Currently On Exhibit in the Asheville BookWorks Gallery
Exhibition on view August – September
Three artists, Carla Rae Johnson, Barbara Page, and Jo Anne Wilcox have created artworks that re-envision and re-purpose obsolete and/or discarded library cards, formerly an integral part of research and book-lending in a library. Each of us has an abiding love for libraries as sources and resources for our art and our lives. Through these works, we hope to share some of our delights in discoveries and priceless connections made possible in libraries.
Artists in the Archives is an engaging, interactive installation which will attract attention, invite participation, and encourage dialog. The “Alternet,” “Book Marks,” and “Call to Everyone” are three distinct artworks that, together, or separately, provide opportunities for exploration, connection, and contemplation; each utilizes a card catalog file as a reminder of the physical spaces that activate these enriching pursuits.
We live in a time of rapidly changing formats for the delivery of information, culture, and knowledge. Calling attention to the role of card-catalogs as the original “search engines,” these works of art embrace past, present, and future systems of discovery. The artworks represented by Artists in the Archives provoke inquiry into the process of navigating the ever expanding realms of information.
Nostalgia for the tactile past can enliven the digital present and embrace an electronic future, keeping us aware of all that we need to thrive fully as human beings. The artworks in Artists in the Archives celebrate both the collaborative spirit and the singular identity, integral to our exploration of possibility.