Heather Kearns – Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library https://tscpl.org Your Place Sat, 19 Aug 2017 14:15:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 HOT—Help Make History! https://tscpl.org/art/hot-help-make-history https://tscpl.org/art/hot-help-make-history#comments Sat, 16 May 2015 18:05:41 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=76712 Grab your smartphone or tablet and help us build community pride and understanding by participating in Humans of Topeka, an Instagram storytelling project all about Topeka and the people who live here.

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Help us make history!

“Globally, we as a people need to learn acceptance and tolerance of one another. If we did, half of the crises that we are in now wouldn’t be in existence.”, Eugene Melvin, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
Picture by mericancheese

Grab your smartphone or tablet and help us build community pride and understanding by participating in Humans of Topeka, an Instagram storytelling project all about Topeka and the people who live here.

There’s no limit to how many stories we can tell.

This collaborative partnership between the Library and the Topeka Metro was inspired by Searching for the Seventies: The Documerica Photography Project’s “moving and textured portrait of America,” that captured, “a rapidly changing society,” and Brandon Stanton’s “Humans of New York”.

We’re officially launching May 25, 2015 on the Library’s Instagram page, but hope to continue interviewing Topeka’s humans indefinitely.

Questions? Email Heather Kearns, project coordinator.

Getting Started

  • Read Five Tips for Street-shot Success from HONY’s Brandon Stanton
  • For inspiration and backstory, check out Humans of New York — The Facebook page that started it all
  • Download the Instagram app onto your smartphone or tablet
  • Sign up for a free Instagram account (and friend the library! We’re instagram.com/topekalibrary)
  • Suggestion: download a free voice memo app like Smart Voice Recorder (Android) or Voice Recorder (iPhone/iPad) — most mobile devices come with one of these, so check if you already have one (this can make your interview feel more conversational, captures the quote exactly, and leaves you free to engage and go deeper with follow-up questions if necessary.)

Hitting the Streets

HOT Dave

“I don’t speak any languages or make any really good food. I did go to England. There is that.”, Dave, Jerry’s Bike Shop
Picture by hollyjoe44

We’ll be checking Instagram daily for your Humans of Topeka posts. Your interviews might be featured on the Library’s blog!

  • Charge your phone or tablet — pack your charger just in case
  • Pack a notepad and pens/pencils
  • Find someone interesting to interview and approach them from the front (no surprises), explain the project to them, and ask if they would be interested in participating as your subject
  • Get your subject’s permission to take their picture and quote their story
  • Facial portraits are the best, but if your subject doesn’t wish to be identified by face, suggest taking a picture of them from the neck down, just their hands, from the back, just their shoes, something they are holding, etc.
  • Create your own question or use one of our starter questions below
  • Use the voice recorder to capture your interview
  • Find your favorite interview quote and quote it directly, word-for-word, as a photo caption (primary source information must remain in tact — not paraphrased)
  • Ask your subject how they wish to be identified (ex: first and last name, first name only, initials, or remain anonymous)
  • Upload the photo to your Instagram account and be sure to use these hashtags and shout-outs so everyone can see your work: #HumansOfTopeka, #HOT, @topekalibrary, @topekametro
  • Create your own hashtags that will help spread the word (ex: neighborhoods, landmarks, events, objects, local businesses, etc.)

Starter Questions

“I love to hunt and fish. I do win awards, all the time!”, Tiara, College Hill Pizza Pub
Picture by hollyjoe44

You’ll notice these are designed not only to get people talking, but to capture information that defines who we are at the moment of each interview. Got a great question we can all use? Leave it in the comments below.

  • How would you describe Topeka at the time of this interview?
  • What would people be surprised to learn about you?
  • What advice would you give?
  • How would you describe your neighborhood?
  • What does Topeka look like 100 years from now?
  • What are your plans for today?
  • How do you express yourself?
  • What is your style?

