This post was originally published June 2013.
When this New York Times story popped up in my reader a few weeks ago, I knew that I had to contact the artists behind the Artists in the Archives project. Carla Rae Johnson, JoAnne Wilcox, and Barbara Page all graciously agreed to answer our questions about their card catalog-inspired projects. Today’s post presents a short introduction to the Artists in the Archives collective project, and an interview with Carla Rae. Part 2, which will come out later this week, includes interviews with JoAnne and Barbara. ~ Laura
From the invitation to exhibit, sent to public libraries: Artists in the Archives is an engaging, interactive installation which will attract attention, invite participation, and encourage dialog. The “Alternet,” “Book Marks,” and “Call to Everyone” are three distinct artworks that, together, or separately, provide opportunities for exploration, connection, and contemplation; each utilizes a card catalog file as a reminder of the physical spaces that activate these enriching pursuits.
The “Alternet” is a collaborative project conceived and organized by artist/sculptor, Carla Rae Johnson. In 2010, Carla Rae purchased an old wooden card-catalog with fifty drawers. The catalog sat dormant in her studio for a year and a half while she contemplated how to use it. Originally, she thought she would fill the drawers with small, intimate sculptural installations. However, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to fill them with individual cards; hundreds of individual cards. That was when she invited every creative individual she knew to collaborate with her on the project.
People born before the 1990’s may remember hours spent flipping through cards in the musty wooden drawers of a card-catalog at their favorite library. There was a delightful serendipity of finding unexpected listings or of making surprising connections. We experience similar discoveries today on the Internet, but the tactile and kinesthetic elements of the search have been lost. It is to fill this gap that more than eighty-five artists, poets, writers, musicians, and creative thinkers are participating in “The Alternet.”
The three projects present in the “Artists in the Archives” exhibition all relate to library ephemera, books, history, memory, organization of information, and discovery. How were the three projects, “The Alternet,” “Book Marks,” and “Call to Everyone” developed? Were they conceived of separately and then brought together, or were there three sets of card catalogs available as a “blank slate” through which to develop three new pieces of art?
The projects were each conceived of separately. Each of us has an abiding love for libraries as sources and resources for our art and our lives. “Artists in the Archives” reflects our delight in serendipitous discoveries and connections made possible in a library. Our aim is to recreate and share our experience with the community served by public libraries.The three projects came together thus:
In the fall of 2012, someone sent me a link to “The Call to Everyone” asking me if it was part of the “Alternet” project. I was fascinated to learn what JoAnne Wilcox, a photographer, was doing with a card-catalog. I contacted JoAnn and we met. (She took me on a tour of the libraries in New Haven, CT! We had a great day!) Since our projects and our mutual love for libraries were so related, we decided to pool our resources and exhibit our catalogs together. I remembered the work of Barbara Page from an exhibition in which we both participated on Long Beach Island a couple of years ago. I contacted Barbara, and she agreed to join us!
“Artists in the Archives” opening reception, Greenburgh Public Library.
When you were actually developing “The Alternet,” where did you work on the piece? Were libraries – the physical space, not just the card catalog – a part of your creative process? How, if at all, do you think your relationship to / understanding of libraries changed or evolved based on your work on “The Alternet” and “Artists in the Archives”?
I worked in my own studio on my own set of 300+ cards that, eventually, filled one of the drawers in the “Alternet” cabinet. Each of the more than 75 artists who participated in the “Alternet” worked in their individual homes or studios. Some went to libraries to procure “deaccessioned” 3×5 cards. Many of us purchased archival cards from suppliers to libraries. I can’t say that my relationship to/ understanding of libraries changed or evolved during the work on the “Alternet” but the process of proposing “Artists in the Archives” to libraries reminded me of what great, open, vibrant, and wonderful institutions our public libraries are, and always have been.
As an artist, I am very familiar with the process of pitching exhibitions to galleries and museums. This is a humbling and arduous process. Unconsciously, I cringed when it came time to e-mail the proposal to libraries I knew, or those suggested to me by other participants in the “Alternet.” I anticipated minimal response, or lots of rejections. Instead, I was delighted with wonderful positive responses and, thus, “Artists in the Archives” is “booked” for the next two years in libraries from New York to North Carolina!
I must also say that the staff-members with whom we have been working at exhibiting libraries are wonderful, energetic, and very helpful. I think this is a result of the “culture” of public libraries: an attitude of delight in providing service.
The finished pieces are shown in a public library. Can you talk a little bit about the process you went through to propose the project, how the exhibition evolved as you talked with library staff members, and ultimately, what the public’s response to the exhibition has been?
I have touched on this above. I sent the proposal via e-mail to libraries I knew of, and those suggested to me by others. It was so easy! I set up a calendar and filled in the blanks as the libraries expressed interest in hosting the exhibition. The exhibition is and will be different in each library, depending on space and physical structures. In the Greenburgh Public Library, the exhibition is “self-contained.” The surprises of the “Alternet” and “The Call to Everyone” are hidden in drawers, waiting for the curious to discover. A peek at the beautiful and intriguing cards created by Barbara Page might encourage or compel such curiosity.
At other libraries, there are walls available. Selections from the card catalogs can be mounted and framed, or scanned and displayed on the walls. Still, it is the lure of hidden “treasures” that we love about the catalog drawers. Our goal is to find ways to entice visitors to search and seek and be surprised! This part of “Artists in the Archives” is growing and evolving. As the three of us correspond, or meet and chat, it is the subject of our conversations. We brainstorm on how to encourage participation, inquiry, and discovery.
When we visit the installation of “Artists in the Archives” it is a bit disconcerting to watch people walking by, intent on their mission to find a particular book, periodical, or bit of information. Disconcerting, because we know what beautiful, creative, fascinating objects are hidden in those drawers passed by.
At the Greenburgh Library, John Sexton, the Assistant Director, has his office directly across from the installation. Each morning he opens several drawers, and pulls a few out to sit on the pull-out shelves. He says it is partly because he loves the “feel” of the sliding wooden drawers that fit so will in the cabinet, but also, he wants to invite visitors to come and have a look at what is in those drawers! Beyond that, it’s only the people we have witnessed browsing through the catalogs and getting lost in the thrill of discovery. Some delight in finding a favorite book on one of the cards in “The Call to Everyone,” some find a 3×5 abstract work of art in the “Alternet.” We also have a binder with blank pages: room for comments. I haven’t checked the binder in a couple of weeks, but will do so on Monday when I go to the library to check on the exhibition.
To see more photos of the cards in “The Alternet,” visit the project’s Facebook page.
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