Weekly Perusables: Art to Wear

Art to Wear by Julie Schafler Dale showcases wearable fiber arts made in the '70s and '80s. Dale began researching wearable art in the early '70s leading to her opening a gallery dedicated to the medium in NYC in 1973.

The works presented in this book are highly personal, exceptionally crafted, and represent a variety of methods including crochet, knitting, leatherwork, and mixed media. Some standouts include the knitted pieces by Susanna Lewis like the Oz Socks shown above, and the hats and coats with three-dimensional landscapes by Joan Steiner.

This beautifully photographed book is a must peruse for anyone interested in fashion, textiles, and dress as a form of personal expression.

Art to Wear by Julie Schafler Dale
Cross River Press, 1986
NK4860.5.U6 D34 1986 Special Collections

(blog entry by Sara O'Sha)

Weekly Perusables: Hand Book

Part of the Herron Library's artists' book collection, Damara Kaminecki's Hand Book combines collage and illustration in a hand-shaped book. The artist said about the work:

"The Hand book is a way for people to interact with art as an object. The book's hands mimics the viewers own hands as it lies in their palms. The images are a non-verbal poem relating to touch and how it can be received internally and externally."

A Chicago native, Kaminecki works mostly in illustration and collage under the name Damarak the Destroyer. For examples visit www.damarakthedestroyer.com.

Hand Book is now on display in our artists' book alcove.


Hand Book by Damara Kaminecki
Herron Library - Artists' Books
N7433.4.K355 H36 2005

Sources:
Image by Herron Library, book by Damara Kaminecki
The artist's website www.damarakthedestroyer.com

(blog entry by Sara O'Sha)

Weekly Perusables: Atlas

This week's title is Gerhard Richter's Atlas in celebration of the artist's 80th birthday. Richter is a German artist best-known for his paintings from the '60s and '70s that reproduced photographs in gray-scale as an effort to create an objective, pure painting he felt was missing in the abstract work of the period. Various styles and subject matter are found in his later work, including abstracts and landscapes.

Richter began Atlas in 1961 as an archive of sources for his paintings. The photographs, clippings, and sketches are arranged onto grid-like panels, and are presented this way in the book and when shown in galleries. The collection has been continuously added to, and now can be viewed online. The more than 40 years of collection and arrangement is pretty intriguing in itself, but Atlas is also an enlightening backdrop to the artist's work, reflecting the shifts in his subject matter and style.

Atlas
by Gerhard Richter
N7433.4.R528 A4 2006

Sources
www.gerhard-richter.com
Lucius Grisebach. "Richter, Gerhard." Grove Art Online.
Image from www.gerhard-richter.com

(blog entry by Sara O'Sha)

Weekly Perusables: Alphabet

Alphabet features the human alphabet created by Dutch graphic designer Anthon Beeke, and photographed by Geert Kooiman. Published in 1970, this non-traditional book consists of a portfolio with loose pages for each letter and punctuation mark. Although the outside cover is blank, the portfolio opens to reveal a collage of images showing his process during the photo shoot.

Beeke took great care in arranging his human nude alphabet, and even modeled it after a well-known font. Come take a look and see if you can tell what font was his inspiration.

Alphabet
by Anthon Beeke
de Jong, 1970
Z253 .B44 Secure Area

Sources: "Nude alphabet / Quadrat Print / 1970" on Past Print blog and the artist's website beeke.nl.
Image from Past Print

(blog entry by Sara O'Sha)

Superbowl Hours

Due to our proximity to the Superbowl excitement, we'll be closed Friday, February 3rd and Monday, February 6th. Have a safe Superbowl weekend everyone!