FAQs

  1. Is there a limit to how many interviews I can do? No.
  2. When does this project end? Currently, never.

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2015—What True Grit {might have} Looked Like https://tscpl.org/art/2015-true-grit Mon, 05 Jan 2015 06:00:10 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?page_id=66000 A traveling exhibition from the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University and the Kansas Historical Society

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True Grit

January 26 – April 25, 2015
A traveling exhibition from the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University and the Kansas Historical Society

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Read with us!
Call 580-4555 for info.

In conjunction with our 2015 Big Read selection of Charles Portis’ classic novel, “True Grit,” we’re showcasing the iconic cowboy photographs of 19th-century photographer, F.W. “Frank” Steele.

Although “True Grit” takes place in Arkansas during 1863, Steele’s images should give you an excellent idea of what life may have looked like to characters Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn.

The Big Read provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities. This program from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.

About Frank Steele

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Installation views

In 1890 F. M. “Frank” Steele arrived in Dodge City, Kansas. Outfitted with a buggy of photographic equipment, he headed out into the open ranges of southwest Kansas, southeast Colorado, northeast New Mexico, and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma to photograph cowboys at work. Many of Steele’s iconic cowboy images can be found in books and articles about the cowboy and the West, but more often than not without attribution.

By the turn of the twentieth century Steele had begun to broaden the scope of his subject matter. He also, in addition to his field photography, at one time or another had studios in over a dozen towns in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.

Steele considered himself an artist, and indeed his photographs are remarkable for their composition and aesthetic quality, but today his work is undoubtedly more important for its documentary value. Over the course of his career, whether intentional or not, Steele documented nearly every facet of life in the southwestern plains. Steele’s photographs, for instance, clearly depict the transition from open-range ranching to crop agriculture.

As of early 2009 the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University, in cooperation with the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka, has located and digitized some 400 of the thousands and thousands of photographs that Steele took during his forty-five-year career, and we hope to be able to add to this total as new information arises. If you know of some Steele photographs, please contact the Center for Great Plains Studies at cgps@emporia.edu or 620-341-5574.”

SOURCE: Emporia State University

 

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Eat A Book! 8th Annual Edible Book Festival https://tscpl.org/art/eat-book-8th-annual-edible-book-festival Mon, 31 Mar 2014 22:51:27 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=61296 It’s a simple recipe for fun: 1 book of your choice 1 creative way of interpreting it with food edible ingredients That’s it! All ages are welcome to participate in transforming any book into a culinary masterpiece based on the content or appearance of your book, from puns to literal interpretations. This is one of […]

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It’s a simple recipe for fun:

  • 1 book of your choice
  • 1 creative way of interpreting it with food
  • edible ingredients

That’s it! All ages are welcome to participate in transforming any book into a culinary masterpiece based on the content or appearance of your book, from puns to literal interpretations. This is one of our most popular programs—and it’s FREE.

Here’s what to do:

  • Call 785-580-4515 to register by April 3, 2014
  • On Friday, April 4, bring your completed edible book entries to the Library between 3:00-5:25 PM
  • If you don’t wish to participate, come anyway and vote for your favorites

Need ideas? Check out our past entries here.

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Paper Pups—A Book Review https://tscpl.org/home/paper-pups-a-book-review https://tscpl.org/home/paper-pups-a-book-review#comments Sat, 31 Aug 2013 21:08:23 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=53266 You love your dog. Why not commemorate him or her with a "paper portrait"?

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An Afghan Hound I made from the book, Paper Pups (pictured on right) — Arts&Crafts Neighborhood 736.98 HAY

I was in the new 700s last week and found this addictive little number on the shelf.

Paper Pups: 35 Dogs to Copy, Cut & Fold was created and written by Hiroshi Hayakawa, an Associate Professor at Columbus College of Art & Design. For years he dreamed of creating a book for building paper dogs using both origami and kirigami techniques.

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I made this Yorkshire Terrier and Weimaraner first using copy paper.

The introduction tells you about why he wrote the book and talks about all the tools he uses to bend, fold, and cut the paper. I was worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to achieve the same level of precision without them, but was quickly folding and cutting away with plain old scissors and my fingers.

