MCAD Library News

Great Slide Giveaway

2012-01-27T10:43:00.000-06:00

The MCAD Library has recently downsized and decommissioned the old Slide Library as part of our transition to the use of digital images as primary teaching resources. We now have on hand many thousands of glass-mounted slides in good condition that are of no further use to us. But we don't want to just toss them in the trash!

Consequently, we will be having a "Great Slide Give-away" this next week for any of you who wish to acquire selected slides for your personal use. The Give-away will be held in the main reading room of the Library during the week of January 30-February 3. Give-away slides will be available at a designated light table for your picking and choosing, along with assorted slide boxes and cartons for storage. We also have available to good homes several surplus slide cabinets and drawers, plus boxed slide carousel trays. All for the taking! Select one – or a dozen – or a hundred!

Students are welcome to use these slides in creative projects, and photos of sample projects are available on request.

Artists' Books Collection: ON DISPLAY

2012-01-26T11:25:00.005-06:00

The newest additions to the Artists’ Books Collection are currently on display in the MCAD Library.

Biography, the 2011 MCBA Prize Winner by Sarah Bryant.

"Biography is an examination of the chemical elements in the human body and the roles they play elsewhere in the world. This book grew out of my desire to use the periodic table, our visual method of categorizing every particle of matter in the universe, as a tool for creating a portrait of a human being, the viewer of the book. We are composed of a finite number of elements, each of which has a rich life outside of our bodies making up critical components of the physical world and the tools that we produce and use to measure and investigate that world.” - Sarah Bryant

Come and Get It, the 2011 MCAD Winter Book by Kevin Kling with illustrations by Michael Sommers.

"I am so excited to be working with Minnesota Center for Book Arts. It's truly an honor. The authors they have represented are among the finest of our generation. My stories come from the spoken word and because of that don't often translate well to the page. The key to success is finding a way to visually represent 'the voice'. I'm very pleased with the care and quality the book arts creators provide each publication. From the handmade paper, the color of paper and ink, the textures... it gives the work a visceral quality. The use of Michael Sommers' incredible imagery heightens the experience as well. I love his work, it stands as a story on its own. These elements combine to give a new experience to the text: not performance, not a read, something entirely on its own. I'm thrilled with the product." - Kevin Kling

Designers & Books

2011-12-21T15:57:00.002-06:00

The Library knows that just because the semester is over doesn’tmean creative people turn their brains off! That's why we know you'd love to check out this website Designers & Books!

It profiles 87 participating designers to showcase whatbooks have been most influential to each artist’s creative process. Currentlythere are 1,124 books that have been selected, and a new list is added eachweek. Take a peek!

Is your favorite designer on the list????

http://www.designersandbooks.com/

The Chapbook: From Peddled Pamphlet to Artists' Book

2011-12-16T14:09:00.013-06:00

In conjunction with the exhibition in Stackroom 2 by Lightsey Darst's Creative Writing & Introduction to Poetry students, the Library presents, The Chapbook: a History; From Peddled Pamphlet to Artist's Book in the Main Reading Room.

Our display features selected chapbooks from the Artists' Books Collection, chapbooks of Beat Poetry from the historic Pocket Poet Series published by City Lights Books from the general collection, selected articles about the chapbook form & literary genre, plus an essay by Library graduate assistant, Kate Thomas.

For More photos of both displays visit: Flickr

MCBA's Winter Books from the Artists' Books Collection are on display!

2011-11-18T13:15:00.009-06:00

Since 1988, MCBA's annual Winter Book has engaged artists, designers, papermakers, printers, bookbinders and community volunteers in producing a handmade, limited edition artist's book featuring poetry or prose by a Minnesota author.

The 7^th annual Winter Book, The West Pole, features handmade paper and walnut stained cover papers.

The 8^th annual Winter Book is hand bound with handmade paper over boards, enclosed in a box, with a removable print.

The 13^th annual Winter Book, Ice Walk, features paper bound text and 10 loose prints in glasine sleeves, all housed in cloth-bound portfolio letterpress printing.

The 17^th annual Winter Book, There is No Other Way to Speak, features illustrations and letterpressed text with an exposed long-stitch binding.

The 2011 Winter Book, Come and Get It, will be released December 10th! For more information, visit: MCBA

Capture the Floating World (Ukiyo-e) - Take in the MIA Exhibition Today

2011-11-07T17:53:00.000-06:00

Utamaro, Kitagawa
Woman Holding a Comb
color woodblock print
ca. 1798
Art Institute of Chicago

In the rush of your life, take an hour to walk next-door to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where you can experience the fleeting moments of the people of Edo (1603-1868) Japan. This was a time of urbanization when people were leaving their rural lifestyles to embrace the prospects of the cities. It was time when a large number of people could attempt to make their lives more than mere survival. It was a time when people could seek novelty and pursue pleasures.

Many city-dwellers now had time and money to spend and they had abundant decadent options to choose from. Among these were the lively dramatic kabuki theater performances, the so-called "pleasure quarters" where men could spend time with beautiful and entertaining women, whether sexually or not. In addition, they could take in poetry readings, dance recitals, celebrate festivals, enjoy tea in ceremonies, and eat at the many new restaurants.

Another result of their moving to cities was the loss of the natural world. They came to cherish the beauty of nature in the small, changing details of the cherry blossoms or maple leaves. To retain these natural experiences in their minds, they could buy artists' renderings of these flowers and trees to adorn their walls.

Since their wealth allowed them to travel for pleasure, they could see for themselves the famous and beautiful scenes they had read about in literature. And again, they could buy prints of these landscapes, whether or not they had actually seen them. These provided them a window into the natural world they had left behind.

Iona Rozeal Brown
a3 blackface #58
acrylic/paper 50x38"
2003

The artists of the day tried to capture these moments in their wood-block prints, which they produced in multiples for sale to these city-dwellers. They were very successful in creating both hauntingly beautiful prints and in representing the times in which they lived.

We, and all the artists after them, are very fortunate to be able to glimpse this world. From the 19th century, when Westerners first saw these Japanese ukiyo-e prints, through today they have inspired many artists from Van Gogh to Iona Rozeal Brown. You can see the work of twelve of these modern day variants in the second part of the show.

Before or after seeing the exhibition you can take a look at our books, both on ukiyo-e prints and on some of the best-known practitioners, like Harunobu, Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai and Hiroshige. We also have a new book about Iona Rozeal Brown's recent exhibition of paintings, which she models directly on ukiyo-e prints. She is quite an inspiration herself.

So, go. Divert yourself in just floating, floating... at the MIA

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

These images were chosen as illustrations for this article and do not represent actual pieces in the exhibition.

The Artist in Fiction: Artists have Stories, Told and Untold, Real and Imaginary

2011-11-01T15:09:00.000-05:00

Magpie of the Gallows-Pieter Bruegel


Road with Two Cypresses-Vincent van Gogh

Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace-Frida Kahlo

Novelists, of course, love a good story and they have often found great stories in the lives of artists. It seems that writers prefer artists over, for example politicians or businessmen. Is this because they identify more with artists or because they find better stories in these artistic people?

Certainly, plenty of artists have had colorful lives and have embraced the essence of the times in which they lived. Therefore, writers and filmmakers can use them to illuminate a time and place. However, I think the more compelling reason that storytellers are drawn to artists is because they themselves have been entranced by the artists' works.

They experienced a Van Gogh painting of an almost other-worldly landscape, one so much like what they have known, but with the odd skewed quality that actually seems to have more clarity and which reminded them of the magic in life.

Or they looked at Frida Kahlo's self-portraits and saw both the beauty and the horror of living. And in seeing these paintings or seeing "Incredulity of Saint Thomas" by Caravaggio or "Magpie of the Gallows" by Bruegel they were drawn in to the artist's world by the details and suggestions. Even in Mary Cassatt's portraits of her sickly sister or the self-portraits of Rembrandt they could see the stories the artists were telling and not quite telling.


Lydia working at a tapestry frame-Mary Cassatt

Incredulity of St. Thomas-Caravaggio

They perceived both the projected subjects, but also the hidden stories of the artists themselves. Consequently, they wanted to know and to reveal the details of these hidden stories. In some cases they had to create the missing story-pieces needed to complete the puzzles of unknown lives. In doing so, they have created fun, intriguing stories to read or watch.

We have assembled, at our main library desk, these novels and films from a variety of artists through time and from many parts of the world. You can experience the world of Piranesi in 18th century Rome, Vermeer in 17th century Holland, Audubon in 19th century Louisiana, or Pan Yuliang in 20th century Shanghai, among many others.

Self-portrait with Beret and Turned up Collar-Rembrandt

In addition to this biographical fiction, we have also gathered some purely fictionalized stories involving artists, students, historians, forgers, curators, models, and museum guards. These show how art affects not just it's creator, but all the people who interact with it, sometimes in astonishing ways as in the Madonnas of Leningrad.

Pick one or more and enter into these imagined artist's worlds. You might find that you identify with the difficulties and aspirations of the characters and come to appreciate their art in a way you wouldn't have without knowing their stories.

For those of you who are not able to come in to our library, you can take a look at our list of works, which are grouped by type and then alphabetically by title:

Novels (Biographical)
The Agony and the Ecstasy, a Novel of Michelangelo / Irving Stone [Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564]
Artemisia : a Novel / Alexandra Lapierre [Gentileschi, Artemisia, 1593-1652]
The Artist's Wife : a Novel / Max Phillips [Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969; Klimt, Gustav, 1862-1918; Kokoschka, Oskar, 1886-1980; Mahler, Alma, 1879-1964; Mahler, Gustav, 1860-1911]
As Above, so Below : a Novel of Peter Bruegel / Rudy Rucker [Bruegel, Pieter, ca. 1525-1569]
Audubon's Watch : a Novel / John Gregory Brown [Audubon, John James, 1785-1851]
Burnt Umber : a Novel / by Sheldon Greene [Marc, Franz, 1880-1916]
Clara and Mr. Tiffany / Susan Vreeland [Driscoll, Clara, 1861-1944; Tiffany, Louis Comfort, 1848-1933]
Depths of Glory : a Biographical Novel of Camille Pissarro / by Irving Stone [Pissarro, Camille, 1830-1903]
The Forest Lover / Susan Vreeland [Carr, Emily, 1871-1945]
Girl in Hyacinth Blue / Susan Vreeland [Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675]
Girl with a Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevalier [Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675]
In the Casa Azul : a Novel of Revolution and Betrayal / Meaghan Delahunt [Kahlo, Frida]
Incantation of Frida K. / Kate Braverman [Kahlo, Frida; Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957]
La Tour Dreams of the Wolf Girl / David Huddle [La Tour, Georges du Mesnil de, 1593-1652]
Light / Eva Figes [Monet, Claude, 1840-1926]
The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals : a Novel / Michael Kernan [Hals, Frans, 1584-1666]
Lust for life, a Novel of Vincent van Gogh / Irving Stone [Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890]
Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper : a Novel / by Harriet Scott Chessman [Cassatt, Mary, 1844-1926]
Michelangelo, the Florentine; a Novel by Sidney Alexander [Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564]
The Painted Room : a Tale of Mantua / Inger Christensen [Mantegna, Andrea, 1431-1506]
The Painter from Shanghai / Jennifer Cody Epstein [Pan, Yuliang, 1895-1977]
Painting in a Man's World / Diane Broeckhoven ... et al. [Bracquemond, Marie, 1841-1916; Cassatt, Mary, 1844-1926; Gonzalès, Eva, 1849-1883; Morisot, Berthe, 1841-1895]
The Passion of Artemisia / Susan Vreeland [Gentileschi, Artemisia, 1593-1652]
Piranesi's Dream : a Novel / by Gerhard Köpf [Piranesi, Giovanni Battista, 1720-1778]
Portrait of an Unknown Woman / Vanora Bennett [Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543]
Rembrandt, a Novel / Gladys Schmitt [Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669]
The Venetian : a Novel / by David Weiss [Titian, ca. 1488-1576]
Vincent; a Novel Based on the Life of Van Gogh / Joost Poldermans [Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890]
The Years with Laura Díaz / Carlos Fuentes [Kahlo, Frida; Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957]

Films (Biographical)
Andrei Rublev : the Passion According to Andrei
Basquiat [Basquiat, Jean Michel]
Camille Claudel [Claudel, Camille; Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917]
Caravaggio [Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da, 1573-1610]
Crumb [Crumb, R.]
Dream of light : Quince Tree of the Sun [López-García, Antonio, 1936- ]
Edvard Munch [Munch, Edvard, 1863-1944]
Frida [Kahlo, Frida]
Girl with a Pearl Earring [Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675]
I shot Andy Warhol [Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987]
Love is the devil [Bacon, Francis, 1909-1992]
Lust for life [Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890]
Surviving Picasso [Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973]

