11.30.07
Posted in General at 2:44 pm by yccclibrary
Did you know that some sneaky person has been practicing bookcrossing right here at YCCC and using the YCCC free reading rack to do it? (GASP!) We have no idea who’s behind this- it could be the chatty woman sitting the next table over from you in the cafeteria or it could be the quiet, shy guy in your English class. It could even be one of your professors! Whoever it is, we librarians just want them to know – we think it’s pretty cool!
If you haven’t heard of it before, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines bookcrossing as:
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.
Basically, it’s a way to make the world into one great big free library. The concept is simple. People leave books around in public places (park benches, coffee shops, hotels, etc.) for others to find, read, and then “release” for others to find and read. Each book has it’s own ID number and people go online to www.bookcrossing.com to track it’s adventures and see what other people thought about it. Where the book travels and who reads it is up to fate! Reading is turned into an adventure as you not only read a book and can participate in forums to discuss books and authors, but you can track a book’s journey across the state, the country, or even the world!
You should check out the site to learn more about bookcrossing (once again that’s www.bookcrossing.com) and maybe poke around the free reading rack located just outside the library entrance and pick up a bookcrossing book. There’s no obligation to log your find online, just enjoy a free read and pass the book along to someone else when you’re done. However, you may just find that curiosity will get the best of you…
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Posted in Art exhibits at 2:42 pm by yccclibrary
A new art exhibit has just arrived at the YCCC Library! It includes nine black and white photographs by American photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Come take a break from studying to view these works of art.
The works featured are:
1. Sunlight and Shadows – Paula, 1889
2. Spring Showers – New York, 1902
3. The Steerage, 1907
4. Portrait – Georgia O-Keefe, 1929
5. Barn – Lake George, 1920
6. Sky, 1931
7. Equivalent 27C, 1931
8. Poplars – Lake George, 1932
9. Hands – Dorothy Norman, 1932
The following information was provided by the University of Maine Museum of Artabout the artist and this collection:
Alfred Stieglitz is numbered among the most significant influences of American cultural life in the period before World War II. Known as a promoter of the art of photography, he worked as an editor and also as director of several prominent New York galleries. But it is Stieglitz’s own body of photographic work which has firmly established his place among 20th Century artists.
Stieglitz’s career spanned more than 50 years and ridged 19th and 20th century styles of photography. In the 1880’s he traveled throughout Europe taking pictures. In 1889 Stieglitz returned permanently to New York where he began extensively exhibiting his own work and writing about photography. Stieglitz often chose to photograph in the rain, mist or snow to create a desired soft effect as well as to demonstrate that vision was more important than condition or equipment. The Steerage (1907) is among Stieglitz’s most celebrated photographs of this period. From 1925 until this death in 1946, his work included portraits, hundreds of studies of Georgia O-Keefe, photographs of Lake George (where Stieglitz summered), clouds and views of New York City.
If you would like to learn more about Alfred Stieglitz or view more of his photographs, you may want to visit some of the following websites:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/stieglitz_alfred.html.
Provides a number of links to other sites featuring biographies and images of his work.
http://www.artsmia.org/get-the-picture/stieglitz/
Offers an analysis of 8 of Stieglitz’s photographs and discusses some of his techniques and philosophies.
Also, in the YCCC Library, the following books are available about Alfred Stieglitz:
Alfred Stieglitz : an American seer
Call Number: TR 140 .S7 N59 1990
A biography written by Dorothy Norman, a close associate of Stieglitz. This book also features a number of his photographs.
Alfred Stieglitz
Call Number: TR 654 .S75 1997
Part of the Aperture Masters of Photography Series, this book presents a selection of the artist’s most significant photographs, spanning his career.
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11.05.07
Posted in Art exhibits at 4:08 pm by yccclibrary
There’s a new art exhibit showing in the YCCC Library now until Thanksgiving Break! It includes nine seascapes by artist Josef Arentz who lived much of his life in Maine. Stop by to take a look today!
The works featured are: Seascape at Higgins Beach, Seascape with Rocks, Seascape with Calm Water, Seascape: Rocky Coastline, Seascape: Green Waves, Seascape with Tall Rocks, Seascape with Surf &Rocks, Seascape with Long Wave and Seascape:Pounding Surf.
The following information was provided by the University of Maine Museum of Art about the artist and this collection:
Josef Arentz was born in Oslo, Norway in 1903 and immigrated to the United States in 1913. He settled in Baltimore, but eventually moved to Maine to paint at the coast. After marine authorities started purchasing his work, Arentz began to exhibit annually in Baltimore and Boston. He became a student of Schnars Alquist who considered Arentz his prime pupil. He was also an art instructor at several eastern art schools. Arentz received the gold medal from the Marine Art Dealer’s Association as well as many other art show distinctions.
Arentz’s examinations of the sea as a subject for his art were exhaustive and technical. He took thousands of photographs of the shore and surf and produced endless sketches. He studied the appearance of water in motion and the effects of light upon it. Much of his work approached the development of a palette from a scientific viewpoint. Josef Arentz’s studies of the turbulent Maine seacoast in pencil, charcoal and color wash illustrate the drawing process.
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