PRESS RELEASE

Date: January 25, 2008
From: Elizabeth Michelman, co-chair, Studios Without Walls 617-739-6630

• WHO: Studios Without Walls (a Brookline sculptors’ collaborative)
• WHAT: “NOT-BOOKS: An Exhibition of Installation Art in the Library”
• WHERE: The Public Library of Brookline Coolidge Corner Branch, 31 Pleasant Street, Brookline, MA
• DATES:
  • Exhibition: March 3-April 15
• Reception and Artist’s Talk: Sunday, March 16, 2-4 PM
• Exhibiting artists will guide tours of the exhibit on Thursday, March 20 at 10:30 a.m. and on Thursday, April 10 at 10:30 a.m.
• There will also be two free film screenings followed by discussion with the artists of Studios Without Walls.
  • The first film, a 1996 biographical drama of the life and loves of Picasso at mid-century, starring Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore, will be shown on March 20, 6:30 p.m.
  • On April 10, at 6:30 p.m., Rosamond Bernier, co-founder of the influential vanguard Parisian art magazine L'Oeil, gives a richly documented account, in word and image, of 20th century sculptor Louise Bourgeois' challenging and often disquieting art.
• Open Library Hours: Mon/Wed 10 am-6 pm; Tue/Thurs 10 am-9 pm; Fri/Sat 9:30 am-5 pm; Sun 1-5 pm
• INQUIRIES/INFO:
  • for schedule---Coolidge Corner Branch library 617-730-2380 or www.brooklinelibrary.org
  • for background on the artists: http://studioswithoutwalls or co-chairs Elizabeth Michelman 617-739-6630; Joan Schwartz 617-277-3424 .

Beginning Monday, March 3, the Brookline-based sculptors’ collaborative Studios Without Walls presents ”NOT-BOOKS: An Exhibition of Installation Art” at the Coolidge Corner Branch of the Brookline Public Library. The five-week exhibit will feature original site-responsive art, sculpture, and video by twelve local sculptors. The varied works will examine the changing role of libraries as centers for transmitting human understanding, preserving culture, and reflecting our social identities.

An artists’ talk will be held along with the opening reception on Sunday, March 16 at 2PM. Exhibiting artists will guide tours of the exhibit throughout its stay as well as during Brookline Open Studios April 12 and 13. (Times will be listed on the website of The Public Library of Brookline.)

The sculptures and installations of ”NOT-BOOKS” intermingle with the paths of library patrons, investigating the changing forms and uses of public libraries. The art also celebrates the public role of Brookline’s libraries in modeling and teaching democratic values. Elizabeth Michelman, “NOT-BOOKS” curator, explains: “The artists challenge our expectations that literary and visual expression remain separate by introducing a variety of unexpected materials and innovative forms in unexpected settings throughout the library. Playing off the library’s own collections, the themes of the works run from didactic to transcendent, from commentary on local community matters to affirmation of global inter-connectedness.”

Among the works developed for this show, Wendy Soneson’s winged books above the stacks convey the soaring flight of books, while Muriel Angelil’s suspended book/letters of “Waves of Learning” curtly instruct us to “R-E-A-D. ” Karen Klein’s original haiku carved from wood, wire and bone fragments defend poetic minimalism against the sea of fact. Some of the art works delineate areas within the open-plan architecture of the building, such as Myrna Balk’s high-trapeze newspaper racks in “The International Swing”. Joan Schwartz's "information/knowledge/wisdom" transforms an encyclopedia circa 1985 into a web of words that seeks new connections to enduring wisdom. Exploring ambivalence between domesticity and adventure, Elizabeth Michelman’s video frames the narrative structure implicit in a staircase.

Other works fitted to their sites include Bette Ann Libby’s garden spot for curling up to read a mosaic book, Barbara Vogelsang’s oversize hand-made paper calendar and pen, a deconstructed steel and copper “book” by Jim Wright, and book-bursting collages of poetic fragments and urban detritus by Susan Alport.

The twelve exhibiting artists include: Susan Alport; Muriel Angelil; Myrna Balk; Jane Benjamin; Louise Farrell; Karen Klein; Bette Ann Libby; Elizabeth Michelman; Joan Schwartz; Wendy Soneson; Barbara Vogelsang; and Jim Wright.

"This program is supported in part by a grant from the Brookline Commission for the Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency."

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