Art and Literature Combine for Exhibit Opening at FPL (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, March 8, 2014)
“It’s a natural fit for the library to explore ways that literature has inspired art,” said Ferndale Public Library Director Jessica Keyser at the March 6 reception for the “For the Love of Reading” exhibition. “The Ferndale Library in particular is really a gathering space for our community…We find that having art here brings in different groups of people than just an art gallery necessarily would or a museum, and we’ve had a really great response.”
Artists from around SE Michigan were invited to submit works of art inspired by books or by reading in general. Over 25 pieces were shown and artists came to talk about their work. The sounds of rhythm sticks, bongos and children singing opened the reception, in a performance by third grade music students from Roosevelt Primary, led by Debbie Hillebrand.
Stella Rothe of Sterling Heights did a watercolor interpretation of the book “Perfume Story of a Murderer” by German author Patrick Suskand. “I love the femininity of it, the idea that the most beautiful scent on earth being the scent of a woman,” Rothe said. “Though it is a rather violent story because what he does is he murders virgins to create the perfect scent because he doesn’t have his own scent.”
Clinton Township resident Jerry Shirts created a portrait of George Orwell in honor of the book “1984.” The portrait has Orwell’s face, but words like “freedom” imprinted subliminally in the frame. “With what’s going on now with the government I felt that it fit,” Shirts said. “Just the government in general’s really scary. I think it’s more true than it was in ’84.”
Pamela Day of Wixom also chose literature with a macabre streak, doing sculptures of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. “I like that you can see kind of a dark edge to them if you read the original Grimm’s,” she said. “And I guess I like to be a little edgy with my work.”
The exhibit will remain on display at the Ferndale Public Library through April 12. For more information on this and other FPL offerings visit http://www.ferndale.lib.mi.us/.
For a story on the previous “For the Love of Reading” exhibit, go to https://oaklandcounty115.com/2013/03/09/art-and-literature-combine-at-fpls-for-love-of-reading-exhibit/.