- Romare Bearden: the Caribbean Dimension - Sally and Richard Price's book is as lush and thoughtful as Bearden's fabulous watercolors illustrating the pages. A brilliant depiction in text and image of Bearden's life and work in the Caribbean.
- Museums in the 21st Century: Concepts, Projects, Buildings - From Prestel, over 20 new museums (or expansions!) around the world are described with excellent exterior and interior photography as well as, in many cases, floor plans. Essays on the present and future of museum architecture round out the text. Exposed, interior, multi-story, somewhat sculptural staircases are quite popular!
- The Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards: a 59-Minute Guide to Assuring Your Organization's Future - Succinct, pithy and right on target. And right on time.
- Who's Who in American Art 2007-2008 - The latest edition of the standard reference.
- David C. Driskell: Artist and Scholar - The first biography of this influential figure in 20th century American art with nearly two hundred images.
- Transforming Vision: the Wood Sculpture of William Hunter 1970-2005 - A gorgeous catalog of an exhibition of this wood turner's sensual works. Includes pieces from the Craft + Design collection as well as those from some very familiar collectors. Can you say Cocobolo?
- Pisgah Forest and Nonconnah: the Potteries of Walter B. Stephen - Written by Rodney Leftwich and with a foreword by Daisy Wade Bridges, a needed and heavily illustrated reference on this seminal figure in North Carolina and American Art pottery.
- The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art - From guest curator and author Lowery Stokes Sims - great concept, very cool exhibition.
News You Can Use
In the "Miss Luddite Regrets" department: AVISO, the newsletter of the American Association of Museums, is going completely online in January. For staff without an individual AAM membership, access is available through the Mint institutional membership. See me in the library. - JW
For the magazine article you are most likely to be asked about this month, see Charlotte Magazine's "Artistic Ambition" in the January issue now in the library. If it becomes available online, I'll send out the URL.
Learn more before you go! The "don't miss" event in January has got to be the Lecture & Book Signing: Casualities of War: the Looting of the Iraq Museum. If you want some background, check out http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0307/online_extra.html from the June 2003 online edition of National Geographic. Additional reference links follow the article. Remember, it's Thursday, January 18 at 7 pm in the Wachovia Theater at Imaginon!
art:21 Followup: Queens student Meg Whitlock won the $100. prize for best essay in the contest featured as part of our art:21 grant project. See obligatory cheesy check-hand-off photo! Actually, Meg wrote an excellent essay on the work of Kara Walker, the focal point of the grant project. Well done Meg! Her essay will be posted on the art:21 web site this spring! Isn't that fantastic! And in further art:21 news: a new season will debut next year. The production company is being rather coy about which artists will be featured but expect the list to be announced after the first of the year. One highlight: more footage on Kara Walker is definite as they re-visit some previously featured artists.
Thanks to the NEH grant, The Mint Museums is now an institutional member of the North Carolina Preservation Consortium. Interested staff should check out their frequent, very inexpensive classes and seminars. Go to http://www.ncpreservation.org .
In the "Last but not least" department: Many thanks to all the volunteers, donors, interns and staff that made this year a very special one for the Library! A special thanks and fond farewell (of sorts) to Arquimedes Thomas who is leaving staff at the end of this year. He has promised to return as a volunteer and we are holding him to it!
And a in a final note, here are a few FY07 library stats for those who like that sort of thing: Over 300 items donated, over 800 titles cataloged, over a dozen interlibrary loans processed, three separate grant projects (more on grants in the next post), and over 140 visitors not including staff and interns.
Happy New Year!
