Gluebooks On The Move
Normally when we get to this time of the year, I’m thrilled. September is the month of my birth, a time when I feel most comfortable in my skin. The leaves are beginning to yellow and the brilliant light of the Central Valley is edged with a hint of shadows to come.
While the weather lived up to it’s reputation, September brought a greater than normal share of challenges. I’m pleased to say that while I did my share of “pre-whining,” (a phrase my sister coined for crossing “troubled waters” before you reach them) I met each one fairly and squarely, but with little time for the studio.
Artist’s Tour Book, 2 page spread, 8″ x 13,” Kraft paper, glue, images
Little time, that is, until a barking good case of bronchitis laid me up for a week. While I was there, I decided to explore Gretchen Miller’s workshop, Gluebook Goodness, a part of 6 Degrees of Creativity 2. (I figured I could work on it in bed!)
I loved watching Gretchen’s hands at work in her video, adding images, words and smudged ink around the edges. I was particularly touched by her encouragement to “dedicate” our gluebooks to particular topics. In her hands, I watched ordinary effluvia such as receipts, tickets and tokens become the diaries of days filled with meaning.
But to what would I dedicate myself and my book? I hunted out receipts and notes around the house, but aside from one that my husband left saying: “Hallie’s had hers / Dishwasher mostly emptied” I didn’t find any special meanings.
My answer arrived in the form of a Sunday New York Times that my mom dropped off at my house. It just so happened that this was the issue in which the NY Times Arts section listed all the upcoming exhibits for 2013. I turned to a page filled with Arabic script and saw the words “Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries.”
Islamic Decorative Motifs from “Crossing Borders,” The Jewish Museum, NY
Eureka! My book would be a tour of all of the exhibits around the country that I want to visit next year. I don’t know if I’ll get to all of them, but here’s a partial list with bonus images:
Crossing Borders: Manuscripts From the Bodleian Libraries at the Jewish Museum, NY, NY (Check out the link above for some fabulous photographs.)
Jasper Johns: Seeing With the Mind’s Eye: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Between the Clock and the Bed, 1989, © Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA, New York
Girl With A Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from Mauritshuis: DeYoung Museum, San Francisco
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring (detail), c.1665. Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 39 cm
Gravity and Grace: Monumental works by El Anatsui, Brooklyn Museum, NY
El Anatsui (Ghanaian, born 1944). Earth’s Skin, 2009. Aluminum and copper wire, 177 x 394 in. (449.6 x 1000.8 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo by Joe Levack, Courtesy of the Akron Art Museum
I’m curious–what exhibits are on your “must see” list this art season?
What a fun post. You have my wheels turning on what to see in the coming year. I must research that and make some plans, set some goals. The collage on the top is filled with great images and a sense of lots of pleasure ahead. Thank you for the encouragement in my new blog!
The best part was that I just happened upon the section and was so taken with the image from the “Crossing Borders” exhibit–there was no question in my mind that I wanted to go!
Hi Hannah!, I just read yr post! I want to tell you I love your solution!! I am so sad I missed signing up for this round of six degrees..I love what everyone is doing that has posted about the classes. I wanted to ask you, what edition of the times is the ‘tour of the exhibits aroundthe country in’?BTW, You are doing a lot of inspiring work. I love your mindfulness work .
TY Stacy Jones
Hi Stacy–Thanks! The date of the NY Times Arts section is 9/9/12. It was a listing of exhibits, mostly in NY, but some in LA, SF, and a few other cities. I just loved it because the pictures themselves were worth 1000 words.
What a wonderful gluebook theme & idea Hannah– this will be an awesome take away souvenir from all your exhibit adventures…. yay!
Yes–and I’m taking an empty one this week on a roadtrip adventure with my sweet husband of 30 years today–we’re meeting in Denver and driving back through the Southwest…
Love this idea! As always, your post inspired and delighted me and got me itching to walk on over to my studio.
Absolutely! What I love about my studio is that as soon as I walk in, I’m in a place of possibility, rather than a landscape of checklists:-)