There are quite a few dog breeds represented and each one looks remarkably accurate when finished. To date I have made three of the pups: A Weimaraner, a Yorkshire Terrier, and an Afghan Hound. Hayakawa provides in-depth instructions as well as templates to photocopy in the back. That’s the one draw-back to this book: unless you have a copier/scanner at home, you won’t be able to make much progress unless you have access to a copier (or come to the library and print for 10 cents!) Also, he uses really nice cardstock, whereas I used white paper. I suggest practicing with cheap stuff first, and when you get a handle on the more challenging steps (like making curved folds), switch to nicer cardstock.

Overall, I found the dogs fairly easy to make. I stopped following his instructions after the first one because the fold and cut lines felt intuitive. He also has three levels of difficulty, and tips for making your pup pop with paint.

This book is fun and a great way to make a cute replica of your pet, or something for a friend or family member. Difficulty is high at first, but once you get the hang of some of the more intricate folds, it gets easier. If you’re patient, you’ll really enjoy the challenge and satisfaction you get after a few rounds of pup-makin’. I would recommend this book to teens and adults.

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My Poor Cats—Thanks, Instagram. https://tscpl.org/home/my-poor-cats-thanks-instagram Thu, 15 Aug 2013 23:27:56 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=52783 Thanks to Instagram, my iPhone, a bunch of free apps, and books from my library, taking pictures of my pets is fun again.

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My three lovies think I’m a crazy cat lady with a camera

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I’ve had various smartphones since 2003 and, until recently, the thrill of photographing my daily minutiae had worn off. The thought of filling another SD card with a thousand more pictures seemed like more trouble that it was worth (I already have a box of them that I’m still “getting to”.) But, when I got an iPhone this year, everything changed.

In the time between smartphone upgrades (it had been four years), Instagram happened. So did PS ExpressOverPic Jointer, and a multitude of clean, fast, integrated social media tools.

The fire has been lit and now my cats (and animals for whom I pet-sit) hate me.

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Moose, Abby, and Willa

Eating and grooming is no longer just a life-sustaining task—it’s an artfully documented event! Sleeping is no longer restful because Willa looks better balanced on my feet in mid-air with the 1977 or Kelvin filters!

It is so fun to take pictures again. Instagram is my new archive, and unless it completely goes away (which it could) I will never have to download anything off a card ever again. It’s easy, it’s free, and because I know my pictures will be seen by people all over the internet, I’ve stepped up my game and challenged myself to post only interesting pictures. And as an owner of three cats with three distinct personalities and features, I am determined to stalk my lovies until I’ve taken The Best Pet Portrait Ever.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for Instagram. Taking pictures of your beloved menagerie has never been more fun, simple, and forgiving. The library has all sorts of photography books to help you. And when you get that perfect shot, you never have to wonder what box it’s in or what hard drive it’s on. It’s done!

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SabaTEENIE Saturdays on Facebook https://tscpl.org/art/sabateenie-saturdays-on-facebook Mon, 27 May 2013 11:00:03 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=49453 If a child has made your day with art, we want to share it with the world.

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SabaTEENIE Saturday artist, Henry Herreman

Send us your child’s artwork and we’ll feature it on the Sabatini Gallery’s Facebook page!

Art is not just about creating, it’s about the conversation that follows, and we want kids to be part of that discussion. Since joining Facebook in 2007, the Sabatini Gallery has featured endless amounts of art from our own collection as well as from around the world. But, so far, all of these artists have been adults.

We want to change that.

One of our largest visitor populations is children under the age of 12. Although many of them aren’t old enough to have their own Facebook accounts, their parents are online sharing all sorts of family-related stuff, including some pretty awesome art their kids have created. What better way to get kids talking and thinking about why they create than to feature their work and share it with the world?

