One of the sayings in my family is "Weavers wobble but they don't fall down." And while not necessarily or always true, it does describe a basic steadiness in the clan whatever wobble comes our way. Library shelves on the other hand . . . (wasn't that just a brilliant segue?) if wobbly, may fall down. And ours are. Wobbly, I mean. So City of Charlotte to the rescue! Within the next month we'll be moving some books around in both the Jones and Delhom libraries to facilitate getting the library shelving stabilized. Just a few wall clips and some bracing across the top should do it! And we shall be ever grateful.
New this week in the library:Sheila Hicks: Weaving As Metaphor - Published to accompany the first exhibition of a contemporary artist organized by the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, this gorgeous book focuses on the weavings Hicks has done throughout her career with essays by Arthur C. Danto and Joan Simon. Special note: Sheila Hicks was kind enough to send this to us herself. A reminder too that her Soft Stones are on exhibit in the Rankin gallery.
A couple of titles about nuts and bolts museum stuff
2006 Museum Financial Information, the results of the AAM survey with information from over 800 museums in the United States. An excellent benchmarking tool.
And Museum Strategy and Marketing: Designing Missions, Building Audiences, Generating Revenue and Resources touted as the "first and only guide to strategic planning and marketing for museums." Comprehensive and well-reviewed.
Sergei Isupov Sculpture 1996-2006 - Ferrin Gallery's catalog of the artist's fantastical porcelain sculptures. (OK, on your toes pop culture reference: Does Guillermo Del Toro own any of his work? If not, he should!)
Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali: Hefty in size and content, the catalogue for the exhibition organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And it's back . . . Treasures from the Stacks Dept.!
If you've read the text panel for the lovely Mowbray painting Rose Harvest (1887) hanging in the Spangler gallery, you know that this painting was exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago - the legendary "White City." Did you know the Library has a copy of the Official Catalogue of Exhibits - Fine Arts? Did you know it was the largest exhibition of American art in the United States? View a little piece of American art history. Personal favorite part: In the back are blank pages for the fair-goer to write notes, comments, etc. and in the library copy is penciled " Monday Ferris Wheel." For more information about the 1893 Columbian Exposition, see http://members.cox.net/academia/cassatt8.html.
