Pulp Fiction and Fact
March 17 – June 15, 2009
This exhibition features the work of students in Paper Arts, a course on hand papermaking taught by Jeff Rathermel, artistic director for Minnesota Center for Book Arts. During the term, students explored both Eastern and Western papermaking techniques to create sheet paper, hand-bound books, and sculptural paper objects. Work displayed demonstrates the various source fibers used in the process, the variety of nontraditional forms paper can take and the general flexibility of the medium.
Hawthorne and The House of Seven Gables
February 2009
Coinciding with the Carleton Players’ new adaption of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables, Gould Library is featuring several Special Collections books about New England History, home and garden design of the 19th century, as well as works by Hawthorne and his contemporaries.
Press Release for The House of Seven Gables
How to Read Character: Acting, Gesture & the Art of Melodramatic Expression
January 5 –March 15, 2009
This exhibition features a wide selection of books, periodicals, pamphlets and contemporary artists’ books chosen to complement Modernizing Melodrama, an exhibit exploring the ongoing power and persistence of melodrama, which is on view in the Carleton College Art Gallery from January 9 – 12 March 2009.
Discover more information on Modernizing Melodrama and events.
Songs of the Great War
An Exhibition to Commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the World War I Armistice
October 9 – December 7, 2008
Ninety years ago an armistice was signed on November 11th to end a conflict which soon came to be known as the Great War. This is an apt designation, for the war that raged in Europe, Africa, the Near East, and the Far East from 1914 to 1918 was a defining moment in the history of the world. It was a bloodletting beyond anything one could have conceived of at the time—over 40 million soldiers and civilians either killed or wounded—and the impact was as much psychological as it was physical. The horror of the war and its aftermath caused people to reexamine traditional values, and the social, economic, political, and aesthetic changes which the war brought have consequences to this day.
This exhibition brings together for the first time on campus original printed materials and artifacts from the Great War. The largest section is devoted to American sheet music, which helps to document the changing attitudes of the American public toward the war. Included among the more than 40 songs are such famous ones as Over There and How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree?). In addition to the sheet music, one case is devoted to postcards, another to artifacts, and two to books and pamphlets.
The exhibition is part of much larger program of events, including weekly public lectures, a film series, and a musical performance of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. Together, these exhibits and events will help to underscore why the First World War has come to be known as the Great War.
Mai/Jun 1968: Parisian Student Movements
May 15 – August 28, 2008
The ‘Mai 68’ movement was a student-founded protest of the De Gaulle bureaucracy. Many students and eventually workers felt that they were being slighted from the post-war economic ‘boom’ By mid-May of 1968, students had taken over universities and many workers had occupied factories with 10 million workers (2/3 of France’s workforce) on strike by the end of the month.
The material presented here is part of a collection donated to Gould Library Special Collections by History Professor Emeritus Carl Weiner. Professor Weiner collected a bulk of the material during a research sabbatical starting in the fall of 1968, and subsequent return trips looking at how the ideals of the ‘Mai/Jun’ movement persisted through time.
Foro Latinoamericano: Argentina, Art and Politics
April 2007
Each year, the students, faculty and alumni of the Latin American Studies Program convene to share in an academic experience that brings to the fore and to campus a major topic, event, and country of Latin America. Originally designed as a capstone experience for the students of the program, we have expanded the Foro to include our alumni and the program’s entire faculty in order to give it a truly communal sense. The Foro will also provide the Carleton community at large with the opportunity to participate in a major event involving contemporary Latin America.
The 2006–2007 Carleton Foro Latinoamericano focuses on arts and politics in Argentina. Thirty-one years after the coup d’etat, twenty-four years since the return to a system of democratically elected governments and five years after the last serious economic crisis, this year’s Foro will take a look at contemporary artistic production in what has been one of the richest centers of cultural activity in the continent. We will share the experience of the artistic collective Grupo Escombros, the music of Pablo Ortiz and Astor Piazzolla, and the films of preeminent director Lucrecia Martel–all in the spirit of the best innovative Latin American cultural expressions.
Sponsored by: Office of the President, Office of the Dean of the College, Latin American Studies Program, Department of Spanish, Department of Media Studies, Music Department, Committee on the Arts, Distinguished Women’s Visitors, Intercultural Life.
Milton at 400: A celebration of the 400th Anniversary of John Milton’s Birth
June 1 – August 26, 2008
This exhibition includes an interesting selection of editions of some of Milton’s most significant works. In addition to beautifully illustrated volumes, the display includes a small selection of works illustrating Milton’s continuing impact on generations of artists, intellectuals, and politicians. The exhibition was curated by Professor Timothy Raylor and Adam Rudebusch ’08.
Insect Studies
May 23 – August 26, 2008
These graphite, ink, and watercolor drawings were made by students in Professor Dan Bruggeman’s field drawing classes this term. The students examined specimens from the Biology Department and recorded the anatomy of these insects in detail. The variety of the resulting images reflects the numerous artistic choices required, even in a scientific drawing.
Special thanks to Alison Unger of the Biology Department for her assistance with the specimens, and also to Tim Vick of the Geology Department for the use of magnifying glasses.
The Writer’s Job: James Baldwin Speaking Out
Gould Library
March 31 – May 11, 2008
The exhibition The Writer’s Job: James Baldwin Speaking Out examines the extraordinary legacy of James Baldwin (1924-1987) through a selection of photographs, ephemera, and books that document his role as one of America’s most influential cultural critics and essayists. In a 1962 essay in The New York Times, Baldwin wrote that the job of the writer is “to speak out about the world as it is.” This exhibition examines some of the ways in which Baldwin made his voice heard: as a globally-recognized public intellectual in the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond; as a poet-playwright interacting with students and faculty on college campuses; and as an important influence on visual and performing artists, both through collaboration and as an inspiration for artists working since his death in 1987.
This exhibition is organized by the Gould Library, Carleton College with grateful acknowledgment for the assistance of Dr. Sura Levine, Professor of Art History, at Hampshire College. The exhibit incorporates materials from an exhibition curated by Dr. Levine at the Hampshire College Art Gallery in 2007. The exhibition is being held in conjunction with the symposium, Contemplating James Baldwin: Language, Courage, and Tenderness, April 13-19, 2008.
Baldwin Symposium Website: Contemplating James Baldwin