Novels (Fictional artists)
Art & lies : a Piece for Three Voices and a Bawd / Jeanette Winterson
An Artist of the Floating World / Kazuo Ishiguro
The Birth of Venus : a Novel / Sarah Dunant
The Body Artist / Don DeLillo
Cat's Eye / Margaret Atwood
The Cheese Monkeys : a Novel in Two Semesters / by Chip Kidd
Conversations with a Clown / Michael Welzenbach
The Flanders Panel / Arturo Pérez-Reverte
The Horse's Mouth : a Novel / by Joyce Cary
Islands in the Stream / Ernest Hemingway
The Lady and the Unicorn / Tracy Chevalier
The Learners : the Book after "The Cheese Monkeys" / by Chip Kidd
Madonnas of Leningrad / Debra Dean
The Moon and Sixpence / W. Somerset Maugham
My Name is Red / Orhan Pamuk
Niche : a Novel / by Séguier and Plessis
Of Human Bondage / W. Somerset Maugham
On Beauty : a Novel / by Zadie Smith
Orchard : a Novel / Larry Watson
A Painter of Our Time / John Berger
Quattrocento : a Novel / James McKean
The Third Eye / by Mike Rogers
365 Views of Mt. Fuji : Algorithms of the Floating World / Todd Shimoda
The Time Traveler's Wife : a Novel / by Audrey Niffenegger
What's Bred in the Bone / Robertson Davies
When the Sons of Heaven Meet the Daughters of the Earth : a Novel / by Fernanda Eberstadt
A Window Across the River / Brian Morton
A World to Come / Dara Horn

Films (Fictional artists)
Blood of a poet
Me and you and everyone we know
The Moderns
Moulin Rouge
Pecker

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Library Book sale October 26

2011-10-24T12:23:00.002-05:00

Hey, Everyone!

It's time for the annual library book sale.

Here are the details:

Wednesday, October 26 (Students Only on first day)

Thursday, October 27 (All are welcome to shop)

MCAD Library

8:30 a.m.–10:00 p.m.

This is a sale you can't afford to miss!

There is a ton of great material to choose from: art books,literature, non-fiction, VHS movies, comics, auction catalogs and magazines—all speciallypriced to move!

See you there!

What's new in the Special Collection

2011-10-19T08:53:00.001-05:00

Fine artspublications are often uniquely designed and the physical manifestation of an itemplays an integral part in the overall experience of its content. Some are made up of multiple parts, containloose inserts, or have unusual shapes and bindings that won’t allow it to siton a shelf like a traditional book.

One Day: Ten Photographers, recently added to the Library's collection is one example. Because of the limited number produced, and to protect and maintain its unique characteristics it will be housed in the Library's Special Collection room. It is now on display for you to preview, and we encourage you to examine this beautiful book object and the contents of the individual volumes.

Material in the SpecialCollection is here for your use. Feelfree to ask us how tofind out more about what’s in the Special Collection.

ARTISTS' BOOKS DISPLAY FOR PPB MAJORS

2011-10-18T12:06:00.002-05:00

The Artists’ Books now on display in the MCAD library have been selected as inspiration for Print, Paper, Book majors. Students interested in incorporating illustration and print making techniques into books and zines will find this display especially interesting.

The selection features copperplate etching, linoleum block prints, gocco prints, and ink pen illustrations.

In addition, an oversized, 36-page pulp comic book featuring offset and silkscreen printing methods is on view in the second display case.

Visiting artist Rick Poynor

2011-10-03T19:23:00.001-05:00

Design and visual culture writer Rick Poynor will be giving a lecture this Wednesday in auditorium 150 @ 6:30pm. To learn more about Poynor and read examples of his work stop by the Library. Articles from 'Creative Review' and 'Eye' as well as several books written by Poynor will be on display in the main reading room.

Masks Magic!

2011-09-30T12:09:00.000-05:00

Though the Oxford English Dictionary states that the word‘mask’ is of uncertain origin, we offer a particular look at several books onthe subject of masks and its origins.

There are ceremonial and ritual masks, theatrical masks,festival and carnival masks, functional masks, and an infinite variety of othermasks to view.

Throughout history people have used masks as a form ofdisguise or persona, but masks have multiple uses and functions.

We hope you'll browse and even check out some of the assembled offerings about the mysterious, captivating, andvisually spectacular world of masks. They're on display now at the Library Circulation Desk through the month of October.

P.S. Don’t forget Halloween!

NEW Artists' Books Collection Display

2011-09-27T11:45:00.005-05:00

HAND–DRAWN TYPOGRAPHY

In this era of instantaneous communication and mass produced objects, a handwritten book is a rare and wondrous item.

Originally, all books were in handwritten manuscript form. In China, and later other parts of East Asia, Woodblock printing was used for books from about the seventh century. The earliest dated example is the Diamond Sutra of 868. In the Islamic world and the West, all books were in manuscript until the introduction of movable type printing in about 1450. Handwritten manuscript copying of books continued for at least a century, as printing remained expensive. Private or government documents remained hand-written until the invention of the typewriter in the late nineteenth century.

Today, technology has made it easier to reproduce documents and books at a much faster pace. However, the look of calligraphy and hand-drawn lettering is becoming increasingly popular compared to the rigid and sometimes, impersonal feel of digital typography. These selected books from the Artists’ Books Collection highlight hand-drawn typography from England, Germany, France & the United States.

The display case is located across from the circulation desk as you enter the library. Pages will be turned frequently to reveal other examples within each book.

Artists' Books Collection

2011-09-14T11:50:00.003-05:00

Tamashi by: Amanda Degener, a photo by mcadphoto on Flickr.

Professor Amy Sands requested Artists' Book samples for her Advanced Print, Paper, Book class. She was interested in books that showcase experimental construction, accordion folds and decorative binding among other things.

Here are some of the highlights of what we found!

Click the image to see more images in our flickr photostream!

9/11 : Artists respond

2011-09-09T13:00:00.004-05:00

The reminders that this Sunday marks the 10^th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. are everywhere.

The MCAD Library has graphic novels, films, photo journalism, and an artist’s book about 9/11 and they are now on display in the Library.

Click here for a full listing.

Take a moment to look at how the artist’s creative response continues to help us process this national tragedy. Peace.

Art news you might have missed this summer, from the New York Times

2011-09-03T15:19:00.002-05:00

In case you didn't get a chance to read the New York Times every day this summer, here is a selection of art-related news articles and reviews from the Times, from May to August.

5/6:
Crystal Bridges Museum Receives $800 Million From Walton Family

5/12:
The Met to Take Over Whitney’s Breuer Building

5/14:
Marseille: City on the Verge of a Culture Buzz

5/19:
“Yarn bombing” seems to be having its moment in pop culture.

5/20:
‘Access to Tools’ and Whole Earth Catalog at MoMA: Empowering People of Spaceship Earth

5/25:
Alexander Melamid’s Art Healing Ministry in SoHo

5/27:
Leonora Carrington Is Dead at 94; Artist and Author of Surrealist Work

Medieval Style Files: Tailored Artistry

5/29:
Steve Rutt, an Inventor Behind Early Video Animation, Dies at 66

The Pietà Behind the Couch

6/4:
Chinese Artist Wang Jun Speaks Out After Release

6/5:
A Chronicler of the Art-Vandal Underground

Middle Eastern Artists at the Venice Biennale

6/6:
An Artist Who Gained Fame From a Work’s Disappearance

6/8:
William Toye Pleads Guilty to Fraud: For a Longtime Forger, Adding One Last Touch

6/9:
The 54th Venice Biennale, Sedate and Pumped-Up

6/10:
Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s Most Famous Painter, Dies at 95

6/11:
Georgian Artists, Doing It for Themselves

6/12:
Op-Ed: The 4-Year-Old Artist

6/13:
Claudio Bravo, Artist Who Blended Hyperrealism and Classical Elements, Dies at 74

6/14:
Ben Wilson Makes Art Out of Chewing Gum on London Sidewalks

Adam Szymczyk: Superstar Among Curators

Stereo Blindness Allows Some to See a Masterpiece

Show Highlights the Return of the Loom

6/16:
Alice Walton on Her Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

6/17:
‘Otherworldly’ at Museum of Arts and Design

El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 2011

6/19:
From a New Generation of Artists, Vivid Canvases of Iraq’s Pain

6/21:
Spoonfuls of Medicine, Marketed for Centuries

6/22:
Artnet Has Online Art Sales Success

6/23:
Artists Investigate Identity and Boundaries in Extraterritorial Waters

6/26:
John Waters, Guest Curator at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

7/5:
Pushing Boundaries, Mixed-Race Artists Gain Notice

7/6:
Cy Twombly, 1928-2011: American Artist Who Scribbled a Unique Path

A Reunified Painting Stirs Big Thoughts in China and Taiwan

7/7:
Freed Chinese Artist Reported to Be Back at Work, Though Barred From Talking to Press

7/10:
Chicago: Laid-Off Art Teachers Turn to Their Craft to Express Themselves

Science to Art, and Vice Versa

7/13:
Revolution Dims Star Power of Egypt’s Antiquities Chief

7/14:
T. Lux Feininger, Photographer and Painter, Dies at 101

For Florence, Vasari Was a Man of All Talents

7/15:
Illustrating Damsels in Distress and Emissaries From Our Deep, Dark Ids

7/18:
Locus of Sadness in Mexico, Bathed in Light, Begins to Heal

MoMA Exhibit Shows How Technology Is Getting the Point Across

7/20:
At Two Apple Stores, Creating Art via Webcam, Secretly

7/21:
Guy Wildenstein Defends Holding Missing Art in Paris Vault

7/22:
Lucian Freud, Figurative Painter Who Redefined Portraiture, Is Dead at 88

“Ostalgia,” Art From Russia and the Former Soviet Bloc, at the New Museum

7/28:
A Gamble on Art on the ‘Redneck Riviera’ May Not Be Paying Off

7/30:
Jerome Liebling, Socially Minded Photographer, Dies at 87

7/31:
Frank Bender, ‘Recomposer’ of Faces of the Dead, Dies at 70

“Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul” -- Myths, Legends and Cuban Culture

8/2:
Arts Outposts Stung by Cuts in State Aid

8/3:
Guggenheim Outpost as a Pop-Up Urban Lab

8/6:
A Sarajevo Bunker Takes on New Life as Art Museum

8/7:
The Trivialities and Transcendence of Kickstarter

8/10:
Roman Opalka, an Artist of Numbers, Is Dead at 79

Controversial Art Exhibit Is Shut Down in the Philippines

8/12:
A Beijing Exhibition on Art for the 'Post-Human Era'

8/18:
Robert Breer, Pioneer of Avant-Garde Animation, Dies at 84

8/19:
‘Dialog in the Dark’ at South Street Seaport: Darkness Visible, and Palpable

8/21:
Comic Book Art Showcased in Books

8/24:
Suit Against MoMA Highlights Time-Limit Rule in Nazi Looting Claims

8/25:
American Folk Art Museum Weighs Survival Strategies

Art and Fashion in Dasha Zhukova’s Garage

8/27:
Jeanette Ingberman, a Founder of Exit Art, Dies at 59

Leonardo Mural in Florence May Be Revealed

8/28:
June Wayne, Painter and Printmaker, Dies at 93

Old Mug Shots Fuel Art, and a Debate on Privacy

Works by Asco at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Changing Face of the Burning Man Festival

(Creative Commons photograph by Ken_Mayer)

Tim Kiser, weekend circulation assistant.

Art School, Time in, Time out: 125 Years of Student Life

2011-08-25T22:56:00.000-05:00

From 1886 to now students have had to accomplish similar goals although often by different means. Just as in the early days, students have arrived on campus in an excited but perhaps puzzled state of mind. They have had to discover where to go, how to finance classes, with whom to study and what their goals really are. Along the way, they have learned how prior artists have excelled, how to use materials and tools, how to finish and display their work and how to broaden their ideas. In contrast to working hard, students have also discovered the fun and camaraderie of being in clubs and organizations. Additionally, they have found friends with whom they can enjoy meals and entertainment or with whom they can talk about their problems and plan their futures.

