When I moved into my apartment many years ago, I got rid of the old fashioned, worn out linoleum that reminded me of the floors of my childhood, but I was intrigued by the walls in the living room.
Category: Art and Design
This post was contributed by Rita O’Hara, library technician at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library.
At the March 27th public program “Meet the Artist” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Christo engaged a full house in the Ring Auditorium with discussions of two current projects: Over the River, a 5.9 mile expanse of fabric panels which will be temporarily suspended over 42 miles of the Arkansas River in Colorado, and The Mastaba, a new permanent sculpture reportedly the largest in the world to be situated near Abu Dhabi. After showing images of his projects, Christo was very entertaining and gracious in answering any question from the audience.
April 21-27 is Preservation Week! Preservation Week was created by the American Libraries Association to bring attention to preservation matters in libraries and to help the public maintain their own collections. In honor of this event, we will be featuring preservation-related content on the Smithsonian Libraries’ blog as well as our other social media outlets, like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. We encourage you to join the conversation! And if you’re in the DC area, check out our free event on Wednesday, April 24th!
The Conservation Lab received a very interesting patient from the American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library recently. The book is “Andy Warhol’s Index Book” designed by the artist in the 1960’s experimenting with the idea of the book as a work of art.
The Hirshhorn Library has had the benefit of receiving creative, non-traditional items from generous contributors that reflect a playfulness with format and materials found in contemporary art. One such unexpected gift was that of the art and fashion periodical Visionaire , which has been published three times a year in limited quantities since 1991. Each issue has a particular theme that is illustrated in some form or another through the collaboration of Visionaire with contemporary artists and fashion designers from around the world.
Tomorrow, April 6th, would mark the 193rd birthday of Felix Nadar. Nadar, aeronautical scientist and photographer, became an unexpected star of the Smithsonian Libraries’ Dibner Portrait collection in The Commons on Flickr. Although probably not a household name these days (and definitely not under his given name – Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), Nadar was quite a character in 19th century France. Luminaries of all kinds, including George Sand and Marcel Proust, flocked to his Paris photography studio for portrait sittings. He was also a regular contributor to several French comic papers.
This post was contributed by Rita O’Hara, library technician at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gallery Library.
Rejoining the staff at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden library in mid-January provided synchronistic help to a British PhD Student’s research. Who would have guessed that my quest to settle in to my new desk at the library would lead to the discovery of an item of intrigue?
It is no secret that today’s job market is a dog-eat-dog world. With unemployment rates at record highs, the future that many college graduates see on the horizon is a grim and scary place. However, University of California, Berkeley has created a program to help better prepare their students for the post-graduate battlefield. The Externship Program creates opportunities for students to get hands-on experience in a chosen career field during their winter break. The program is made possible by UC Berkeley alumni who generously share their time with undergraduates who are ready to explore a career. Depending on the sponsors availability, the externships can range from one day to one month. Although many other notable universities such as Cornell, USC, Boston College, and University of Pennsylvania have similar externship programs, it is still a relatively unknown opportunity. Below, Haley and Kaylie share their experience working at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.