Art Libraries Society
Central Plains
ARLIS/CP is a chapter of:
Central Plains Irregular
Number 41, March 2007
CHAPTER NEWS
Upcoming Chapter Meeting in Kansas City
Taking advantage of the fact that the Visual Resources Association is holding its annual conference in Kansas City, and an invitation from Marilyn Carbonell to preview the new library at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the chapter will be holding a brief meeting the afternoon of Friday, March 30 in Kansas City.
A Business Meeting will be held at the library of the Kansas City Art Institute, followed by a Library Tea at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. The day will conclude with a group dinner at a noted area restaurant.
ARLIS/CP Meeting, Fall 2006
On October 19, 2006, the night the St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant, chapter members and friends gathered in St. Louis. Those who could arrive early gathered in the late afternoon at the just-opened Kranzberg Art and Architecture Library at Washington University for a tour led by new librarian Rina Vecchiola. A convivial dinner was then enjoyed at Duff’s in St. Louis’ Central West End.
The following morning the Business Meeting and program took place at Pius XII Library on the campus of St. Louis University (SLU). SLU librarian Mikael Kriz was our host and guide. The most important issue at the business meeting was a discussion of the proposed ARLIS/NA Chapter Affiliation Agreement. The group voted to move forward with a vote of all members before the end of the year, not without some misgivings. See the meeting’s Minutes on the chapter’s website for details.
Next on the agenda was the program “21st Century Library Design”, featuring the chapter’s own Marilyn Carbonell of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Sue Gold of Webster University, and Eric Hoffman of architectural firm HOK.
After
a box lunch, the group visited SLU's Museum of Contemporary Religious Art where Andy Warhol’s “Silver
Clouds” was featured, the historic Cupples House, and the SLU Museum of Art, where an exhibit
on Abraham Lincoln was featured. The action then moved to the St. Louis Art Museum, where individuals
could visit the Library, the general collection, a special exhibit on the art of New Ireland,
an exhibit of Rembrandt etchings, and the Print Study Room. The exhausted group ended the day
at the Schlfaly Tap Room for microbrew and dinner.
MEMBER NEWS
KANSAS
Mari Russell announces that she became the Library Director at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas in January. Although she regrets leaving the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, she is returning to her home turf and has many friends and family in the Lawrence / Kansas City area. She looks forward to being a more active member of ARLIS/CP and will also continue as a member of the ARLIS/Mountain West chapter. Her professional address is now Mari Russell, Library Director, Haskell Indian Nations University, the Academic Support Center, Tommaney Hall, 155 Indian Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66046. The phone number there is 785-749-8470, email mrussell@HASKELL.edu.
Susan Craig (University of Kansas) will be visiting Italy from March 8-23 on a collection development/reference trip. With 4 days in Venice, 6 days in Florence, and 4 days in Rome, Susan expects to see many of the major art and architectural treasures as well as discover new publications and vendors. She will be spending a day in Fiesole visiting Casalini Libri and Patricia O'Loughlin and visit the American Academy in Rome with ARLIS/NA member Chris Huemer. Susan has made eleven previous collection development/reference trips to Europe since 1983 thanks to the Murphy Travel Fund Endowment, which is administered by the Kress Department of Art History.
Susan also reports that KU continues to add licensed image databases to its resources. In December, funding was secured from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the School of Fine Arts, the School of Architecture & Urban Design, and the KU Libraries to purchase all available images from Archivision. The 22,000 pre-cataloged images include 60% architecture, 20% gardens, parks & landscapes, 15% public art, and 5% miscellaneous design topics making the collection a nice compliment to KU's other image collections that are more dominated by art images.
Lois Crane (Wichita Art Museum) announces a two-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. This grant will be used to convert the museum’s Emprise Bank Research Library card catalog to an online format through Wichita State University. Persons anywhere in the world will then be able to access the many resources on American Art at the library. Lois has been hard at work getting the records cleaned up in preparation for their addition to the WSU database.
