Tag Archives: exhibit

Miniature Worlds

Posted on by

This spring, the Arts Council of Princeton and the Cotsen Children’s Library presented  “Miniature Worlds: An Artistic Collaboration of Tiny Libraries,” a unique and innovative exhibition of local artists. To begin, we gifted twelve creative individuals the same unpainted library diorama set…

Then, we invited them to create their own wild, wonderful, and whimsical libraries. From cozy nooks, to gorgeous collages of color, to clever twists on what a library is, the results are absolutely stunning.

The miniature libraries were displayed in Firestone Library at Princeton University, and celebrated at an accompanying event featuring activities and special collections that I will post about next week.

Below artists’ name is a link to their bio and/or vision statement. We would like to sincerely thank each and every person who was so generous with their time and talents. Thank you so much for creating such powerful and imaginative inspiration for future readers!

BRITTANY NORWOOD
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

PARI HAZAVEH
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

NISHANT THELAKKAT

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

HANNAH HADLEY
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ARLENE GALE MILGRAM
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

MAREN JOHNSON
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

MICHELLE IGLESIAS – HOLLAND

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

BETH KUSHNER
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

SARAH REIFF CONELL
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

GENEVA ANASTASIO
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

META DUNKLY ARNOLD
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

HOPE VAN CLEAF
Artist’s statement

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Posted on by

Happy Year of the Horse! Today, I absolutely had to share the outstanding artistry of Princeton University staff member Asumi Shibata, Senior Bibliographic Specialist in the East Asian Library. She casually posted these images in a group work channel and my jaw just dropped.

Her gorgeous collage was created for display on the bulletin board in the East Asian Library kitchen, and is made almost entirely of recycled book covers!

Look at the details on the paper flowers!

In addition to horses, Asumi crafted fish for the collage, explaining that “in the Chinese blessing 年年有余 (roughly means may your year be prosperous) prosperity sounds like fish.” Fish gets its auspicious meaning from one of its homophones（鱼fish and 余extra have the same pronunciation “yu”). Having fish thus symbolizes having “extra,” i.e. abundance.

Thank you for sharing your extraordinary talents with us Asumi! This is so beautiful!

Coloring Cotsen: Aquarium Comicum

Posted on by

The current special exhibition inside the Cotsen Children’s Library, “Sixpenny Stunners,” is a charming collection of illustrated children’s tales cleverly printed in pamphlet form.

One of the stories included in the exhibition, Aquarium Comicum, is a hilarious poem about the realm of King Sturgeon and his nemesis, the rebellious Octopus, and how peace between the two rivals was eventually restored with help from Lord Mayor John Dory. The illustrations are super quirky and fun, and Katie wanted to share a few of them for Coloring Cotsen!

The Toronto Public Library has a digital version of the Aquarium Comicum for anyone who would like to read more about the pamphlet’s cast of characters or sing the accompanying music score. There is also much more to learn about the “Sixpenny Stunners” exhibition on Cotsen’s curatorial blog.