find beauty.

The inspiration for this piece actually came from a friend who shared these words during a conversation about happiness. The simplicity and the magnitude of the phrase stuck with me and its a message I felt was necessary to share. The piece exists in bookmark form so one can carry it around with them as a reminder to find beauty in the smaller things in life. :)

What goes up must come down.

                            I wanted you to have something pretty.

                 Something you'd hang on your wall.

                        a little treasure, perhaps. hidden away for you to find.

                                         maybe it would make you think. 

                                                   maybe you're thinking of me.

                

Free Gift

The idea of giving truly inspired my individual design process in this project. I wanted my print to make someone feel special, like they received a one of a kind piece of art. Additionally, I wanted my work to inspire and make them want to do good works for others.

The quote located on the inside of this card states "We can do no great things, only small things with love." This quote comes from Mother Teresa, and it embodies the nature of her philosophy of giving. This card was made using a Vandercook Press, and each character and wingding were chosen by hand.

Embrace

My Piece Deals with my desire to embrace my mexican heritage as well as accepting my identity as a lesbian. The piece is intented to let that who find know that you can embrace all of your identities as one. In my case I am a Mexican woman who has been living in the U.S longer that my country of origin. In this case it is easier for me to accept my homosexuality becuase I have embraced my "American" identity after so many years of living here. It is easier for me to be myself in this country. Now I want to speak out and embrace myself as a whole and let other like myself know that we (mexican/latina lesbians) exist.

These images are spread at Unc Sloane Art library as well as Davis Library.

Logic puzzles have always been a fascinating challenge, most recently popularized by Suduko.  My piece begins with an original logic puzzle designed with colored squares corresponding to numbers zero through nine.  You will find the puzzles in the Math and Physics library at UNC-CH hidden in magazines, books, and popular locations such as solutions manuals.  Individuals who complete the puzzle are given a call number for a book containing their reward for finding the correct solution.

"A Gift, From One Shelton to Another"

"A Gift, From One Shelton to Another" is a congratulatory present that is given to a book written by a Shelton. It is thanking the Shelton for successfully publishing a work of literature and congratulating the book on being a source of wisdom. There is a piece of artwork in every book written by a Shelton in every major library on UNC-Chapel Hill's campus so that no Shelton feels left out.

Look for me in newspapers throughout town... Find one and it's your lucky day!

Meant to make you think, hopes to make you laugh, and in the end a gift for whoever finds it.

ABOUT

Art on Reserve is a collaborative printmaking project by UNC-CH art majors in Grabowski's Prinstallation Class (2008).  Works of art were made and hidden anonymously within books across campus in the university libraries and some local bookstores.  Visual artworks have a connection to the books they reside in whether as a conceptual relationship to the subject text or as indirect reference to the book.  There is a gradient of approaches within the class on the timespan of the library inserts, ranging from pieces that will be found within a week of placement to those that will exist in a book as a time capsule for an undetermined number of years. 

We are exploring the value of art as a gift to the audience.  As a installation on multiple sites, the art was made as a gift for miscellaneous finders who gain possession of something valuable.  Mary Jane Jacobs writes about art as a free commodity for the public in From What we Want is Free, Generosity and Exchange in Recent Art.  The moment when some person opens a dusty volume and the art meets its beholder could be described in Jacobs words as the "personal, unspoken, unseen, uncountable and unknowable, latent, or even unrealized benefit offered by art."  We embrace the notion of art as offering, and also welcome your feedback.  If you are a receiver of Art on Reserve, feel free to leave comments or questions on the blog.