In my job at the library I see new books every day, so I decided to make a list of recent and classic books that cost less than twenty dollars. Note for shoppers: click on pictures/titles below to go to the library catalogue and a link to "Buy your own copy". If you buy the book […]
Every week I look forward to sitting down with a new stack of library books. It was sunny last Sunday, so I turned off my phone and settled in for some private time. I've already had a quick flip through these. They are all real goodies. Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still-Life Tradition. Wait […]
A woman came into the Reference Library last week and told me she wanted to take pictures of dogs. She was looking for inspiration. Elliot Erwitt's classic collection To The Dogs came immediately to mind. We don't have William Wegman's Puppies at the Reference Library, but she liked the cover enough to put a hold […]
Ever feel that you've lost touch with the world of art? Here are trailers for five stunning documentaries that will help catch you up — and the library has the DVDs. Five reasons to get excited about art again. Pina, DVD. Pina: the film and the dancers, book. Pina by Win Wenders is full of thrilling […]
In my job at the library I see a lot of new books. I wondered what a list of twenty fabulous new books under twenty dollars would look like. It looks like this. I would try to buy these from my favourite independent bookstore. We can also get them through the library catalogue. Note for […]
Jeff Wall is without a doubt Canada's most acclaimed photographer. Do you know his work? He's the one who makes giant transparencies out of his photographs and puts lights behind them like subway ads. Here's a view of an installation at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia in 2012 (photo: Dr Marcus Bunyon). Here's one […]
Last Sunday afternoon I sat down and had a look at my new books from the library. Do you know the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston? If you do you'll understand why I was excited to discover a book called Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner's Collection of Italian Furniture at the Reference Library. I […]
A beautiful afternoon + a new pile of library books = bliss. I've been following Thomas Ruff's work for some time. Modernism is a nice new survey of his career. That's a detail from one of his "jpegs" on the cover. His gorgeous pictures challenge traditional ideas about photography. Here Ruff has blurred one of […]
Ai WeiWei: Circle of Animals I was pleased to read in the Globe yesterday that Chinese artist Ai WeiWei's sculpture set "Circle of Animals" had been installed temporarily at Toronto City Hall. Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry If you're curious about this Ai WeiWei — one of China's most popular artists — you may […]
Look what I got from the library this month. Isn't this an inviting pile of books? High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky is a complete history of New York's most recent public park — the enourmously successful High Line. American photographer Joel Sternfeld took these pictures when the […]