These are the unchanging actions that students have experienced through 125 years at our school whether it was named Minneapolis School of Fine Arts, Minneapolis School of Art or Minneapolis College of Art & Design. We have selected some photographs and printed ephemera about our students' experiences and displayed them in the library's Stack Room Two. We invite you to come in and see them.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant

Before She was an Artist...

2011-08-15T22:35:00.023-05:00

A girl began her life in a small town in Minnesota at the end of the 19th century. We can tell her story because we discovered an old battered black photo album filled with antiquated photographs in the MCAD Archive. We uncovered it while we were retrieving materials for the book and film which fellow MCADians are making to commemorate our quasquicentennial (125 years). At first glance we thought the album was an odd object to have in the archive. Whose album was it? Why is it here? On its cover is the title in spidery handwritten black fountain pen ink, "Infancy to First Year at Mpls Art Institute and Following Summer".

So, here is the story of a student's life. She starts as a baby bundled on a large furry pelt. Her name was Lucile. The photographs continue with the same girl at various ages shown riding her bike, with friends, on horseback, putting on school musicals. We see what she fondly remembered: her family, Buzzie the half-dachshund dog, Patsy the cat, the kittens her father brought home. And then we see that she has become the photographer and has written in: " the cat they had after I left home for art school", "my first year roommate, Wanda Gag", "the first summer vacation home from the Art Student's League - the last time I saw my father". The album ends with two pages of art students happily posing in painter's smocks here on our campus with the massive new Minneapolis Institute of Arts building in the background.

With the help of some handwritten captions and some research I was able to figure out that this was the album of Lucile Lundquist (1895-1981). After graduating from Warren High School in 1916 she came here to the Minneapolis School of Art (MSA) which was then part of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

This was a heady time filled with life-changing inventions and new ideas, the height of the Progressive era in politics and for our school it was the time of great change too. The Minneapolis School of Art had just moved into the newly built Morrison building and our long-time director Robert Koehler had stepped back to being a lecturer while being named director emeritus - perhaps an attempt to head into a retirement that he would not live to see. He was known for his enchanting classes on the history of art with an emphasis on the humanitarian aspects of the masters. He was assisted by Gustav Goetsch, head of the school's Department of Fine Arts who would only be here for two years. Goetsch was the instructor in painting, having studied at Atelier Julien in Paris. The other two main teachers were Lauros Phoenix for drawing and illustration, who had studied at the Chicago Art Institute and with Alphonse Mucha and Howard Pyle, and Mary Mouton Cheney for design and handicraft. She had studied at the University of Minnesota and Boston Museum of Fine Arts School and was a founding member of the local Handicraft Guild. She would go on to be director of our school.

This group of teachers seems to have been able to produce artists who succeeded beyond expectations not only locally but also nationally. And from this perhaps special time of political change in the shadow of a coming war together with the interactions of these students and at least one of the faculty, Mr. Koehler, known as a labor supporter, came a group of left-leaning politically active citizens. Lucile Lundquist was one of this group.

She was from northwestern Minnesota's Red River Valley, a vast and rich agricultural area which supported the commerce of the town of Warren where her father was one of the many Scandinavians who participated in the cooperative movement ensuring workers the profits of their labor. Charles Lundquist was the manager of the People's Trading Company, a large department store in town. He had studied at the Eastman School of Business in New York after emigrating from Sweden. Lucile's mother May Barnhart from Mantorville, Minnesota had been a school principal and she liked to paint. Her paintings would be the only art that Lucile would know until coming to Minneapolis and seeing the Institute's collection.

When Lucile arrived in Minneapolis in the fall of 1916 she lived at the Woman's Christian Association Club at 1619 Stevens Ave. (where the I-94 freeway is today). Her roommate was Wanda Gag who would become her very close friend and confidant. When not doing school work they liked to play duets on the piano at their club and take in entertainments, like the Russian Ballet, operas, movies, plays, walks and picnics. Of course they also liked to talk about boys, politics and the war in Europe. Their teachers also encouraged their attending local lectures outside of school, such as those given at the Unitarian Church where Wanda heard Allen Broms speak about "free love". Lucile said about her art school friends, "There was a special feeling among us. We had a separate make-up from people who expected us to work in a store... When we got to Minneapolis, the old life seemed empty, dry, barren, and dull."

By the next school year, 1917, Wanda had left for New York; however, she stayed in touch with Lucile who was now rooming with Stella Gag, Wanda's sister. In the Fall of 1918 Lucile headed east to New York to the Art Students' League which had just given her a scholarship in addition to the one that Wanda Gag and their friend Adolphe Dehn had received the year before. They became one of the group of students who had come from the Minneapolis School of Art to join the Art Students' League in this period. Many of them would stay in close contact with each other, even eating dinners together to save money. The First World War would cause disruption to this cohesion by scattering the men as a result of enlistment or conscription but they came back together again in New York after the war ended. Through this group Lucile became involved with Arnold Blanch whom she would soon marry.

In 1920 Wanda, Lucile and Violet Karland, another MSA student who had received a scholarship to the Art Students' League in 1919 were rooming together at 218 E 17th St. in New York. They were all working - Lucile and Violet as drama painters, which probably meant painting scenic backdrops, like their friend and former classmate Harry Gottlieb who worked for the Provincetown Players. During this time both Lucile and Wanda became interested in finding out about birth control. They would exchange information about it and talk about the advantages and problems with free love. This would have been quite a risque topic at that time.

The following year the newly-married Lucile and Arnold Blanch took a long trip to Europe to study art in France and Germany. When they returned they moved to Woodstock, New York to join the art colony run by Hervey White. This would become their core home for the rest of their lives even though they both left frequently to teach at various schools across the country and would divorce in 1939.

Woodstock's history with art goes back to 1902 when Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and Hervey White founded Byrdcliffe as an artists' colony. White split off in 1910 to found the nearby Maverick Art Colony. This was a communal society of artists who lived in primitive homes either for very low rent or for free and who shared in the proceeds from the annual Maverick Festival, an event of music, art, theatre in order to supplement their meager incomes from art. The colony was also an open-minded place that believed in "free and equal expression to the Conservative and Radical ". This is the world the Blanchs joined along with fellow MSA students, John B. Flannagan and Harry Gottlieb who also would remain integal parts of the Maverick colony for many years.

Here Lucile would create paintings and lithographs and work odd jobs to try to get enough money to sustain them. Her work came to the attention of Mrs. Juliana Force, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's assistant and she was represented in the Whitney Studio Club's 10th Annual Exhibition in 1925 and continued to be included through 1930. In 1933 both Lucile and her husband Arnold received Guggenheim Fellowships - the first time that a husband and wife had both won. They spent the following year in Europe and returned in November 1933 after which they both taught at the Art Students' League. Lucile continued to do well with art sales and shows at the newly-founded Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

During the Depression she worked for the Federal Arts Project painting murals at four post offices in the American South. She also taught at small colleges in the South which were more likely to hire women because they couldn't afford to hire men.

In the late 1930s she became a member of the American Artists' Congress, a group of mainly graphic artists who were opposed to fascism and took a special interest in the Loyalists fighting Franco in Spain. This work for the AAC would be brought up in the Investigation of un-Amercian Propaganda Activities Committee hearings before Congress in 1938 because some congressmen believed that the AAC was a Communist front. I don't know what Lucile thought about Communism but many artists who formed this group were Communists including her friend Harry Gottlieb. Lucile and Harry in addition to Arnold Blanch, Adolf Dehn, and Elizabeth Olds, all former MSA students of about the same age were also members of An American Group, Inc. which was a cooperative non-profit of 52 artist who put on exhibitions. In 1938 they sponsored "Roof for 40 Million - An Exhibition on Housing" in which they said "Our wish is to awaken interest in the problem of Housing among those who have grown callous to the appeal of the printed or spoken word. The works presented will be distinct cultural value and will demonstrate the fact that artists are responsive to the pressing problems of our time."

After the Second World War Lucile continued to paint but she turned more to abstraction and became less successful. She continued to live at least part of the year in the original house that Hervey White had built for her and Arnold when they had first had come to Woodstock. The rest of the year she would teach at various schools, including Converse College, the Ringling School of Art, Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Iowa, Weslyan and Mercer Universities.

In the 1970s she looked back on her life in the art world by recording an interview about her Woodstock Art Colony experiences and she donated her papers to the Smithsonian's Archive of American Art. She also donated 100 paintings to MCAD and I believe she left us her photo album to tell the story of where an artist's career began in a small Minnesota town in which her family and pets formed her deep interest in people, animals and nature so evident in her art work.

Photograph captions:
1. Lucile Lundquist's album cover
2. Charles and May Lundquist (pregnant with Lucile) in Hawley, Minn. early winter 1895
3. Warren High School musical with Lucile 3rd from right front row, her brother Byron 2nd from right behind, ca. 1912
4. a page of probable students at Minneapolis School of Art and at a lake, ca. 1916-18
5. father's buggy with the horse bought for his looks - too old to race anymore, with Lucile and her sister Bertrice and brother Byron and in rear Melgaard from Men's Clothing and Ostrand from Grocery Department both of People's Trading Company, Warren, Minn., ca. 1901
6. Unknown female student on the front steps of the Morrison Building looking southeast, ca. 1916-18
7. Lucile on left and unknown girl in front of Morrison Building looking west on 25th Street, ca. 1916-18
8. Lucile and her husband Arnold Blanch in France between 1922-29
9. Arnold Blanch, Lucile, Dorothy and Floyd Wilson at Maverick Festival, Woodstock, New York, 1922 or 1923
10. Lucile in her studio, New York while working for the WPA Federal Art Project, Oct. 31, 1940 taken by Max Yavno.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant

This the first of a series of articles based on files in the MCAD Archive featuring people associated with our school.

Farewell to the Slides

2011-08-03T10:51:00.005-05:00

Over more than half a century, MCAD developed one of the outstanding small college art and design slide collections in the nation, with holdings that eventually reached 145,000 glass-mounted 35mm. slides. This collection documented not only traditional art media such as painting, drawing, sculpture and photography, but also unusual items ranging from Native American masks to microphotographs of plant, animal, and geological forms.

With the coming of the digital revolution, however, the analog collection’s days were numbered. Faculty and student use declined each successive year. MCAD stopped adding new slides in 2005 as the College began to ramp up digital image production, and in 2010 announced its intention to cease supporting the use of slides as instructional resources.

Much of the slide collection has now been moved to a secure storage area in the Library, where it will continue to be available to guide our ongoing production of digital teaching images. But thousands of slides in good condition, for which there is no further use, will be given away to good homes, or to students to use in creative projects. Watch for more information about “The Great Slide Give-away” with the start of fall semester!

Allan Kohl
Visual Resources Librarian

Burnet Gallery Features Our MFA Students

2011-07-22T12:59:00.003-05:00

Tonight, Friday, July 22nd from 6-9pm is the opening for fifteen of our MFA students at Burnet Gallery. If you miss this you can see the show until 11 Sept. This should be a fun event and an opportunity to see some great new art and meet these emerging artists.

We have been fortunate in the library to have had two of these students, Zhongze Lu and Amit Tishler, work for us which they have done very efficiently and competently. I worked with Zhongze Lu during this last year and have had the privilege to have seen some of his artworks as he was working on them. They are very lushly colored fantasies often populated with women and birds in unexpected places. You can see in them what I see in Zongze - a magical quality. The first time I saw him was on the first day of classes last fall. I happened to be right behind him as he entered our main gallery doors. He paused and spun slowly around as if to take in the sights around him and then when he saw he wasn't alone he smiled in a sweet dreamy way. I knew right away he was different and had a gift for loving life. He seems to live in awe of the world and to see the beauty and kindness in everyone. I look forward to seeing his visions on paper.

Go to the show and find out what the world can look like as seen through the eyes of Zhongze and our other artists. It will expand your own outlook.

Say Goodbye to Our Library Director

2011-06-08T20:42:00.004-05:00

Next Friday, June 17th will be Suzanne Degler's last day at MCAD. She is moving west with her family where she is looking forward to enjoying the Mediterranean climate of the area south of San Francisco. Instead of MCAD students, she will be bumping into Stanford students at the local coffee houses. Instead of heat, humidity, freezing temperatures, snowfall and tornados she will be contending with fog, drought and lovely day after lovely day. We assume the fortitude forged here will sustain her out there.

We have been fortunate to have had her as library director since 1996. In this time she has overseen the momentous project of bringing our catalog online, including converting typed catalog cards to digital records, undertaking a complete inventory, and barcoding all our volumes. In addition to this, she has selected and acquired all our new materials and managed the people, finances and property of our library.

