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| Robert Louis Stevenson Stitched, 2014. Hand embroidery on card. |
So many moments of discovery in my childhood involved me in the public library, peering into the long wooden drawers, flipping through the neat little cards of of information about everything.
I remember the manual typewriter font. I remember the slightly musty smell. I remember the sense of wonder that there was so much to learn about the world, so many books written about every imaginable subject, so much possibility. And all of it codified!
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| Detail of Robert Louis Stevenson portrait. |
I loved the library. In my small Connecticut town, it was an oasis for smart, nerdy girls like me. I wasn't a sporty kid. I wasn't a popular kid. I was a serious kid, dark and heavy of heart. A reader and a dreamer.
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| WIP. This portrait was surprisingly difficult to stitch. |
My boyfriend brought me this card from his recent visit to the library at the University of South Carolina. I found an image of Robert Louis Stevenson, a linoleum cut by Catherine Kanner, which I based this tiny stitched embroidery on. And I learned that the Prayers Written at Vailina was composed in Samoa, so I added some crossed fly stitch vines.
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| WIP. I'm trying my first shashiko embroidery with a kit I purchased at Purl Soho. Strange to use a kit. |
A simple piece that makes me happy. I can envision a series of card catalog pieces of imaginary books. Books I wish I wrote. Books I wish were real. I can at least make the cards real.
Seems you are off on the start of a quite clever and visually good project.
ReplyDeleteI, too, loved and now miss the card catalog. I find it interesting that some of the computer based searches at the library don't work nearly as well, too.
ReplyDeleteYou are such an amazing artist! For a "serious kid, dark and heavy of hear(t)," you sure turned out well – you blaze a lot of beautiful creativity into the world.
ReplyDeleteI "lived" in the library with my best friend for the better part of the late 60's and 70's! I love your idea!
ReplyDeleteI remember going and just standing and flipping through the card catalogue at the library. I loved just seeing all the titles and information.
ReplyDeleteI really like how the card turned out, it's such a great concept!
Thank you SO much for your encouragement, everyone. You have NO idea how much that means. I'm having fun thinking up books that I wished were real. And thinking about other library-related projects!
ReplyDeleteI too loved the library and still do! We had a mobile library when I was very young and it used to come and park across the road from our house. When you stepped inside it was like entering a mysterious exciting other world. I think your cards are a fantastic idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Wenda! I drafted my first made up card. Hope to start stitching it this weekend.
DeleteAwesome. I'm a librarian, and I've been hording a few cards and other library ephemera for a mixed media project.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read the comic The Sandman? In the Dreaming there is a library of all the books that have ever been dreamed of (but not written).
I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read it! But I love that there is a library like that. Thanks for the tip! Going to check it out.
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