ECA professor wins Antoinette Forrester Downing Book Award

The Society of Architectural Historians has announced the 2016 recipients of the SAH Publication Awards.
The Antoinette Forrester Downing Book Award, honouring excellence in a published work devoted to historical topics in preservation, has been won by Miles Glendinning, for his book, The Conservation Movement: A History of Architectural Preservation (Routledge, 2013).
Miles Glendinning is professor of architectural conservation at the University of Edinburgh (ESALA at ECA), and director of the Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies.
The Conservation Movement: A History of Architectural Preservation will shortly feature in a display in the Art & Architecture Library, at Minto House, Chambers Street, Edinburgh.
Congratulations to Professor Glendinning.

Thought for the day…

“Painting, sculpture, any act of artistic creation, has a special relationship with slowness. As the American writer Saul Bellow once noted, “Art is something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes… the eye of the storm… an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction”.
– Carl Honore, In Praise of Slowness: challenging the cult of speed, HarperCollins, 2005.

Partial View: display by artist in residence Susie Wilson

This Spring, our 2016 artist in residence Susie Wilson made a selection of artists’ books from the ECA Library collection, for her display “Partial View”, which was held at ECA Library, Evolution House, during Semester 2.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Says Susie, of her selection of artists’ books:
“There is no definitive description of an artist book as by its very nature it is an elusive art form. The ECA Library’s collection reflects this. Artists’ books invite participation and the interplay between the viewer and the book creates an intimacy that isn’t found in other art forms. For me, an artist book should be a dialogue between form and content, each enhancing the other.”
The display completed the first part of Susie’s residency, following several very successful and well-attended workshops, such as this one where students were shown how to make their own books:
Susie and her workshop group, making book forms.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We would like to thank Susie for her hard work and commitment to her residency, for sharing her skills with our students, and for creating a beautiful display!
The next part of the residency will be when Susie delivers a new artist’s book that she has made in response to her research at ECA Library, in summer 2016.
 

Antonio Freiles book display at ECA library

In April 2016 we were pleased to have a guest display of books by Antonio Freiles, at ECA Library, in Evolution House.
The display was curated by book artist and print maker Jane Hyslop.

Antonio Freiles is an artist who lives and works in Messina, Italy, and his work has been exhibited widely across Europe.
He works with artists’ books and in particular with handmade paper. Through this medium he explores the concept of painting-substance, the indistinct place where any difference between colour and support, between the composition and time of realization, between structure and space, is lost.
Freiles gives these sheets of hand-made paper the role of ‘pages’. Through these he aims for a kind of ‘total experience’, both for himself in that he is artist, editor, page designer, graphic artist, printer and inventor, and for the viewer who discovers the work visually and through tactile experience.
Freiles is deeply involved with Spazio Libro d’Artista, Catania, which houses an important collection of artists’ books.
Artist’s book by Antonio Freiles, with permission of the artist.

Forthcoming display to be curated by artist in residence

A selection of artists’ books, photograph by Jane Furness.
ECA Library welcomed book artist Susie Wilson to the Library on 1st February and Susie has been busy exploring the extensive artists’ book collection held at the Library as part of her research residency, which continues to mid-March.
With over 1500 artists’ books to explore, from Ed Ruscha to Katie Paterson, we are excited to see which books Susie will choose for her forthcoming display in the Library, and we wonder what themes she will discover and explore.
The display is due to open Week Beginning 21st March.
 

Professor Barry Bergdoll visits ECA ESALA as Simpson Visiting Professor

Monday 26th October 2016:
This week we have Professor Barry Bergdoll visiting ECA ESALA as Simpson Visiting Professor.
We are delighted to welcome Professor Bergdoll to ECA and to mark the occasion we have some of his books on special display in the Art & Architecture Library at Minto House, Chambers Street.
The following books can be found in our collections at ECA Library, the Art & Architecture Library or at the Main Library, George Square. Check DiscoverEd for details.
Latin America in construction: architecture 1955-1980, Museum of Modern Art, 2015
Henri Labrouste: structure brought to light, Museum of Modern Art, 2012
Rising currents: projects for New York’s waterfront, Thames & Hudson, 2011
Bauhaus 1919-1933: workshops for modernity, Museum of Modern Art, 2009
Home delivery: fabricating the modern dwelling, Museum of Modern Art, 2008
European Architecture 1750-1890, Oxford University Press, 2000
Mies in Berlin, Museum of Modern Art, 2001
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: an architecture for Prussia, Rizzoli, 1994
Leon Vaudoyer: historicism in the age of industry, Architectural History Foundation & MIT Press, 1994

Happy National Poetry Day to all our readers

8th October, 2015:
When I am Among the Trees
 
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
– Mary Oliver.

Tag it! Find it! happening today at ECA Library!

Thursday 19th February: 12.30-14.30:
Tag It, Find It! “Say what you see!” Play our 1980’s inspired game, learn how tagging and metadata can help your studies and get up close and personal with some highlights from the University’s Art Collections.
This Innovative Learning Week session run by Library and University Collections staff will take place in the ECA Library beside the current journals area, on level 1 of the Library at Evolution House.
Pop in and join the fun!
For more info see http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/popuplibrary/2015/02/04/tag-it-find-it/
 

Residency begins at ECA Library for artist Holly Prentice

Monday 2nd February 2015:
We are delighted to welcome Holly Prentice to ECA Library today. Holly has already begun to explore our 2000 artists’ books and will be producing an exhibition, several workshops and a new book-work, as part of her month-long research residency.
One of the workshops will be a free and open to all drop in session at ECA Evolution House, room 2.15, during Innovative Learning Week, more details here soon…