Maybe you know her and have appreciated her humor and good heartedness. Maybe you loved that she bought that book you requested or that she found books you didn't know you needed (who knew that you loved Kuniyoshi or Andy Goldsworthy). However, even if you don't know her or never directly met her, you can still appreciate that she was the one overseeing your library experience from hiring the staff to replacing the light fixtures (so you could see to read); buying all our new books and DVDs, including that obscure European film that you loved; selecting our periodicals from Adbusters to Scientific American; and making sure we thought about what you students and faculty would need so we could provide good service.

Given all that, please feel free to thank her and say your farewells.

Cory Prahl Opens Photography Show at Weinstein Gallery

2011-05-20T11:55:00.006-05:00

Maybe you remember Cory from his time here at MCAD or you heard about that photography MFA student who spent months making one photograph. Months? How is that possible?

Cory takes photographs of suburban streets with houses and then digitally alters them so they become new prairie landscapes. They are sometimes beautiful and mysterious sometimes lonely and post-apocalyptic. These photographs seem familiar and yet are unknown, a world that could exist or maybe will exist after we're gone.

As you will see in this show his finished photographs are very large, about 5x6 feet so that when you stand before them it is as if you are on these streets ready to walk into the scenes.

Bring your sense of magic and go see Cory's vision of suburbia until the 9th July at the Weinstein.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Desgin Library

Come to the Library During National Library Week & Enter to Win These Items

2011-04-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

Monday 11th April
	Five Hundred Self-Portraits with an introduction by Julian Bell, 2000 - See how other artists saw themselves from the time of ancient Egypt to the present in this beautifully illustrated book with a full plate on each page. Find out what your favorite artists look like and compare their different approaches to this pursuit with your own.
	A World History of Film by Robert Sklar 2002 - Here is a readable illustrated chronicle of film over the last 100 years with genres, trends, best films and actors and explanations of filmmaking. It's a great overview but also is detailed including international films from all around the world and documentaries. Read it for fun or use for reference.
	Futurama v. 2 (Season 2 Episodes 1-19) created by Matt Groening - Enjoy the animated science fiction sitcom featuring Philip J. Fry and his pizza delivery crew in the 31st century. This show holds the Guinness World Record for "Current Most Critically-Acclaimed Animated Series"and won seven Annie Awards and three Emmy Awards. This is the complete second season which aired Nov 1999 - Dec 2000. The four disc boxed set also includes commentary, deleted scenes, easter eggs, still gallery and concept art and alien alphabet.

Tuesday 12 April
	Making Worlds: 53^rd Venice Biennale (2009) - the catalog of the international exhibition with two volumes so you can see the national artists represented with their work and learn how Daniel Birnbaum who curated the show thought about selecting and exhibiting the artists.
	The Spirit of Folk Art (1989) - a look at 300 of the finest world-wide examples of baskets, pottery, textiles, jewelry, beadwork etc. in the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. This is a beautiful book of colorful plates but it also gives important background information about the cultures and creators.
	The Visitor; written and directed by Tom McCarthy (2008) - Find out what happens to a hapless professor who finds 2 illegal immigrants (a Syrian musician and a Senaglese street vendor) have moved into his apartment in New York's East Village.

Wednesday 13 April
	Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, by Jonathan Katz (2010) - an exploration of same sex desire as seen in portraits: drawing, painting, photography and illustration from the early 1900s to the present.
	Ansel Adams: An Autobiography (1985) - Find out about this master photographer, his love for the wild lands of the west, his friendships with Weston, Strand, Lange, O'Keeffe and Stieglitz and his precise methods, as shown in his photographs, both famous and unknown.
	The Simpsons: complete 7th season (7 disk set) - Matt Groening's animated TV series,winner of Emmie, Annies and a Peabody featuring Homer, Marge and Bart. This is all 25 shows from 1995, including "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", "Bart sells his Soul" and "Two Bad Neighbors"with deleted scenes.

Thursday 14 April
	The Art of Gilbert and George, or An aesthetic of existence, by Wolf Jahn (1989) - Find a complete summation of these British artists' work with 291 color illustrations. Learn more about this intriguing duo of "living sculptures".
	William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books (2001) - Enjoy the poetry and prints that Blake (1757-1827) created as integrated books full of his mystical view of life and love.
	Life on earth ; a film by Abderrahmane Sissako (2000) - Watching this lovely film by a Mauritainian about life in a Mali village will transport you to a world lived closer to the earth's rhythms.

Friday 15 April
	Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, by Kynaston McShine (1989) - Learn all about this iconic Sixties artist from his paintings to his films with over 600 illustrations. Also read his own statements and comments of his colleagues.
	Frida Kahlo, by Luis-Martin Lozano (2000) - Lose yourself in the story of the Mexican painter's tortured life with photographs and reproduction of her art including large fold-outs.
	The Simpsons: complete 8^th season (4 disk set) - See all 25 episodes from 1996's acclaimed season with bonus materials: introduction by creator Matt Groening, commentaries, original sketches, deleted scenes and animators' illustrated commentaries.

National Library Week is April 11-15

To celebrate the Library is holding a book & DVD giveaway!

How to win:

Two books and one DVD will be given away each day.

Fill out an entry ticket when you visit the Library Monday, April 11th through Friday, April 15th.

Entry is open to MCAD students, faculty, and staff.

Items will be on display at the Library's Circulation Desk for your inspection along with entry tickets.

Three names will be drawn after the Library closes and the winners notified by email the next morning.

Rules:

One entry per person per day (indicate your interest in one, two, or all three items on the entry form)

You are eligible to win once during the week

Good luck!

Mitchell Green, graphic design major recommends....

2011-04-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

Graphic Design major, Mitchell Green

Graphic Design is next in our series of student recommended Library material for the MCAD majors. The Library thanks Mitchell Green for sharing his selections. Mitchell is an avid library user so come by and check out what he wants you to know about. They're now on display in the main reading room. Thanks a bunch, Mitchell!!

The books I have chosen are books that either represent a contemporary or historical view of graphic design as well as a few design reference books. I enjoy that the MCAD Library not only offers the latest and greatest in Graphic Design, but also older, and in some cases hard to find, out of print graphic references. This range offers us designers a great survey of, and foundation to help position ourselves in the design world. Several of the books in this collection are published by Gestalten, an amazing publisher on the topics of art and design and a must know for any designer.

Turning Pages is an amazing book looking at the world of publication design and the designers who are redefining the boundaries of print media. Regular Graphic Design Today is a broader survey of design media and looks at the current state of graphic design and presents a new generation of creative excellence.

For the older books I picked one that references the old styling of wood type, and one that explores the creative genius of an old master. Wood 2 is a beautiful book showing the nuances of the old wooden type. The layout of the book is incredibly exciting as it is all about the forms. Printed Matter is a book that looks at the process of one of my Graphic Design heroes, Karel Martens (he’s also featured in the current issue of Idea Magazine), and his experimental approach to form making.

One of the reference books I choose, Biblio Graphic is a book that highlights 100 books about graphic design which are must reads for any aspiring designer!

Here is Mitchell's full list of recommendations:

Turning Pages : Editorial Design for Print Media

Gestalten, 2010

Call No.

Z246 .T87 2010

Regular Graphic Design Today

Die Gestalten Verlag, 2009

Call No.

NC998.4 .R45 2009

Neogeo : a new edge to abstraction

Gestalten Verlag, 2007

Call No.

NC997 .N46 2007

SHD : Super Holland Design : new graphics

Actar Barcelona ; 2008

Call No.

NC998.6.N4 H37 2008

Stereographics : graphics in new dimensions

Viction:ary, 2008

Call No.

NC997 .S847 2008

Tokyo TDC. Vol. 19, The best in international typography & design

Azur, 2008

Call No.

NC997.A1 J357 2008

Tres logos : [a collection of selected logos]

DGV, die Gestalten Verlag, 2006

Call No.

T325 .T74 2006

Hyphen Press, 1996

Call No.

NC999.6.N4 M37 1996

Handbook of early advertising art, mainly from American sources

Dover Publications, 1956

Call No.

NC997 .H58 1956

The encyclopaedia of type faces

Blandford Press ; Distributed in the U.S. by Sterling, 1983

Call No.

Z250 .J37 1983

Wood 2.

Morgan Press, 1964

Call No.

Z250 .M84

Artists' Books made @ MCAD on view in the Library

2011-03-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

NOW ON VIEW IN THE LIBRARY

Inspired by the Made @ MCAD exhibition in the gallery, the Library is jumping in with a mini made at MCAD show of its own. The exhibit was curated by Fine Arts senior, Maura Doyle, and features artists' books from the Library's collection and on loan by current and former instructors, MCAD students, and alumni. Included are works by Karen Wirth, Jody Williams, Kinji Akagawa, James Casebere and others using diverse print techniques, unusual materials and in a variety of formats.

The artists' books are now on display in the main reading room of the Library and the second stack room. Stop by the Library and enjoy!

Allison O'Brien and fellow comic majors recommend

2011-03-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

Allison O'Brien

For the fifth in our series of student recommended Library material pertaining to MCAD majors we highlight Comic Art. The Library thanks Alison O'Brien and her fellow comic art students for compiling this interesting collection of graphic novels and comics now on display in the main reading room. Check them out, literally!!

Thank you Allison for your insightful comments about the selections, and for sharing your self-portrait.

The items we’ve chosen strike a mark on the genre of comic books with literary and artistic vision that stretch them beyond the norm, whether it be by critical reception or occult appreciation. As a collective we attempted to pick the best of everything we could get our hands on in the widest range of styles possible to truly showcase what this medium has to offer. Enjoy the ride, my friends.

Love and Rockets is a character-driven opus that sets the standard for character and temporal development throughout a comic. The stories and characters span over years and years, growing in and around each other in ways that make it a pleasure to read and reread time and time again to become fully immersed in Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’ world.

Something more readily self-contained but just as fascinating is the award-winning Asterios Polyp. Asterios Polyp is something that can scarcely be explained through mere words, but suffice to say the sheer beauty of its layout is enough to give it precedence. Utilizing character-specific tonal ranges and constantly shifting styles, it’s a comic that forces the reader to come to their own terms and opinions, reexamining passages and artwork alike to fully ascertain even a shred of what Mazzucchelli is trying to convey.

For something a bit more dark and gritty why not try out The Dark Knight

Returns. You’ll get yourself a face full of harrowing physical and psychological turmoil that only Frank Miller can push to the forefront. It features a fresh-out-of- retirement Batman up against the cold-war politics of a disparaging Gotham that push him to the brink more than the darkness he fights ever could. It’s poignant, harsh, and perfectly fitting with the Batman of our modern media.

And that’s just the tip of iceberg. From the mind-numbingly moving Buddha to the
quirky antics of Beanworld, take some time to dive on in.

Dane Cree, Drawing & Painting major recommends....

2011-03-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

The Library thanks Dane Cree, Drawing and Painter major, for sharing his picks for what inspires him from the Library’s collection. It is the fifth in our series of displays of material relating to MCAD majors selected by students. Enjoy!!


Dane Cree

The items I’ve chosen have found their way into my life, some more recently than others, and have stuck with me. Much of the work can be described as psychological, erotic and bold. These artists have made an impact on the way I think about art. There are a few that stand out in my mind as especially noteworthy.

Ray Johnson: An artist who began painting stripes and morphed into a collagist and performance artist. He is someone that I admire for both the art he created as well as the way in which he conducted himself throughout his life. A book titled Ray Johnson: Correspondences and a documentary film called How to Draw a Bunny are both worth looking at.

Hans Bellmer: A great draftsman who created unusual drawings, photos and sculptures grasp my attention. The nature of his work may be disturbing in the eyes of some, but quite fascinating to others. Well-drafted, psychological, sexually charged imagery is a common theme in his work. If that combination of words excites you, then you need to have a look at the books titled Hans Bellmer.

Chris Cunningham: Most known for his distinctly unusual music videos directed for Bjork and Aphex Twin, as well as other artists. The distorted realities that he creates bring out the essence in the music for which they were created. I would recommend watching both The Work of Director Chris Cunningham along with the grotesque, 6 min. film for musician Aphex Twin titled, Rubber Johnny. Don’t forget to look at the booklet that comes with if you happen to enjoy his work.

I find great inspiration in people who are multifaceted especially those who live their lives from one creation to the next. This combination of books and DVDs encourages me to continue to look beyond the content contained within them as I make my way through life. Whether I’m laying paint on canvas, drawing hundreds of frames for an animation or performing; I can always look back at the artists that created before me and be excited by what they did with their time.

