From the Permanent Collection: Spring Wildflower ABC
Now that the weather is warm and the flowers are blooming, I want to share a spring-themed artists’ book with you.
Brea Black
I've been a Special Collections Librarian at TSCPL since 2004. Artists' books, books about books, books about art, pop-up books, and rare and unusual books are my focus. When I'm not up to my elbows in books, I'm in the Topeka Room answering local history and genealogy questions.
Contact Brea at bblack@tscpl.org
Brea's Posts
2013 Edible Book Festival Results!
The votes are in and the prizes have been awarded! Take a look at this year’s Edible Book Festival winners.
Edible Book Festival 2013!
Edible Book Festival 2013 | Friday, April 5 | 5:30 – 8:30pm | Marvin Auditorium
Join us to celebrate the joys of books and food at the 7th Annual Edible Book Festival. The Festival is free, open to the public, and all ages are welcome. To participate, reserve your space by April 4 by calling the Sabatini Art Gallery at 785-580-4515. Don’t want to make a book? You can come to admire the creativity on display and enjoy a few snacks too.
Happy Birthday Jackson Pollock!
Painter Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912. Before he became famous for his abstract “action paintings” in the late 1940s, he studied art with Missouri-born artist Thomas Hart Benton in New York. Pollock’s early paintings of people and landscapes are so much different from his later Abstract Expressionist work that it’s hard to believe the same artist painted them.
1920s Craft Patterns from the Antique Pattern Library
The Antique Pattern Library offers a variety of craft pattern books and pamphlets as free downloadable PDF files. I found patterns from the 1920s, the decade in which our Big Read 2013 book “The Great Gatsby” is set. You can make your own clothing and accessories to attend the Big Read events in style.
American Indian Heritage Month featured artist: Roxanne Swentzell
In recognition of American Indian Heritage Month, I want to share the art of Santa Clara Pueblo artist Roxanne Swentzell with you. We’ll take a closer look at her sculpture called “Laughing at the Ducks”, which is part of the library’s permanent art collection. Then we’ll hit the road to see examples of her work in museums in Kansas City and Denver.
2012 Altered Books Display in the Library
Give a discarded book a new life by transforming it into a work of art. Anyone is welcome to bring an altered book to the Gallery before 9pm on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. The books will be on display in the library from Nov. 6, 2012 – Jan. 2, 2013.
Woven Words: Slow Literature
“My job is to tell stories with yarn.” Artist Sarah Swett weaves words from an unfinished novel into her tapestries. The tale is revealed in a series she calls Slow Literature.
The Joy of Making
Lots of us still make things by hand even though we can buy everything we need in a store or online. I talked with Zan and Heather in the Gallery to find out why.
Madcap Dorothy and the Art of Bookbinding
Pretty madcap Dorothy works in a book-bindery with her friends. Unfortunately, all that work leaves little time for socializing. How is she ever going to find a marriageable fellow? And wait a minute, it’s the 19th century, what are women doing binding books in the first place?
A Little Book of Awkwardness
Awkwardness is a universal feeling. Let’s take a closer look at one of the library’s artists’ books that translates these feelings into a 3-dimensional form.