MISSOURI
Jeffrey Weidman (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City), who regularly has reviews published in CHOICE, has recently had three reviews published in three other venues. The first appeared as part of the premier online ARLIS/NA REVIEWS, in December 2006: Museum Skepticism: A History of the Display of Art in Public Galleries, by David Carrier (Duke University Press, 2006). The second was published in the [January] 2007 (vol. 32, no. 1) British Art Libraries Journal: Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800, by Neil Jeffares, pp. 45-46. The third, a review article and the longest of the three, appeared in the January 2007 (vol. 38, no. 2) University of Toronto Press Journal of Scholarly Publishing, pp. 85-107: “Many Art Culled But Few Are Chosen: Janson’s History of Art, Its Reception, Emulators, Legacy, and Current Demise.”
Suzy Frechette (St. Louis Public Library) has been made an honorary member of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The chapter appreciates her work with the Steedman Architectural Library, and her collection development efforts for the general library collection on behalf of practicing architects.
There are two new librarians at the Kranzberg Art and Architecture Library of Washington University in St. Louis. Rina Vecchiola is the new head librarian. Rina has a B.A in Art History and International Relations from the University of California, Davis, an M.A. from UC-Santa Barbara, and her M.L.I.S. is from UCLA. She has worked at UC-Irvine and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. View Rina's webpage at: http://www.library.wustl.edu/~rvecchio/cv.html.
Kasia Leousis is the new Reference/Subject Librarian for Art and Architecture at the Kranzberg Library. Kasia graduated this past December with a M.S.L.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; she received her MA in Art History in May 2006, also from UNC-Chapel Hill. She has a strong background in the study of the history of the book and was awarded a partial scholarship to attend the 46th Annual Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association Preconference, held in 2005 in St. Louis.
Amelia Nelson (Kansas City Art Institute) reports that Albert
R. Ekker recently donated the textile design collection of Chrisali Fabrics to the KCAI,
where it will be housed in the Jannes Library. The collection contains over 6,000 fabric design
samples purchased by Chrisali Fabric between 1950 and 1980. The fabric designs were purchased
from design houses in the United States, Europe and from Chrisali’s in-house designers.
The collection provides insight into the fashions, styles and the processes involved in designing
textiles. The designs are in a range of media from acrylic to pen and ink and were executed on
anything from rice paper or silk to layers of transparency film. KCAI staff is working on making
this collection more physically accessible by distributing the contents of various portfolios
filled with these samples into display drawers. The collection is an exciting addition to the
library and one that is sure to provide research opportunities, as well as inspiration to artists
and designers.
Leslie Simpson (Post Memorial Art Reference Library, Joplin) wants everyone to know "the rest of the story" of her request for help in 2005. A drunk driver crashed through a wall in the Post Art Library and destroyed an 18th century Chinese jar and a 17th century Madonna sculpture. She received several leads on restorers, but actually found some marvelous craftsmen in southwest Missouri to do the work. John Cunningham of Springfield Missouri restored the Madonna, and Ray and Joanna Johnson of Seneca Missouri restored the jar.
OKLAHOMA
Tom Young (Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa) has organized two exhibitions that are sanctioned by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission. They are part of the year-long celebration leading up to the state's centennial in Fall 2007. The first, A History of the Oklahoma Annual Artists Exhibition (Oct. 15, 2006 - April 29, 2007) is part of a continuing program of exhibitions drawn from the museum's archives. The Oklahoma annual competition and exhibition played an important role in the Oklahoma art scene during its run between 1940 and 1976. The second, The Oklahoma Scene: Printmakers of the 1930s and 1940s (Feb. 4 - Aug. 5, 2007) is a small exhibit drawn primarily from the museum's permanent collection highlighting artists active in Tulsa and the northeastern part of the state.
Tom also reports that the Philbrook is currently digitizing the architectural plans of the museum, which will make them more accessible for internal usage. He will be attending a 3-day workshop "Digitization of Collections" in March. While the purpose for attending is a digitization project of the museum's permanent collection, he also plans to digitize the exhibition catalogues for the Oklahoma Annual Artists Exhibitions (1940-1976) and the American Indian Artists Annual Exhibitions (1946-1979) to make them available as a library/archive resource on the museum's website.