Amit Tischler, MFA animation recommends....

2011-03-07T14:10:00.000-06:00

For the third in this series of student recommended Library resources we are pleased to share with you Amit Tischler's selections. Amit is an MFA Animation graduate student from Tel Aviv, Israel. Read his insightful comments about what he chose, then stop in to the Library and check them out!
Thanks, Amit!

Amit Tischler

Animation is a field that includes many genres, styles and techniques under its basic definition. As a 2D animator, and an MFA student who had already worked in the industry I’ve already established my own style and favorite technique and that affected the topics that I chose for this display.

I specifically chose books and films that deal with the more traditional techniques of animation (stop motion and traditional classic animation) from both western and eastern Industries. Like many MCAD students, I too am an anime fan and believe we have a lot to learn from the masters of the Japanese industry, so whether you like japanimation or not, some of these picks are a must for every animator regardless of his preferences.

In the Japanese animation feature department I highly recommend checking out Satoshi Kon’s Millenium Actress, Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro and Madhouse’s Ghost in the Shell as films that represent very different and unique kinds of storytelling and creative design techniques for animated features.

In the western front, I’d recommend checking out the Wallace and Gromit collection for some good old fashioned stop motion goodness, Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant for one of the most under rated yet amazingly well done American classic animation films and Persepolis for a different and very contemporarily relevant classic animation film.

Also, for all you fresh animators I chose to showcase books that might prove insightful and helpful for you on your journey into this area of expertise and even for your school assignments here at MCAD. These books are of course recommended not only for beginners, but for experienced animators as well, there are always new tricks to learn, new bits of information or sources of inspiration to discover.

From the book department I urge you to check out Richard Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit, it is the true holy bible of animation from one of the most brilliant and talented animators who ever lived. All you animators that still struggle with walking cycles, stretching, squashing or easing in and out- have no fear, all the answers you seek will be there, that I can assure you.

And for all you animators more interested in the wonders of anime and the pre-production process of feature films, I would recommend checking out the Ghibli studio art books I placed in this collection, they’re a true feast for the eyes.

Amit Tishler

MFA- Animation.

Exploring the architecture of the Twin Cities

2011-03-01T15:48:00.000-06:00

During your time here at MCAD, have you had an opportunity to explore the built environment of the Twin Cities? In and around downtown Minneapolis, you’ll find an exciting array of world-class architecture, including signature buildings by five Pritzker Prize-winning architects -- among them Frank Gehry’s Weisman Art Museum on the University of Minnesota campus, and Jean Nouvel’s exciting Guthrie Theater complex overlooking the Stone Arch Bridge on the Mississippi River.

Adjacent to the Guthrie, the Mill City Museum provides an innovative example of adaptive re-use: focusing on Minneapolis’ industrial history, the Museum is constructed inside the shell of an historic 19th century flour mill. Downtown on Nicollet Mall, Cesar Pelli’s Central Public Library is an internationally-renowned “green building,” featuring a host of energy-efficient measures, including a roof garden and substantial use of natural light.

Our Twin City, nearby St. Paul, boasts architectural gems ranging from Cass Gilbert’s Minnesota State Capitol and the Baroque-inspired Cathedral of St. Paul, to the mansion of railroad baron James J. Hill; in close proximity, you can see styles ranging from the French chateau of the Landmark Center to the streamlined Art Deco lines of the Jemne Bulding – and even a touch of populist America in Mickey’s Diner.

At one time, MCAD offered a program in Architecture, and the Library’s collection includes publications documenting many of the Twin Cities’ historic buildings and neighborhoods. We hope you enjoy looking through these publications highlighting the past and present of the urban landscape all around us!

Emily Pope, photography major, recommends.....

2011-02-28T14:37:00.000-06:00

For the second of the Library’s changing displays of materials relating to MCAD’s majors, Emily Pope, Photography, has made selections that inspire her investigations in the major. Below are her comments about what she has chosen.

Stop by the Library, have a look for yourself, and check these things out!

Emily Pope

The books I chose for the display of library material relating to my major are a mix of photographic works well known by those in the major, and a few personal favorites. All of them show an amazing sense of beauty, composition, and subject matter that immortalized the changing moments of their time.

One of my favorite books is Brassaï’s Paris By Night - a beautiful collection that captures the nightlife of 1930’s Paris through striking cityscapes and an array of impromptu portraits. Not only are the photographs themselves gorgeous, but the format of the book is striking in itself.

Another must read is Sze Tsung Leong’s History Images. Leong captures images of traditional cities and buildings overcome by urbanization and construction – and in doing so depicts history in the midst of disappearing. His images capture a crossing point between two realities - the soon forgotten stories and lives of the past, and those that have yet to unfold in the near and ongoing future.

Fine Arts Studio major Maura Doyle recommends these library resources

2011-02-18T08:11:00.000-06:00

As part of the Library’s changing displays of materials relating to MCAD’s majors, Maura Doyle, Fine Arts Studio, has made the latest selections. Maura also has written a thoughtful essay about the items she chose. Read what she has to say, stop by the Library, & check these things out!


Maura Doyle

As a senior in the Fine Arts Studio program, I work fluidly between a variety of mediums including performance, installation, video, sculpture, photography and painting. Beyond learning technical skills across these mediums, being a part of the Fine Arts Studio major has pushed me to evaluate my work in relation to the dialogue of contemporary art. I think that the majority of students within this major have a desire to approach their studio practice holistically, without worrying about defining the process of making but rather the context that they are operating in. As a result, the work created by my peers in Fine Arts Studio ranges from experimental audio, video, and site-specific installations to performances, collage, sculpture and beyond.

The books I chose for the Library's Fine Arts Studio display reflect both my personal research as well as those artists that I know others in my major are looking at. I think that the breadth of books shown is an accurate representation of the wide array of investigations happening throughout the studios of the students in the major. An important part of my own research involves looking back to artists from previous eras, while at the same time keeping up to date on the contemporary art scene in the States and abroad. The books Young British Art and Ice Cream: Contemporary Art in Culture have been influential to this part of my study.

A few books that I find myself returning to time and again include Joan Simon's Ann Hamilton, The Walker's catalog, The Quick and the Dead, and Joseph Beuys: actions, vitrines, environments. Besides looking at the work of fellow artists, a vital part of my practice and that of many of my peers in Fine Arts Studio is engaging with the theory and philosophy surrounding our work. I have found the entire series of Documents in Contemporary Art to be an easily accessible and comprehensive resource for this sort of critical investigation.

Another all-time favorite read is The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abrams, which I would highly recommend to anybody looking to explore the poetics of the body's sensory experiences in the world. My last recommendation is the recently published biography When Marina Abramovic Dies, which offers an unprecedented view into her personal life, early work, and collaborations.

Maura Kelly Doyle

New display at the Circulation Desk for February: Painters Painting

2011-02-08T12:00:00.001-06:00

Cover detail from the book: Imaginary Portraits of George Condo

Painting is dead!
What, again?
This alarm goes off periodically, but painting either bounces back,
or may never have been as lifeless as characterized.

Considering that painting has been around about 30,000 years,

and survived many transformations, including all the isms of

modern times, its staying power shouldn't surprise us.

It's still painters painting!

On display is a small selection of books on artists

who just that: paint!

Evolution of our Darwin specimens

2011-02-01T14:26:00.001-06:00

To support the Reading and Writing 2 classes, we are continuing to add new material to our collection on Charles Darwin and associated topics: evolution, natural selection, Victorian culture, etc., etc. (see a sample at the bottom). Highlights include:

Materials on Course Reserve for you to use in your course work and research. Of course, we have a copy of your required texts, but we have materials covering the science behind the theory of evolution, the debate and future of evolution, and the art resulting from Darwin's explorations and its impact. You might like Charles Darwin and Victorian Visual Culture, or Species: A History of the Idea, or my favorite, Dry storeroom no. 1 : the secret life of the Natural History Museum. Find the complete list here.

We added some ebooks on Darwin and evolution. They are are linked in our catalog and available on and off campus and are "checked out" to you as long as your browser window is open. Find the complete list at here.

Also, you may find it handy to listen to a book. We just added The Voyage of the Beagle read by Richard Dawkins to our audio book collection. You can also find audio versions of On the Origin of Species on LibriVox, a website that provides free access to audiobooks from the public domain.

Amy Naughton, Public Services Librarian

The Age of Wonder : How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes. Q127.G4 H65 2008

Bioethics and the New Embryology : Springboards for Debate by Scott F. Gilbert. RG133.5 .G55 2005

Biology : life on Earth. 9th ed. by Teresa Audesirk . QH308.2 .A93 2011

Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Policies by Patricia K. Townsend. QH541 .T68 2009

A Fish Caught in Time : the Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg. QL638.L26 W45 2001

Genes and DNA : a Beginner's Guide to Genetics and Its Applications by Charlotte K. Omoto. QH430 .O47 2004

Mapping the World : Stories of Geography by Caroline Laffon. GA201 .L33 2009

Screening the Body : Tracing Medicine's Visual Culture by Lisa Cartwright. R835 .C37 1995

The Selfish Gene. 30th anniversary ed. by Richard Dawkins . QH437 .D38 2006

Strange Maps : an Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities. by Frank Jacobs. GA201 .J33 2009

The Third Chimpanzee : the Evolution and Future of the Human Anomaly by Jared M. Diamond. GN281 .D53 2006

Artist book by Joyce Lyon on display in the Library

2011-01-31T08:13:00.000-06:00

In honor of visiting artist Joyce Lyon's lecture Thursday, Feb. 3, the Library is highlighting her artist book from the collection, Conversations with Rzeszow. Through text and image Lyon "attempts to understand and accept the limitations to understanding her father's experience of the Holocaust." The book is a complex construction of fold out and gate fold pages containing rich black and white illustrations and text. The shape of the book changes as the pages are turned, and during the week a new page spread will be displayed daily to reveal the changing composition as the narrative progresses.

The book is in a display case in the Main Reading Room of the Library. If you would like to examine it more closely outside of the case, please ask for assistance at the Circulation Desk.

More information about Conversations with Rzeszow including the artist's statement can be found on the website for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Recent work by Joyce Lyon is on exhibit now through -Feb. 26 at the Groveland Gallery, 25 Groveland Terrace, Minneapolis

Kay Streng, Technical Services Librarian

Lars Martinson's Tonoharu Part Two

2011-01-28T13:47:00.000-06:00

Nakasu-Kawabata at Sunset, front cover of Tonoharu part two

The Library is pleased to inform you that we have a copy of Lars Martinson's latest graphic novel, Tonoharu (Part Two). It is the second in what will be a four-part series that tells the story of a group of foreigners living in Fukuoa-Ken, Japan. Stop by and have a look at it before his lecture this Tuesday, Feb. 1 @ 1pm in auditorium 150. It will be on display in the Main Reading room this week and available for regular check out after that period.

Pictured here is the cover illustration, Nakasu-kawabata at Sunset, the second in a series entitled Four Views of Fukuoka-ken, which according to Martinson is "informed" by the work of Hokusai. Fukouoka-ken or Fukuoka City is the capitol of Fukuoka prefecture in the southern part of Japan. Nakasu-kawabata is an area of the city known for its high end shopping as well as its red light district.

Click here to see more illustrations from Tonoharo Part Two on Lars' blog.

Mon. Jan. 24: Get into the guts of the matter!

2011-01-23T16:05:00.000-06:00

Thinking Out Loud lecture series,
Monday, Jan. 24, 1pm Aud. 150

The following information was provided by Dr. Mark Olson Assistant Prof. of Visual and Media Studies at Duke University. It is meant to give context and offer information that directly relates to the subject of his lecture at MCAD Monday, Jan. 24 at 1 pm in Auditorium 150.

Promotional material from Intuitive Surgical, one of the robotic systems that figures prominently in Dr. Olson's work: The da Vinci Surgical System

Information on robots in medicine from Innovation TV

Online journals: Social Studies of Science http://sss.sagepub.com/

Journal of Robotic Surgery http://www.springerlink.com/content/120470/

Links to art: Endo-Ecto, Phillip Warnell

A Journey Inside: A look at the body's interior in post 1960s art an essay by Dr. Cornelia Grockel, art critic and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. It was published in issue 19 of Innovation Magazine

The artist's response to environmental disaster

2011-01-21T11:55:00.002-06:00


Carole Fisher's exhibition in the MCAD Gallery

The Library is currently featuring a display of materials about environmental issues and some of the artistic responses they have generated. Specific to the subject of Carole Fisher's work in the gallery are the best selling books, The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster and Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.