If you would like to participate in our “SabaTEENIE Saturdays” Facebook conversation featuring artwork by a child you know, here’s how to do it:

  • Open to children 0–12 years of age
  • Snap a picture (in focus, please!)
  • Email it to Heather Kearns (hkearns@tscpl.org)
  • Include child’s name, age, title, date, and medium (what was it made with?)—we want it to be official, just like the grown-ups!
  • Ask your child what it’s about (mini artist statement that’s as short or long as they wish)
  • Tell us why it made your day…what is special about it to you? (1-2 sentences)
  • LIKE us on Facebook here and look for your kid’s art to appear on Saturdays

This is open to grandparents, aunts, uncles, babysitters, best friend of kid’s parents—we don’t care. If a child has made your day with art, we want to celebrate it! We’ll let you know when it’s about to appear on Facebook so you can show your child and share with all your friends and family.

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Book Review: Seven Days in the Art World https://tscpl.org/books-movies-music/book-review-seven-days-in-the-art-world Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:00:11 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=47657 Based on hundreds of hours of research and being allowed in to participate, Sarah Thornton was able to get behind the scenes of seven high-energy, high-stakes art world environments.

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Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (Taxidermied horse skin and fiberglass resin); Art Basel, Switzerland; Takashi Murakami; a scene from an auction at Sotheby’s.

7 days art world“It’s like having your own spy in the art world. Thornton parachutes the reader into the fascinating nitty-gritty of how it all works.” – Alan Yentor, BBC creative director

Although I work professionally in the arts, I feel somewhat removed from what I would describe as the epicenter of the art world. I’m not sure exactly where that is, but I associate it with auction houses, international art fairs, and living superstar artists who fetch millions of dollars for their work. I also associate it with enormous amounts of stress, competition, money, and drama.

What I do feel connected to, however, is a momentous shift in interest in art making, art seeing, and art buying, just in the ten years since I started working at the Sabatini Gallery. In Topeka alone, there are more people than ever calling themselves artists. Studio spaces are popping up all over town, and the list of participating venues in the First Friday ArtWalk seems to grow each month. We even have two official arts districts: one in North Topeka (NOTO) and in the Potwin area for Fiber Arts.

So, I was really excited to discover Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton, because I wanted to know what life is like where the heaviest of hitters live and if my typical day is anything like theirs. Oh my goodness, it is not.

Based on hundreds of hours of research and being allowed in to participate, Thornton was able to get behind the scenes of seven high-energy, high-stakes art world environments.

Beginning with a day at Christie’s auction house in New York City, Thornton breaks down the hierarchy and social structure of how people behave at this unique art auction, who the players are, what happens when, and watches the jaw-dropping purchases from unseen buyers reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Thornton then attends a seemingly endless art critique at CalArts with Michael Asher, where students talk about their and others’ work for 48-hour stretches. Next she flies to Basel, Switzerland for one of the most prestigious art fairs in the world. Here she tags along with world-renowned gallery owners and art patrons competing like crazy for the next big purchase, and discovers the social dos and don’ts of art buying.

She hangs out with four former Turner Prize nominees—Britain’s most prestigious contemporary art prize—and witnesses first-hand the stress involved from just being nominated. She visits the magazine offices of Artforum International, the studio of Takashi Murakami (one of the most sought-after living artists today), and wraps up this tour de force at the Venice Biennale, one of the major art exhibitions in the world today.

Seven Days in the Art World is an absolutely thrilling journey, and oddly enough, familiar to a certain extent. I started this book feeling quite separate from Thornton’s experiences, but what I took away from it are that ambition and stress are universal. So is the desire to make art that matters. And the love of owning an original creation.

Topeka, Kansas is the art world. The only real difference is in scale (and maybe nicer shoes.) 

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Book Review: What Are You Looking At? https://tscpl.org/books-movies-music/book-review-what-are-you-looking-at Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:00:13 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=46076 BBC Arts editor, Will Gompertz, discusses the, "surprising, shocking, and sometimes strange story of 150 years of Modern Art."

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“The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” by Damien Hirst (1991); Tiger shark, glass, steel, 5% formaldehyde solution.

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It is hard to find an art expert who is willing to speak in plain language without being condescending, but Will Gompertz, the BBC Art editor and former director of the Tate, has written a book that is both enlightening and funny about many of art history’s most well-known works. And he doesn’t make you feel stupid.

