Art Blog

The history of the non-attached book cover stretches back to ancient cultures, such as the Sumerians, Greeks and Romans. The desire to protect and keep the written word began with the advent of writing itself.
The four most common types of book cover today are the slipcase, the clam shell, pull off case, and the four-fold wrapper.
The use of protective slipcases extends also to CD’s and DVDs; instead of the more
common jewel cases or DVD keep case, they may be chosen for aesthetic reasons, and also to convey information regarding contents.

On view in the Fine Arts Reading Room through June.

Plant Biology major Christine Leistner explores the confluence of art and the natural world in her exhibit titled “The Tragedy of a Liberated Desk”, a story of how a desk escapes its fate and is liberated from the office.

Christine explains that “the desk goes through all the seasons of a year experiencing the continuum of the life/death/life cycles of the universe. Every ending brings with it a new beginning.”

On view through December 2007, in the Fine Arts reading room.

Jim LoScalzo is a photographer for US News and World Report and the author of “Evidence Of My Existence“, recently published by the Ohio Univesity Press in association with the Ohio University School of Visual Communication and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Mr. LoScalzo will be lecturing October 23rd at 7:30 in Scripps Hall. See an exhibit of his work in the Fine Arts Library, main reading area. The exhibit will remain on view through October, 2007.

Go to the OU Press website for a video synpsis.

Campus VR needs are being served from Alden Library. Digital imaging is available for faculty and graduate students, in support of research and instruction. Select books or slides, your own or library materials, then download and print this VR Request Kit available also in the Fine Arts Library. It must accompany all imaging requests.

What is it like to see a post-war culture through the lens of a camera? What would a young GI document in late 1945 Japan?

On display at the Alden Library 4th floor Leisure reading area, through the month of September, is a collection of black and white photographs by the late Cliff McCarthy. McCarthy was a long-time professor at the Ohio University School of Art. This collection of images has been donated to the University by his wife Arline McCarthy. Subsequently, the photographs will find their way back to Japan and become a part of the permanent collection at Chubu University in Kasugai, Japan, our sister university.

Over 60 years have passed since these images were taken by McCarthy in and around Tokyo. At the time, McCarthy was an Air Force Sgt. As a way of passing time before his return to the United States, he borrowed a Speed Graphic camera from his 36th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron and explored his surroundings. In this exhibition you will find images of contrast and beauty within a society in transition.

Co-curated by Gary Ginther & Margarita Vasquez

Senior painting major, David Hausman has created a nearly forty-foot long installation in the Alden Library stair tower: “My idea for the shape revolved around keeping you company as it follows you up or down the stairs.”

The project was funded, in part, by a Dean’s Undergraduate Creative Research Award and will be on view through September 2007.

Guest curator: Sonja Caldwell

“Dogs are a common and welcome site in art, particularly in Western art, but in art from many cultures….Sometimes, dogs are used to represent certain traits, like loyalty or fidelity, but just as often, it is for the joy that dogs bring to the canvas, or work….

Some of the greatest artists of our time have painted dogs, and these works capture the quintessential nature of the dog: loyal, pure of spirit, loving, and exuberant.”—Hollye Davidson

Japanese Art from the Frederick and Kazuko Harris Art Collection

The work of ceramist, Hiroe Hanazono is showcased in this sampling from the Harris Collection.

“The importance of food presentation and the notion of hospitality is the driving force in the planning and execution of my work….I have a great passion for food: eating, preparing, and creating the landscape that completes the experience of nourishing life.”
—Hiroe Hanazono

Co-Curated by Gary Ginther & Margarita Vasquez

On view through spring quarter 2007.

What happens to art when it’s sole purpose is for pleasure?

Come see formalism and it’s enemy, post-modernism battle it out on the walls of the Fine Arts Library, 3rd floor Alden. A J Heckman’s paper installation combines interdisciplinary elements of language, poetry, art, paper, text, art history, and semiotics in an illuminating work which asks the questions few artists dare to ask: What has modernity done to art and what can be done to end it’s reign?

