I’ve seen the link to this passed around the web in the last week and thought I would include it here as well. The website Dark Roasted Blend has compiled a number of old bookplates for our enjoyment. Such as shame that we see less and less of them in today’s world.
Nina Katchadourian--Sorted Books
I came across a couple of artists in the past few weeks that are creating wonderful artwork using books as props. The first is Nina Katchadourian, an artist I discovered through Brain Pickings. In her Sorted Books series, Katchadourian goes to various libraries and uses books in the stacks to create intriguing and amusing phrases. You can check out more of her work on her website, http://www.ninakatchadourian.com
Lissy Laricchia--Get Back in Your Book Alice
Through the Today and Tomorrow blog, I was introduced to the photographer, Lissy Laricchia. Her series, Get Back in Your Book, depicts various characters of books being pulled quite literally back into their respective books. So far, the set includes Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty. You can find all of the photographs in the series on her Flickr page.
Finally, while this leans towards commerce as opposed to traditional art, the bookmarks created by Jack Spade are both something to visually enjoy and use. The perforated bookmark paper can be purchased here.
This video was posted last week on The Centered Librarian blog–a great blog with contributions from a handful of people focusing on library innovation and technology. I highly suggest you check out their other posts to discover delightful library and non-library tidbits such as this:
I’m glad to see that the New York Public Library is continuing their collaboration with artists and crafters after their popular Design By the Book series with Design*sponge. This time they are partnering up with with Maura Madden, author of Crafternoon: A Guide to Getting Artsy and Craftsy with Your Friends All Year Long, to bring Crafternoons to the Public Library. Anyone lucky enough to live near the NYPL should check them out.
It has been awhile since I posted something art or design related. I saw this video from Etsy today and immediately fell in love, not only with the beautifully shot video, but with the whole experience of the Nature Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design. While the curator talks of the space as a museum, it really seems to function as more of a non-circulating library of specimens. I love how they allow students to pull out and really explore each of the items in the collection. They have some freaky looking skeletons, skulls, etc., but I know I could loose myself for hours in the Nature Lab.
And only because it is also art related….
I have been noticing more and more fantastic book art on blogs and in the art world lately. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Thomas Allen--Maneater, 2006
Sue Blackwell--A Quiet American
Sue Blackwell--Birds in the Open Forest
I saw this on the DCPL Labs website and had to repost because I loved it that much. The Johnson County Library in Kansas has covered their delivery trucks with these gorgeous and funny advertisements referencing classic books found in the library. According to this article in the Kansas City Star, the ad agency involved with the project (Barkley Advertising Agency–which offered its services free of charge) wanted to “curtail the ‘traditional’ and ‘conservative’ perceptions some have of the library.” I feel they have done a great job of it!
The final episode of Design by the Book is here and it is a good one. The final projects of the artists are revealed alongside the library items that inspired it all. (I am particularly entranced with the navy men pattern). Great outreach by the NYPL librarians–apparently a few hundred people showed up for the finale party.
I came across this library orientation video when I was looking through the CCA library blog. Considering that this is an art school, I can’t think of a better way to inform students about the library or library policies than with a beautifully artsy video such as this. Oh, and one of the creators is a SJSU alum. Enjoy!
I posted a link to this on Twitter, but I love this project between one of my favorite design focused blogs, Designsponge, and the New York Public Library. I believe there is a final episode still on its way, but I love to see how artists can be inspired by old books, maps, etc.
Typograph is a standards compliant theme with a JQuery powered tabbed sidebar box and an ad under the first post on the index page. This theme has no images and is purely based on CSS elements and typography. Ideal for future customization. Typograph was styled "from the ground up" on a highly customized version of the Sandbox theme.
Designed by Morten Rand-Hendriksen - designer, information philosopher and author based out of Burnaby, BC.
You can change the contents of the tabbed box by editing the tabbedBox.php file located in the Typograph theme directory.
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