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nobrashfestivity

Unknown Sacred Deer of Kasuga Shrine Japan, Kamakura period (1185-1333) Wood with pigments

didanagy

FANTASIA (1940)

dir. ben sharpsteen, david hand, hamilton luske, wilfred jackson

abstracteddistractions

Jackson Pollock, "Number 7A," 1948,

Oil and enamel on canvas,

35 x 131 ½ in. (88.9 x 334 cm.)

Courtesy: Christie's

androfiles

Will LeMay by Herb Ritts

kyrasaphira

Statuette of Venus made from rock crystal quartz (Roman, 1st century BC)

miamaimania

“Unmade Bed” (2010) ☀ Malia Jensen ◻ carved soap

uwmspeccoll

In the Land of Tiny Books

Our Head of Special Collections Max Yela has collaborated for decades with Milwaukee artist and art professor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) Leslie Fedorchuk (on the left in the first image; Max is on the right). This semester, Leslie is teaching a MIAD course called "Magical Miniatures" and she brought her class over for a discussion and review of artists books that use small scale as expression.

While Max is not very fond of miniatures or the miniaturization of books, he does like books that are small for compositional reasons. In fact, one of his favorite artists books, In Here Out There (third image) by the late Minnesota artist Jody Williams, is quite small (5 x 7 cm). Since we hold about 95% of Jody Williams's work and about 90% of the small editioned work of Peter & Donna Thomas, after a discussion, the class spent time reviewing selected works by these artists, plus about a dozen others by local book artists.

This was the first time these art students, many of them Juniors and Seniors, had ever encountered artists books before, and all expressed that it was a transformative experience. We look forward to seeing some of the book work that comes out of the assignments for this class!

The photographs shown here were taken by MIAD Web Content Specialist Olivia Langby.

View more posts with artists books.

View more posts with work by Jody Williams.

View more posts with works by Peter and Donna Thomas.

View more posts on visiting classes.

View our online bibliography of the works of Peter and Donna Thomas.

uwmspeccoll

Farewell Friday: For Max

By Jody Williams, In Here Out There is a 1998 book from her Flying Paper Press. It is structured in one of her characteristic tiny boxes, and is made up of three distinct parts. The top opens up with a ladder to a window, and there are two separate chapters titled respectively “In Here” and “Out There”. This book is one of our most utilized items in our book arts collection, and is one of Max’s favorites. It demonstrates in a concise and beautiful way the possibilities of structure in the book arts, and demands that the reader consider not just the text of the book, but the book as a medium.

This was the first Jody Williams book that Max showed me when I visited Special Collections and sparked the curiosity that led me to look at all of her works in our collection. Williams’ artistic precision and contemplative subject matter drew me in and really made me want to explore the rest of our book arts collection. Similarly, Max’s enthusiasm and knowledge of Special Collections has always been rooted in the encouragement to explore, to be curious, and most importantly, to play.

-Elizabeth, Special Collections Graduate Intern

venomspecs

Terracotta statue of Orpheus playing the lyre. From a group depicting the encounter of the argonaut with the sirens, Taranto, IV century B.C. Housed in the Taranto Archaeological Museum (MARTA)