Documentation of the toll of human made disaster and climate change can be seen in Robert Polidori's photographs: Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat & Chernobyl and in the book Vanishing Landscapes, the latter which captures the effect of climate change on the landscape in the work of Burtynsky, Struth, Sugimoto and others. Also included are the DVDs An Inconvenient Truth and Koyannisqatsi: Life Out of Balance. Rounding out the display you'll find items on what artists and designers are doing to raise awareness and promote sustainability through good design.

Enjoy!

Artistic License: The Freedom to be Creative

2011-01-16T20:33:00.000-06:00

In October the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture opened at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in Washington D.C to critical acclaim. The exhibition surveys how same-sex love has been portrayed in art from the 19th century to the present and includes works by Eakins, Duchamp, Johns, Goldin and Mapplethorpe to name just a few. Within weeks the Catholic League and other conservative groups took issue with a video in the show by entitled A Fire in My Belly, by David Wojnarowicz. Wojnarowicz was a gay artist who died of AIDS related complications in 1987. The Smithsonian Institution, of which the NPG is a part caved in to pressure from these groups and A Fire In My Belly was removed from the exhibition.

The threat of artistic censorship is nothing new and with this recent high profile case we see that is not going away anytime soon. As a reminder that this issue recurs with disturbing regularity, the Library is featuring material in a display at the Circulation Desk about artists whose work has been censored in the past, along with publications which address the importance of vigilance against the curtailment artistic freedoms. Also included is the catalog from the Hide/Seek exhibition. These items are now on display through the end of the month at the Library Circulation desk.

You may also view "A Fire in My Belly" and read the ongoing discussion about its removal from the NPG show on the Hide/Seek blog site.

We hope you will take a look at these thought provoking materials.

Kay Streng, Technical Services Librarian

Minnesota's Illustrators in the News

2011-01-13T11:41:00.002-06:00

Wonderful linoleum cut illustrations by Duluth artist, Rick Allen must have contributed to Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman being named a Newbery Medal Honor Book for 2011. The Newbery Medal is an award for the most distinguished children's book published in the previous year in the U.S. See for yourself: YouTube. To read more about the local connections to this year's Newbery award go to:Minnesota books win big at ALA award.

Also in the news is an exhibition "Beyond the Book" at the Bloomington Theatre & Art Center of seven local illustrators. You can see the non-illustration art work of Nancy Carlson (MCAD 1976), Stephen Gammell, Mike Wohnoutka, Lauren Stringer, Derek Anderson, Beth Peck (MCAD MFA 2007) and Leslie Bowman now through 18 Feb. If you go at 7pm on 8 Feb you can take in a panel discussion and book signing too. You can read about it at the Star Tribune.

Check out our library collection for some books by or about these illustrators:

Nancy Carlson
Flashbacks : an alumni exhibition Pamph N6530.M6 F63 1990
Making art : interviews with ten Minnesota artists Pamph N6530.M6 M34 1986
Pictures from home : Minnesota illustrators of children's books Pamph NC965 .M6 1988
Henry's amazing imagination! PZ7.C216 He 2008
The Masked Maverick / by Jacqueline K. Ogburn PZ7.O3317 Mas 1994
Lenore's big break / by Susan Pearson PZ7.P323316 Le 1992

Stephen Gammell
Song and dance man / by Karen Ackerman PZ7.A1824 So 1988
Is that you, winter? : a story PZ7.G144 Is 1997
Monster mama / story by Liz Rosenberg PZ7.R71894 Mo 1993
Dancing teepees : poems of American Indian youth PZ8.3 .D36 1989

Beth Peck
A Christmas memory / by Truman Capote PZ7.C214 Ch 1989
The snow goose / Paul Gallico PZ7.G137 Sn 1992
Just like Josh Gibson / written by Angela Johnson PZ7.J629 Ju 2004
Music for the end of time / written by Jen Bryant PZ9.B79 Mu 2005

Lauren Stringer
8 McKnight artists Pamph N6530.M6 E3 1992
Snow / Cynthia Rylant PZ7.R982 Sn 2008
Fold me a poem / Kristine O'Connell George PZ8.3.G45 Fo 2005

Thank you illustrators for making reading so much more enjoyable.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Design Library

12/21=winter soltice=longest day

2010-12-21T08:49:00.000-06:00

Settling into winter and the longest day of the year.....
The Library's current display at the Circulation Desk, "And Still: snowy - quiet - meditative selections," brings together a variety of materials to enhance your winter's rest experience. Selections include ice and snow photography and sculpture, ice crystals, repetitive patterns and the works of Richard Long, James Turrell, Agnes Martin, Olafur Eliasson and Mark Rothko. There are many beautifully illustrated books choose from, and even some DVDs too. Stop by and check out a few for the break.

Happy Holidays from your friends in the MCAD Library

Should MCAD Have a Library Cat?

2010-11-12T10:39:00.000-06:00

Enough with the “Cat-alog” jokes, already . . .

This idea isn’t as off-the-wall as it might sound at first. The Library Cat Society maintains a listing of hundreds of libraries around the world with resident felines (you can see their map here).

The video documentary “Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat,” along with its companion book Dewey / The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, chronicles the life and exploits of the late Dewey Readmore, famed feline bibliophile of the Spencer Public Library in Iowa.

http://www.spencerlibrary.com/dewey.shtml

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1141182/Puss-books-How-cat-transformed-town.html

Here at MCAD, students who are lonesome for their own beloved companion animals waiting for them back home might benefit emotionally from spending a few quality moments with a Library Cat. Before his untimely demise last year, long-time neighborhood resident Yo Yo Meow used to warm many MCADian hearts with his frequent, friendly visits. On evenings when classes were due to wrap up, Yo Yo Meow would hang out by the gallery doors, greeting students and asking them to slow down for a minute, receiving affectionate pets in return. Also, truth be told, the MCAD Library has from time to time experienced “mouse problems,” which a resident cat could help to alleviate.

Most MCAD Library staffers are "cat people"

On the other hand, most libraries with resident cats are smaller public libraries with limited hours, rather than busy academic libraries with extended hours. Some people have allergies triggered by pet dander; and other unfortunate souls are ailurophobic (literally “scared of cats”), a psychological condition that goes way beyond just “being generally annoyed by cats.” From time to time, even normally well-behaved companion animals experience stress-related issues (don’t we all?), and might as a consequence sometimes act in a less than sociable manner. Which, inevitably, raises the question of which staff member would get to be custodian of -- and assume responsibility for -- the Library Cat’s (ahem) litter box?

In the end, perhaps it’s a good thing that the decision is out of our hands: College policy forbids keeping animals on campus.

Allan Kohl
Visual Resources Librarian

It's time for the Library's annual book sale!

2010-11-08T10:25:00.000-06:00

The Library book sale will be held this Wednesday & Thursday, Nov. 10-11 from 8:30am to10pm in the Library. The first day is reserved for current students who pay just 1/2 price! As usual there will be a variety of books and magazines on art and literature plus this year VHS tapes and vinyl LPs.
New this year we're holding a drawing for a lovely art book: Hiroshige's 100 views of Edo. To win you must be a follower of the Library's Facebook page. No purchase required! See you at the sale!

Luis Fitch of Uno Branding lectures @ MCAD 11/1

2010-11-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

Luis Fitch, creative director and founder of Uno Branding will speak this evening (11/1) in auditorium 150 @ 6:30 pm. View his presentation at the AIGA business and design conference in 2008 about Uno's branding projects. See more of Uno's work at http://unoonline.com/

Elliott Erwitt at Weinstein Gallery

2010-10-29T11:49:00.001-05:00

Meet a former president of Magnum, a fabulous photographer of those absurd and poignant moments that zip past us. He is one of the most iconic photographers of the last 60 years and he will be here at the Weinstein Gallery tonight Oct 29th from 6-8:30pm. The show is up until January 9th.

Elliott Erwitt was born in Paris in 1928 but has lived in many locations including Italy, Los Angeles, Germany, France and mostly New York. He studied photography and filmmaking at Los Angeles City College and at the New School for Social Research in New York before working for the US Army as a photographer. After he met and was mentored by Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker he was invited to join Magnum Photos agency and went on to be their president for 3 terms.

He has worked as a freelance photographer for many magazines and done advertising and industrial photography as well as producing 20 books. He also has made documentary films and comedy programs for Home Box Office.

You can see examples of his work at his website and at Magnum Photos. Take a look at these images and you will realize how many you recognize because they have been routinely published over the years. They are so beautiful, funny or moving that they are very memorable. You will be glad to have seen them.

Eva Hyvarinen
Visual Resources Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Lecture by photographer James Welling Oct. 14

2010-10-13T16:18:00.001-05:00

Don't miss photographer James Welling's lecture this Thursday at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It will be held in the Pillsbury Auditorium from 6-7 pm. and it is FREE to MCAD students with an I.D.

And do stop by the Library and have a look at some of the books in the collection on Welling's work. They're now on display in the main reading room.

John Tenniel's Civil War Cartoons

2010-10-11T16:18:00.004-05:00

Editorial cartoons and satirical drawings by English artist John Tenniel, famed as the original illustrator of Lewis Carroll"s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, will be the subject of a talk given by Allan Kohl, MCAD's Visual Resources Librarian, at the October meeting of the St. Croix Valley Civil War Roundtable on Monday, October 25, at the Lowell Inn in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Tenniel's cartoons offer an unusual look at the events and personalities of the Civil War from a European perspective. As the principal cartoonist for the venerable British periodical Punch, Tenniel reflected the political views of that periodical's Tory (Conservative) readership. These views are evident in his pro-Southern spin on events, and especially in his viciously negative portrayals of the American President, Abraham Lincoln.

Kohl is particularly interested in the interaction of “high art” and popular visual culture –- including materials such as theatrical posters, political cartoons, sheet music covers, currency, and even advertising -- during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of the illustrators and designers who created these early examples of “mass publications” began their careers as traditionally-trained artists, and freely appropriated compositions, figure poses, and gestures from “high art” sources such as classical statuary, or narrative and genre paintings. Kohl’s three-year study of Tenniel’s cartoons commenting on the Civil war resulted in his web publication John Tenniel and the American Civil War: Political Cartoons from Punch, 1860-1865.

The St. Croix Valley Civil War Roundtable meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the historic Lowell Inn, located at 102 N. 2nd St. in Stillwater, MN. Social hour is at 5:00 PM, with dinner at 6:00 PM and program at 7:00 PM.

Four generations of Yoshida Family artists

2010-10-11T08:27:00.000-05:00

Did you know that Ayomi Yoshida whose installation, Reverberation, now in the MCAD Gallery was born into a dynasty of famous Japanese printmakers? For more than a century the Yoshia family has created work wedding traditional and modern artistic practices.

To find out more about their body of work take a look at the book A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists in the Library's collection (N 7359.Y67 A4 2002). This beautifully illustrated exhibition catalog produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which includes essays by Matthew Welch, curator of Japanese art at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and others, "provides new insights into each artist as well as a broad view of major issues confronting Japanese art in the late 19th and 20th century. The unique perspective of a single family also offers a rare opportunity to examine how family ties impact artistic creation."

The Library also has the catalog for Yeodensis, Ayomi Yoshida's installation at Northern Illinois University in 2008 (Pamphlet N 7359.Y674 A4 2008)

Enjoy Reverberation now in the MCAD gallery!

Kay Streng
Technical Services Librarian

Color Observations Outside

2010-10-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

Get outside and see our leaves changing. The Twin Cities are at about 50-75% peak color now. We have plenty of beautiful trees right here on campus including the MIA courtyard. For farther afield check out the Fall Color Reports from the Minnesota DNR which show a state map, photos, videos and reports for each state park.

If you are wondering what is actually happening in the leaves take a look at Wikipedia's explanation with graphics showing the carotenoids and anthocyanins and how they form.

And if while you're staring at the leaves you begin to notice how much the leaves, bark and shapes vary from tree to tree you might want to use a key to identify the trees. Try these:
Dichotomous Tree Key (DNR Wisc.)
Tree Identification Arbor Day Foundation
Key to Wisconsin Woody Plants for the iPod

The library also has some books to help you key your trees:
A field guide to trees and shrubs Ref QK 482 .P43 1972
The illustrated encyclopedia of trees, Ref QK 475 .E29 1978
Trees of North America and Europe Ref QK 477.2 .I4 P45

Have fun observing nature and enjoy the wonderful color combinations.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant

MCAD Library

Explore the Dark Side

2010-10-04T11:10:00.000-05:00

Ready or not, Halloween will be here soon!
To prepare you, to get you in the mood, we have pulled some items from the Library's collection for display, celebrating the dark side, the macabre, the gruesome and the ghastly.
Among the selections are DVDs (including The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror and Nosferatu), graphic novels, childrens books, exhibition catalogs (100 Artists See Satan), critical works on the Gothic, books on the holiday itself (Dressed for Thrills), on The Day of the Dead, and the art of Edward Gorey.
Stop by the Library circulation desk and check them out (literally).

