Artists and Library Board Members
Meet for Look! A Book! Event
July 22, 2015
By Noe Garcia
Santa Paula News
“The point of doing this project really is to hold up to the public, and to ourselves, how valuable books are,” Carol Hardison, member of Friends of the Library, said.
Look! A Book! is the new activity the Blanchard Community Library, in addition with Friends of the Library, will be starting this fall. Friends of the Library is a group which helps the library with book sales, donations and any other way they can. The idea behind Look! A Book! is to repurpose old books that are in poor condition, not saleable, and would otherwise be thrown away, into something completely brand new.
Board members of the library met with the four local artists for over an hour where a myriad of details and suggestions were discussed. The artists include Karen Browdy, Carolee Christy, Wana Klasen, and Dolas Tubbs who will be teaching the classes and showing students how to repurpose books.
The artists brought samples of their projects to show board members what a repurposed book can look like. Examples included books being turned into cards, a bird’s home, folding techniques, a box to hold cooking utensils, and books with magazine scraps glued inside. The artists made it clear there’s an infinite amount of ways to transform a book and that everyone can be creative with a little bit of guidance.
“To take a book that is done, it’s finished, and would be thrown away and now it’s going to have a completely new life in the form of a bit of art. It was a no-brainer for me.” Klasen said. “I want my students to be excited about art, to be turned on to it, taken by it, and to be completely in love with it by the time they’re finished.”
The meeting began with introductions and showcasing the fliers that will be used for the activity’s publicity. Included inside are descriptions of the kind of books a person can make, what a repurposed book is, what’s included in the class, and how one doesn’t need to be an artist to participate in the classes.
Other topics included the amount of students allowed in each class, what the artists want to teach in their own classes, a general supply list, and a layout of how their class will be setup. Ilene Gavenman, Children’s and Young Adult Librarian, believed the meeting was full of “enthusiasm” and people are “eager to work on the project.”
“I did come in with some questions, but it was very well accomplished to see exactly how we can focus down on certain aspects of this particular project,” Klasen said.
Look! A Book! is slated to begin its first session of classes on September 24 and will meet every Thursday until October 22. Classes will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be for adults. Students signed up for the class are expected to come ready to be creative and willing to learn. Each session of classes will have a different enrollment limit decided by the artists and meet five times. Students will also work on their projects between weekly meetings and should try and attend every class, but it will not be an issue if one is missed. There will be a one-time five dollar donation for the class, but all supplies needed will be provided by the library.
The second session of classes are scheduled for January 7 to February 4, the third session from February 11 to March 10, and the fourth session from April 7 through May 5. Each session of classes will feature a different art project so participants can sign up for multiple sessions without having to worry about repeating a project. The library hopes to add more classes if there are many students signing up, as they want this to be a yearlong event culminating with an exhibit of all the repurposed books created tentatively scheduled for September 2016.
Blanchard Community Library will be having an informative meeting on September 10 at 6:30 p.m. to formally introduce Look! A Book! to the public. People attending will be able to meet the artists, be given more details on class schedules, shown examples of repurposed books, and be able to ask any questions they like. There will also be a sheet with class names and descriptions where people can sign-up for the art session they would like to join.
“One of the values is to emphasize to people how interesting books are. Holding it in your hand, reading it, looking at it, enjoying the print, binding illustrations and to love books,” Hardison said. “We want participants to first of all meet all the artists and then to gain skills in making things with their hands and also to realize that each one of us is creative.”
Fliers and brochures are now available at the library’s front desk and provide additional information on dates, times, and the meeting in September.
