Stacey McCarthy, Head of the Visual Arts, teaches her students that research is a part of preparing to create. Although art students don’t often think of libraries when it comes to creating art, the AP Studio Art class learns a new way of using the Warburg Library as the kick-off to developing their concentration portfolios. Based on the video series Design by the Book, which documents the New York Public Library’s collaboration with local artists, the project involves books gathered from the Warburg Library’s collection that cater to each student’s artistic interests. The assignment is simultaneously restrictive and open to interpretation, and it has become a highly-anticipated tradition for AP Studio Art students. Required to use these specific books in the development of their next work of art, the class also has the opportunity to think outside the box, as the selection included art books, science books, engineering books, even Christopher Columbus’ logbook. With books and ideas in hand, they will go back to the studio to develop their concentration portfolios and create their pieces.
– Zaiga Alksnitis, Middlesex Reference Librarian