Richard T. Brewer, MCAD Alumnus at Gallery 360

2010-10-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

Dick Brewer will be in a two-man show with Al Wadzinski at Gallery 360 from 2 Oct. to 7 Nov. with an opening Saturday night from 7-10 pm. They will be showing "unorthodox object d'art" with some masks, animal-forms carved and painted plexiglass and mixed media sculptures according to the gallery. The Star Tribune's article claims that "you should expect a scene at the opening party".

Richard Brewer graduated from MCAD in 1969 and exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1977. He also won a Bush Foundation fellowship in 1989 and a McKnight Foundation fellowship the same year. His works are owned by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Frederick R. Weisman Museum, Minnesota Museum of Art and by many local corporations. His website has a beautiful gallery of his work and background information about him.

Whether or not you see the show you can see more about Richard Brewer in the following publications in our library: Alumni exhibition / Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Pamph N6535.M54 M4 1986; Bush artist fellowships, Pamph NX412 .B8 1989; Eight McKnight artists, Pamph N6530.M6 E3 1990; Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program presents five geniuses, N6530.M6 M556.

Eva Hyvarinen

Visual Resource Assistant

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Installation artist, type designer, stone carver, sculptor, and biomedical animator win MacArthur grants

2010-09-28T16:54:00.000-05:00

Among the 23 people named 2010 MacArthur Fellows (winners of the $500,000 "genius grant"):

Nicholas Benson, stone carver
Drew Berry, biomedical animator
Matthew Carter, type designer
Jorge Pardo, installation artist
Elizabeth Turk, sculptor

Non-MacArthur Fellow Tim Kiser
Circulation Assistant, MCAD Library

Jody Williams Artist's Books Here and in New Show

2010-09-25T16:18:00.004-05:00

Jody Williams, who teaches printmaking and book arts here, is having a show at Form+Content Gallery 23rd Sept. - Oct 30th. She will have receptions on Saturday Sept. 25th and Wednesday Oct 13th from 6-9 pm. They will be showing her new artist's book Relative Remains with etchings of invertebrates and fossils.

You can also find out more about Jody's work at Flying Paper Press.

The MCAD library has several of Jody's earlier works in our Artist's Books Collection which do not check out but you can look at them here if you ask at the library's circulation desk. Here is a list of all the books that we have by or about her with their locations and call numbers:

Bugs of Summer

Francesca Di Piazza ... [et al.]. [Minnesota] : Flying Paper Press, c1998.

MCAD Artists' Book Collection: N7433.4 .B84 1998

Time will tell

Jody Williams. Minneapolis, MN : Flying Paper Press, [1991]

MCAD Artists' Book Collection: N7433.4.W49 T56 1991

Marvel Ann's dream

Jody Williams. Rosendale, N.Y. : Women's Studio Workshop, c1989.

MCAD Artists' Book Collection: N7433.4.W49 M37 1989

Dualities

Nicole Ashley ... [et al.] Minneapolis : Out of Hand Press, 1991.

MCAD Artists' Book Collection: N7433.M564 D8 1991

There is no other way to speak

edited by Bill Holm. [Minneapolis, MN] : Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 2005.

MCAD Artists' Book Collection: PS571.M6 T3 2005

500 handmade books : inspiring interpretations of a timeless form

senior editor, Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott. New York : Lark Books, c2008.

MCAD Book Stacks N7433.3 .F2 2008

30 below : a juried competition for young Minnesota artists : January 18-March 15, 1987, University Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

[artists, Jon Anderson ... et al.]. Minneapolis : The Museum, c1987.

MCAD Pamphlets N6530.M6 T47 1987

WARM, a landmark exhibition

Minneapolis, Minn. : WARM, Women's Art Registry of Minnesota, c1984.

MCAD Special Collection: N8354 .W65 1984

We hope to see you here and I'm sure Jody would love to see you at her opening.

Eva Hyvarinen

Visual Resource Assistant

MCAD Library

Art of the Poster, 1880-1918

2010-09-21T10:15:00.006-05:00

This collection of over one hundred and sixty digital images of historic posters from the “Golden Age of the Poster” (1880s through the First World War) was originally compiled to support the teaching of Design History and Graphic Design courses at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design.

In the late nineteenth century, lithographers began to use mass-produced zinc plates rather than stones in their printing process. This innovation allowed them to prepare multiple plates, each with a different color ink, and to print these in close registration on the same sheet of paper. Posters in a range of colors and variety of sizes could now be produced quickly, at a modest cost. Skilled illustrators and graphic designers – such as Alphonse Mucha, Jules Cheret, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec -- quickly began to exploit this new technology; the “Golden Age of the Poster” was the spectacular result. Many of the artists who designed posters during this period were already well known in other media, such as painting, printmaking, and architecture. Their creative success helped to bridge the gap between “high art” and popular visual culture, and to introduce even those who never visited museums or galleries to examples of innovative modern design. Today, these striking posters are highly regarded as being among the most distinctive examples of fin-de-siecle styles such as Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession.

The Lawrence University Library is hosting the scanned images for the Art of the Poster collection for public access in collaboration with Library Visual Resources at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where the images were scanned and cataloged.

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/contentdm/posters/index.htm

Allan Kohl

Visual Resources Librarian

MCAD Library

Read banned books. Celebrate the right to think for yourself!

2010-09-20T10:05:00.000-05:00

September 25 through October 2 is Banned Books Week, the annual event established by the American Library Association (ALA) to celebrate the freedom to read and the freedom of the press covered by the First Amendment. The MCAD Library staff invites you to join in the celebration of Banned Books Week by reading what you want to and enjoying free and open access to information, but also to remember that censorship and attempted book banning still occurs.

We're all familiar with many of the books that have been singled out. Deemed 'unsuitable for many audiences,' were (and often still are) To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, The Color Purple, and more recently the Harry Potter and Twilight series to name only a few. Did you know that one of the recommended books for the MCAD all-school project, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie is on the ALA's top ten most challenged books for both 2008 and 2009?

The MCAD Library's popular collection of of comics and graphic novels is a genre of literature that has historically been a target for censorship so it's not surprising the cartoonist or graphic novelist would address this topic in their work. We'd like to bring to your attention to the online graphic novel, Americus, written by M.K. Reed and illustrated by Jonathan Hill. It's the story of a "book-loving boy from the small Oklahoma town of Americus who grapples with the travails of high school and takes a stand when it looks as though his favorite fantasy series, starring a young sorceress (Apathea Ravenchilde, the huntress wytch) who hunts monsters and tyrants, might be banned from the local library." Americus will be published in book form in its entirety in 2011 but can be read in weekly installments at:

http://saveapathea.com/

To read more about M.K. Reed and Jonathan Hill's collaborative project go to:

First Second Graphic Novel with Banned Book Theme Appears First on Web, Later in Stores

Read what you like and as the American Library Association says: "think for yourself and let others do the same."

See you in the Libary!

Kay Streng
Technical Services Librarian
MCAD Library

You Can Vote at ArtPrize

2010-09-14T21:33:00.005-05:00

It may be too late to enter your artwork but it's not too late to vote for your favorite in the $250,000 ArtPrize 2010 competition. You will have to get to Grand Rapids, Michigan (about a ten hour drive) between Sept. 22 and Oct 6 if you want to take part in the ArtPrize voting. Last year they had 200,000 visitors with 37,000 people voting. You can check out the voting rules at ArtPrize

The competition is open to any artist who can convince one of the event's venues to be his/her host. The top ten artists who are chosen by the popular vote of those attending will receive part of the total $449,000 with $250,000 to the first place holder, $100,00 to 2nd, $50,000 to 3rd and $7,000 to 4th through 7th place holders. This year ArtPrize will also have juried awards of $5,000 each for 2D, 3D, Performance/Film/Video, and urban space.

The prize money, which is the largest art prize anywhere, is coming from the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation. Dick DeVos is the son of the founder of Amway. One of the foundation's trustees is Rick DeVos who came up with the idea of ArtPrize. The DeVos family is known in Michigan for their politically conservative views and for their philanthropy.

This year they have 1,713 artists showing at 192 venues around Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can look at the artist's bios and their artworks on ArtPrize's Artist: Full list

To read more about ArtPrize, check out these articles: Wall Street Journal Magazine: Critical Mass by Taylor Antrim and ArtDaily: Grand Rapids Awaits ArtPrize Crowds, Back for a Second Year by David Runk.

Eva Hyvarinen

Visual Resource Assistant
MCAD Library

Commemorate Labor Day!

2010-09-01T11:57:00.005-05:00

Labor Day was created by the labor movement to recognize the economic achievements of American workers. It has been celebrated as day to lay down your tools and to come together with other workers. To help you enjoy it, we are displaying selected books about the history of the labor movement and about some painters, printmakers, and photographers who depicted workers.

Look at the murals of David Alfaro Siqueros, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, the prints and drawings of Kathe Kollwitz, the photographs of Lewis Hine, Sebastiao Salgado, Edward Burtynsky and others.

Read about Minnesota's strong labor movement history and the violent reaction of business and police in response to strikes. We even have songbooks so you can sing the workers' melodies.

Come in and take a look; check out a book for the holiday. Samuel Gompers would approve.

Eva Hyvarinen
Visual Resource Assistant

from the "Significance of Labor Day" by Samuel Gompers in the New York Times, Sept 4, 1910
"Among all the festive days of the year, of all the days commemorative of great epochs in the world's history, of all the days celebrated for one cause or another, there is not one which stands so conspicuously for social advancement to the common people as the first Monday in September of each recurring year-Labor Day.

Labor Day is the day conceded by no one class or set of people to another: It is the day of the workers..secured by the workers for the workers, and for all.

The struggle of labor is to free man from his own weakness, from his own cupidity, from his own unfair, unjust, and unnecessarily cruel environments. The struggle is for home and fireside, for a higher life, a noble manhood, womanhood, and childhood, which may look forward to the day of deliverance from absurd economic conditions and cruel burdens. The future will substitute the college and forum for the arsenal and jail; the home, and not the factory, for motherhood; the playground, school; and sunlight, and not the mill or workshop, for childhood."

Lewis Hyde's books in the Library

2010-09-01T07:56:00.000-05:00

As announced Lewis Hyde will give a lecture this Friday at MCAD. His latest book is Common As Air, which was reviewed in the Sunday New York Times Review of books on August 22. In it he addresses "the question of how our cultural commons, our shared store of art and knowledge, might be made compatible with our modern age of stringent copyright laws, intellectual property rights, and restrictive patenting."

Click Here to read the review written by Harvard University Library Director, Robert Darnton

This week the MCAD Library is highlighting Common As Air as well as other books written by Hyde from the collection: Trickster Makes This World and The Gift. They're all on display at the Circulation throughout the week. Don't miss this important, free event!

Kay Streng
Technical Services Librarian

Butter Sculpting at the Fair

2010-08-27T21:30:00.011-05:00

Art and the State Fair do interesect. Follow this link to read a great article about Linda Christensen's butter sculpting (an MCAD graduate) at our state fair. You will find out more than you thought you wanted to know and laugh too.

The Wall Street Journal also has a slide show and video. They interviewed the sculptress, the Princesses of the Milky Way, butter head family members, and an art historian, Pamela Simpson, who is writing a book about butter sculpting and corn palaces. We will need to get that book when it comes out.

You might want to go to the fair to see this sculpting in progress. It is special in the world of butter sculpting because they are using solid blocks of butter that are carved not just attaching butter over an armature. The fair also passes out the butter chips on crackers for the crowd to enjoy. As the art historian Pamela Simpson says it is a "perfect case of having your art and eating it too".

For more fun information about butter sculpting go to Pamela Simpson's page at: http://www.wlu.edu/x33594.xml. Here is one of the photos from her slide show of some amazing and historic butter sculptures. Be sure take a look at it.

