who excitedly accosts you in the store to explain how the library can help.
And what has so inspired me? First, and most predictably, was the work that I did to develop a seminar for the RBMS conference this year on the theme of artists in collaboration with libraries. I was one of three panelists, and while preparing my own talk (on a video series called Design by the Book) as well as while learning about my fellow panelists’ projects (Farrar Fitzgerald discussed the Rosenbach’s artist-in-residence program and Susan Shifrin spoke about building artist collaboration into the exhibition Picturing Women), I was reminded of the unique directions creative collaborations can take.
But my seminar was just one of many panels, discussions, and conversations, in which I learned about artists bringing library collections to life. These projects include Richard Ring’s inspired collaboration between AS220 and Providence Public Library, Bryn Mawr’s collaboration with booklyn to present Parallel Botany, and Penn’s forthcoming exhibition and symposium on artist and craftsman Wharton Esherick. I also met a librarian who creates innovative ways of introducing younger groups to print history, and one at Loyola Marymount who has incorporated Design by the Book into a research guide for her students. This same LMU librarian also built a National Union Catalog Christmas Tree at her library.
All of this idea sharing provides me with invaluable professional inspiration. I’m now eager to find new ways to reach out to creative groups and individuals. And not just at the grocery store. Doing so means a commitment of time and energy, but the results—creative new interpretations of our unique collections by both professional and dilettante designers—makes it all more than worth the effort. What are your ideas for facilitating friendship and collaboration between librarians and artists?
English Holidays.
It seems that the summer has slipped past me completely. But while it may be true that the season’s almost over, I continue to think back on my June vacation in England and am so grateful to have had the luck to take a true holiday before July and August disappeared in a whirlwind of meetings, presentations, dog walks, classes, dinners, and sewing (about which I’ll report soon).
But back to holiday nostalgia. Using a short-stay flat in London as our home base, we explored southeast England in a series of day trips on foot and by train. The varied landscapes and buildings all had vivid tales to tell, and I was so happy to have read Una McGovern’s book ahead of time because I could begin to understand and appreciate the skill and labor that went into creating each stone wall, thatched roof, and artfully arranged orchard we walked by. We hiked across fields, through forests and villages, along marshy coasts, and among old, old oaks. We saw oast houses, mosaic ruins left by the Romans, mysterious standing stones and prehistoric mounds, Elizabethan hunting lodges, and ingeniously constructed gates and stiles and hedges along the paths to allow people through but keep cows where they belong. We also spent some reacquainting ourselves with London, wandering among its parks and along its canals.
In addition to the sites already mentioned above, here are some additional memorable elements of my summer vacation:
*The V&A’s quilt exhibition and its books (both the exhibition catalog and Patchwork for Beginners) that I brought home so that I can continue to be inspired, enlightened, and informed about all of the quilts’ techniques, stories, and connections.
*The many animals we spotted: coots, swans, a variety of deer, herons, cows, horses, sheep, dogs.
*Memorable meals in stunning spots, including a visit to Meantime at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and a lovely dinner at The Wapping Project, an abandoned power station reinvented as a dining and arts space.
*And last but not least, London’s innovative ladies of publishing—specifically, the friendly and welcoming women of Selvedge Magazine (a fabulous periodical with fashion, art, craft, history, and more) andPersephone Books (purveyors of should-not-be-forgotten English authors’ works, packaged in elegant dove grey wrappers with carefully chosen endpapers that often recreate vintage textile patterns). Both concerns maintain combined work/shop spaces in London, and in both spots busy staffers took time to welcome me and assist me with my purchases before returning to their other duties. I love what they do, and I loved that I could visit them.
We couldn’t have created this trip without doing some research first. All of the little volumes pictured here were useful, but the best sources for practical details as well as discoveries turned out to be Walks in London and Southeast England, IDEO Eyes Open: London, and City Secrets: London.
What’s coming up in the fall for me? After one quick getaway to Seattle, I look forward to settling into autumn in New York, and to visiting the Charles Burchfield exhibition at the Whitney and Dead or Alive at MAD before each closes. And I have some dressmaking and knitting to get back to as well.