To quote Gompertz:

“My ambition has been to write a fact-filled and lively book; it is not intended as an academic work. There are no footnotes or lengthy lists of sources. In my opinion, the best place to start when it comes to appreciating and enjoying modern and contemporary art is not to decide whether it’s any good or not, but to understand how it evolved from Leonardo’s classicism to today’s pickled sharks and unmade beds.”

“Everything you need to know to get a handle on the basics can be found in this story of modern art covering over 150 years in which art helped change the world and the world helped change art. I hope this book will make you next trip to a modern art gallery slightly less intimidating and a little more interesting.”

Some things you will learn:

“Picasso is a genius (but Cézanne might be better). Jackson Pollock is no drip. Cubism has no cubes. A urinal changed the course of art. And why your five-year-old really couldn’t do it.”

No pretentious art-speak here. Trust me on this one. After reading this your next visit to a museum will likely be less intimidating and way more interesting.

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What Inspires You? https://tscpl.org/art/what-inspires-you Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:00:49 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=44389 40 of today's top graphic designers share what inspires them to create: vacation, pressure, other artists, smoking, and unfamiliar situations are just a few examples in this funny and at times irreverent book.

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From Inspirability: 40 Top Designers Speak Out About What Inspires by Matthew Pashkow | Quote from designer Stefan G. Bucher

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As someone who works in the visual arts both as a profession and as an “artist” (I use quotes because I’m not fully there yet), finding inspiration is mostly a challenge. Very rarely do new ideas flow freely or in excess, so I’m always looking to the world around me for a good kick in the creative pants.

Sometimes I find inspiration on a bikeride (getting out and being alone in my thoughts). Other times it happens in conversation (thank goodness the world is full of people lightyears smarter than me) or in a museum (seeing something that blows me away.) But probably most often it comes from books I find at the Library, like this one: Inspirability: 40 Top Designers Speak Out About What Inspires by Matthew Pashkow, the creative director and principal of Digital Soup, an award-winning graphic design firm in Los Angeles.

The idea for this book began in the months following the trauma of 9/11. He says, “As a designer, I was having a hard time being productive…I lacked the general drive I felt was required of me to be creative.” In the grand scheme of things, in light of such horror, Pashkow was really questioning the role of graphic design itself.

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Milton Glaser put a new spin on his 1975 design to inspire the people of New York City a week after 9/11.

He started looking to see how other creatives were responding to such overwhelming tragedy, in particular Milton Glaser, the man behind the now iconic, 1975 “I <3 NY” poster design. Within a week of the attack, Glaser had reinterpreted the design—an incredibly unifying image for New Yorkers anyway—by adding a simple, but powerful sentiment shared by nearly everyone across the city (see image.) That’s when things clicked for Pashkow.

“I marveled at just how incredibly inspiring Milton’s piece was to me, and the more I thought about it, the idea of inspiring people really seemed to sum up what we as designers do,” writes Pashkow.

So Pashkow wrote a book about it. He got 40 of the world’s top designers to answer a variety of questions about where they get their inspiration. Stefan Sagmeister finds inspiration in honesty, smoking, and science. Margo Chase finds it in jazz and architecture. Chip Kidd enjoys problems and their solutions.

This book is touching, funny, and irreverent at the same time. I was inspired. I still am.

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Craft Something Everyday in 2013 https://tscpl.org/home/craft-something-everyday-in-2013 Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000 http://tscpl.org/?p=42459 This fun book shows you how to make something cute and simple each day of the year.

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745.5 GOL | PS—Check out our Crafts Neighborhood for more ideas

I was looking for the perfect book on which to end the year. There are so many to choose from, but this one seemed perfect.

Craft-A-Day by Sarah Goldschadt is adorable and fun. For the next 365 days, she lines up seasonal craft projects that are simple and practical. Each page has a date, like a calendar, to remind you of where you are in the year (and how far behind you have fallen in the book).

A lot of the projects are super-trendy—cupcake toppers, mustache-themed stuff for whisker week (May 7-13), ubiquitous birds on everything—and a lot are traditional (finger puppets, holiday ornaments). So, there’s something for everybody. Instructions are straightforward and the pictures are fantastic.

So, what are you gonna make?

 

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