On view through September 2006.

Artist Jessica Brown transforms even more obscure spaces into built environments consisting of form, color, and scent. For a short time, her BFA Show: ‘Serendipitous Adventure’, took viewers on a tour of Alden Library. Each installation was tailored to the call number range in which it was built: horticulture of SE Asia, Mythology, and Metamorphesis.

In this manner, the library and the Library Of Congress system of classification actually become a part of the piece and contribute substantially to the meanings assigned to each part of it. The manner in which the installation is “discovered” resembles the way in which library resources are serrendipitiously discovered.

On view through May 19, 2006.

Artist Jessica Brown transforms obscure spaces into built environments consisting of form, color, and scent.

For a short time, her ‘olfactory installation’ enveloped the Fine Arts Reference collection, on the third floor of Alden Library.

Alden Library will host an exhibition of selected works by abstract painter Mateo Galvano from February 10 until March 18.

The art will be on display in the Learning Commons, located on the 2nd floor. An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 10, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

In addition, Mr. Galvano will host an informal gallery talk on the subject of his creative process at the exhibition site on Saturday, February 11, at 5:00 p.m.

This exhibit of sculpture by artist, Elissa Cox, derives “from the unconscious space of dreams and whimsy. I create environments that are rich in complexity and form, which mimic the soft and subtle qualities found in the plant kingdom.”

Included are a selection of books from the Fine Arts collection that outline examples of the artists’ influences and underscore the role of the Fine Arts collection in artistic process. A bibliography of the books is available.

On view through February, 2006

In support of the 2005 - Common Reading Project,and in conjunction with the Alden Library exhibit “International Concepts of Beauty”, the Fine Arts Library presents this unique look at the lengths to which people will go in pursuit of a particular idea of beauty. The exhibit will feature books from the Fine Arts collection, color reproductions, garments from the Mary C. Doxsee Costume and Textile Collection, and other objects.

This exhibit will provide visual evidence for the Common Reading Project discussion on beauty. In addition, it will provide visual stimulus for courses that focus on gender issues, social customs, fashion and culture.

On view through October, 2005

The Fine Arts Library welcomes
Phoebe Beasley,
BFA 1965.

Ms. Beasley specializes in oils-on-canvas as well as prints and collage; her works are featured in the homes of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and Maya Angelou.

She is the only American artist to twice receive the Presidential Seal on her artworks.

On view through June 2005.

The Fine Arts Library collection, as well as the Alden Library General Collection, are an integral part of the educational experience of film makers at Ohio University. Film bibliographer, Lorrain Wochna, and Fine Arts bibliographer, Gary Ginther, work with faculty to build and maintain a unique and highly useful print collection that reflects the best and brightest in each discipline.
On view through May, 2005, Alden Library, 3rd floor Fine Arts.

This exhibit of sculpture by artist, Joe Meiser, is focused on the the contradiction of religion and violence. The frequency with which religion is used to justify violence creates a tension between the idea of religion based on love of fellow humans and the violent outgrowth of religion in the world community.

On view through March 2005, Alden Library, 3rd floor Fine Arts. Follow-up with the artist at: joemeiser.com

 From the Fine Arts Collection, learn about the long-term artistic achievements of women making art in a   variety of media.

On view through April 2005, Alden Library, 3rd floor Fine Arts.

This new exhibit, by Genevieve Waller, graduate student in Art History and Photography, is focused on collecting.

The idea of collecting as a creative activity is something that Ms. Waller is exploring in her own work.

Materials from the Fine Arts collection inform and reinforce her ideas about collecting as the outgrowth of a particular aesthetic or identity.

On view until February 25th, 2005, in the Fine Arts Department, Alden Library.

A sampling of the work of Alexandra Hibbitt, visiting Professor of Ceramics, will be on view until February 2nd. Alex has selected for display, books from the Fine Arts collection to provide a glimpse of some of her influences and to underscore the importance of the collection in teaching. A bibliography of the books is available.

On view until February 2nd, 2005, in the Fine Arts Department, Alden Library.