The artist's response to environmental disaster

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

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

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

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?

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!

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

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/