For information on the fair go to:
http://www.mnstatefair.org/

Eva Hyvarinen
Visual Resource Assistant
MCAD Library

Original Illustration Portfolios in MCAD Library Special Collections

2010-08-21T18:08:00.000-05:00

This French fashion plate from 1913 was inspired by Japanese Ukiyo-e color woodblock prints

The many treasures in the MCAD Library's Special Collections include rare original illustration portfolios. Unique among these is a set of hand-colored French fashion plates from the Gazette du Bon Ton. Published from 1912-1925, the Gazette chronicled contemporary developments in fashion, lifestyle, and beauty, while advancing fashion illustration to a new level of refinement and sophistication. The most distinctive feature of the publication was its illustrations. Each issue of the Gazette contained ten unbound, high-quality pochoir prints by notable artists and illustrators such as Georges Lepape, Pierre Brissaud, Georges Barbier, and Bernard Boutet de Monvel.

In each issue of the Gazette, seven of ten prints depicted the latest haute couture designs from Parisian fashion houses such as Doeuillet, Doucet, Paquin, Redfern, and Worth. Three additional prints in each issue presented wholly fanciful designs invented by the illustrators, in which they both interpreted and commented on the latest styles and the lives of those who wore them. Through these prints, the Gazette's readers were offered glimpses of upper class life, manners, social environments, and leisure pursuits. As such, the Gazette du Bon Ton illustrations provide a unique visual record of fashion and high society in early 20th century France, from the last years of the Belle Epoque to the dawn of the Art Deco era.

The original prints are available for study by request in the MCAD Library. One hundred of these beautiful prints have also been scanned and cataloged for inclusion in ARTstor, where they are available for research and study, as well as inspiration and enjoyment, by users across the world.
http://library.artstor.org/library/collection/mcad_gazette

Allan Kohl
Visual Resources Librarian
MCAD Library

HEADS UP! A new contemporary art periodical in the Library

2010-08-19T11:22:00.007-05:00

We are now receiving Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art, from Duke University Press.
This magazine features a discourse on global art, and in particular contemporary African art and it's history. Nka includes scholarly articles, reviews of exhibitions, book reviews, and discussions focusing on contemporay African artist and their art. The current issue has a roundtable discussion on contemporary African art history and the scholarship.
Nka will be currently displayed on the New to the Collection shelves.

Stephen Colbert interviews Chuck Close, 8/12/10

2010-08-17T16:08:00.000-05:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Chuck Close

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

2010 Election

Fox News

The science of ugliness.

2010-08-17T15:59:00.001-05:00

New York Times: A Masterpiece of Nature? Yuck!

Investigations into why we find certain animals unsightly, even when they don't threaten us.

Jaws turns 35! The Library has it and other blockbuster movies

2010-06-30T15:16:00.000-05:00

The summer blockbuster film phenomenon began 35 years ago this summer with the release of the movie Jaws on June 20, 1975. It set a new standard for the measure of box office success making over $100,000,000 in ticket sales. The wild popularity and massive financial success of Jaws caused studios and distributors to plan their annual marketing strategy around a big release by July 4, a practice that continues today, especially with the sequel films, that began with Star Wars, and continues on with today's release of the latest Twilight movie.

In honor of the blockbuster film as a force in American film making and popular culture, and for just plain entertainment, Library is highlighting some of these uber-popular movies in the collection. They’re all on display at the Circulation Desk. Stop in and have a look, or browse the collection remotely from the Library website.

For more on the making of Jaws read this article from the Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0618/Jaws-35th-anniversary-How-Jaws-changed-summer-movie-blockbusters

Sheila Pepe@MCAD June 16

2010-06-16T08:43:00.000-05:00

Sheila Pepe, Assistant Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Pratt Institute, Booklyn, NY will speak Wednesday, June 16 at 7 pm in Auditorium 150. Pepe is the visiting artist at MCAD's Women's Art Institute 2010 Summer Studio Intensive. In conjunction with the lecture the Library is currently featuring a display of publications in which the artist's work is illustrated and artistic practice discussed. You can also check out the online journal, Blackbird:
http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v2n1/gallery/pepe_s/index.htm

Enjoy the lecture and see you in the Library this Summer!

Library holds annual Nat'l Library Week giveaway

2010-04-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

The Library's National Library Week popular giveaway is well underway! This is day three and there are still many great books and DVDs to win. Stop on by & sign up to win.
Here are the items we're giving away this week:

Monday, April 12

Books:

Dress Codes: The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video (exhibition catalog)

Suffragettes to She-Devils: Women’s liberation and beyond By Liz McQuiston

DVD:

Herb & Dorothy: You don’t have to be a Rockefeller to collect art A documentary film by Megumi Sasaki

Tuesday, April 13

Books:

A History of Graphic Design By Philip B. Meggs

Launching the Imagination: A comprehensive guide to basic design By Mary Stewart

DVD:

Superbad Written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg; Directed by Greg Mottola

Wednesday, April 14

Books:

Thomas Eakins (exhibition catalog) By Darrell Sewell

Van Gogh and Gauguin: The studio of the south (exhibition catalog) By Douglas Druick and Peter Zegers

DVD:

Taxi Driver Written by Paul Schrader; directed by Martin Scorsese

Thursday, April 15

Books:

The Visual Culture Reader By Nicholas Mirzoeff

Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 years of essays and reviews By Fred Patten

DVD:

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete season one

Friday, April 16

Books:

Georgia O’Keeffe: the New York years

Mary Cassatt, Modern Woman (exhibition catalog) By Judith A. Barter

DVD:

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror (V,VI,VII,XII)

Douglas Crimp lectures @ MCAD April 15

2010-04-13T16:16:00.001-05:00

Renowned art historian, critic and art activist, Douglas Crimp will present his lecture entitled Action Around the Edges, Thursday, April 15 at 6:30 pm in Auditorium 150. The lecture is a portion of his memoir in progress which chronicles "the artistic and sexual experimentation thriving in the abandoned industrial spaces of Manhattan in the 1970s."
Crimp has written extensively on late 20th century art and the rise of AIDs activism. This week the MCAD Library highlights many of his publications from the collection including the special issue of October he edited in 1987 entitiled, AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism, and his book On the Museum's Ruins. All items are now on display in the main reading room.

April circulation desk display highlights art in the great outdoors

2010-04-02T09:47:00.001-05:00

During the month of April the Library is featuring a display of material from the collection about recent developments in artists' and designers' use of the landscape as context, and the earth and plants as media. Examples of public green spaces, private gardens, earthworks and living sculpture are beautifully illustrated in these selections, and feature artists well known for creating land art such as Andy Goldsworthy, Michael Heizer, and Robert Irwin, as well the growing number of national and international artists working in this area. Turn your creative eye to the great outdoors! Spring has sprung!!

Kevin Huizinga @ MCAD 3/25. The Library's got his comics

2010-03-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

Greetings comic lovers!
The Library has many of Kevin Huizenga's comics which depict the exploits of his "everyman protagonist," Glenn Ganges. They're collected in the book Curses shown above published in 2006 and singly in the anthologies Drawn & Quarterly, Kramer's Ergot, & The Best American Comics series. Many of you already know this apparently because most of our books that have Huizinga's comics in them are checked out. Curses, though, is currently on comics instructor Zak Sally's reserves shelf, so it's available to anyone to use in the Library throughout the semester.
Drawn & Quarterly describes Glenn as "a seemingly middle class man living in the suburbs whose blank-eyed wonderment at everyday experiences brings together such diverse aspects of our world as golf, theology, late-night diners, parenthood, politics, Sudanese refugees and hallucinatory vision, into a complete experience as multifaceted as our own lives." Whoa!
We just added the 2009 edition in The Best American Comics series. In it is Huizenga's Glenn Ganges in Pulverize. It's on display over the next few days so all may get a look at it before it too goes into circulation.
Enjoy!!!

Mike Perry at MCAD 3/25-26. See his books and more in the Library

2010-03-24T10:26:00.002-05:00

The Library would like to bring your attention to Mike Perry's books, Hand Job: A Catalog of Type and Over & Over: A Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns, in the Library collection. They along with selected examples of his illustrations done for issues of Print, How, and Dwell magazines are now on display in the main reading room. Don't for get his TWO lectures on Thursday, March 25th @ 6:30 pm and Friday, March 26th @ 1 pm. And of course his show in the MCAD main gallery which opens Friday (reception @ 6 pm).

Barthelemy Toguo 3/22, find out more about this visiting artist in the Library

2010-03-19T09:24:00.006-05:00

The Library would like to bring your attention to some recent additions to the collection in which the work of next week’s visiting artist Barthelemy Toguo is discussed. They are Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (cover illustration above), Angaza Afrika, African Art Now, and Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art. In them you can see examples Toguo's work in a variety of media including painting, drawing, photography and installation, and read critical discussion of his themes and motivations. These books are all on display now in the main reading room of the Library. We hope they will provide further insight into this artist's practice. Enjoy the lecture!

***To view details about the book illustrated above click on the link below. To see the other titles mentioned enter Toguo in the search box in the catalog view.

http://plus.mnpals.net/vufind/Record/007057953/Holdings

Deborah Stratman films in the Library

2010-03-16T15:58:00.000-05:00

Calling all Media Arts Mavens and their friends!

Come to the Library where you can see short films by this week's visiting artist, Deborah Stratman. Her works, How Among the Frozen Words (2005), It Will Die Out in the Mind (2006), and The Magician's House (2007) are part of the compliation Cinemad Almanac, 2009, in the Library's DVD collection. You can also read interviews with Stratman in the latest issues of Millenium Film Journal. The issue shown above is a still from her film, In Order Not To Be Here (2002).
Enjoy the lecture & see you in the Library!!

Unbearable Cuteness: Ken Brown 3/9

2010-03-08T15:51:00.001-06:00

Hey Everyone!
We dare you to try to enter the mind of this week's visiting artist, Ken Brown. We've got three books of his quirky, amusing cartoons and illustrations: My Parachute is Beige, The Unbearable Cuteness of Being, and Notes From the Nervous Breakdown Lane. They're now on display in the Library along with some of his wrapping paper designs & postcards. The Library LOVE-LOVE-LOVEs his cat wrapping paper!

Don't forget his lecture is Tuesday, March 9 @ 1pm

Photo students meet w/John Gossage & Alec Soth 3/5, but all can view their work in the Library!

2010-03-02T12:00:00.003-06:00

Attention BFA/MFA Photography Students

Photographer John Gossage & Alec Soth will hold an informal dialogue in Auditorium 140 this Friday, March 5 at Noon. It's for BFA/MFA photography students only! Afterward Gossage will join David Goldes' class, The Photographic Book at 1pm.

In the Library we currently have publications on the work of Gossage & Soth on display. Included is Gossage's most current project entitled Here... Half Blind. It's part of an exhibition now on view a the Rochester, MN Art Center through April 11.

To find out more about Here... Half Blind, Gossage's documentary project on the city of Rochester go to :

http://www.rochesterartcenter.org/exhibitions/2OG/2010/gossage.html

Serious Comics: on display during March @ the Circulation Desk

2010-03-01T13:55:00.001-06:00

Did you know that a growing portion of the comics and graphic novels in the MCAD Library's collection are non-fiction? They cover topics of national and world history, biographies and autobiographies, and memoires. For example you can read biographies of Martin Luther King, the Beat Poets, Nat Turner, leader of a slave rebellion in 1831, Physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the architect of the Manhattan project, and more all in comic strip form. Events of recent history are addressed in A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina), American Widow, the story of a young woman coping with the loss of her husband in the collapse of the WTC towers on 9/11, T-Minus: Race to the Moon, the story of the American space program and the race to land the first man on the moon, and Persepolis (I & II) the riveting story graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi's childhood in a fundamentalist Islamic regime. These are only a sample!
When you come to the Library this month you can find these and other non-fiction comics on display at the at the Circulation Desk. Just look for the sign: Serious Comics: Non-Fiction Sequential Storytelling. And to find even more, just ask any one of the friendly Library staff.
Enjoy!!

Thomas Hirschhorn lectures 2/28: find out more about him

2010-02-22T11:12:00.001-06:00

Remember, Thomas Hirschhorn will speak at MCAD Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 pm. And when you're in the Library do have a look at the many, illustrated books we have about his work. Click on the links below for more information on this artist

Thomas Hirschhorn: Philosophical Battery

http://www.papercoffin.com/writing/articles/hirschhorn.html

Review of Cavemanman by Thomas Kimmelmann

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/arts/art-in-review-thomas-hirschhorn-cavemanman.html?fta=y

Black & White Hemisphere

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/8942/thomas-hirschhorn-black-and-white-hemisphere.html