EIU Booth Library

Exhibits 2013

• Exhibit focuses on America's music

  Visitors can learn about many different aspects of America's music during a special exhibit now on display at Booth Library.

  The exhibit is being held in conjunction with a program series, America's Music: A Film History of Our Popular Music from Blues to Bluegrass to Broadway, being held on the EIU campus through April 6.

  The America's Music exhibit focuses on several genres of music, including country, bluegrass, folk, soul, disco, hip hop, Broadway, blues, gospel, jazz and rock 'n' roll, as well as looking at topics such as the business of music, music technology and more.

  The exhibit features The Donald and Suellyn Garner Illinois Sheet Music Collection, which contains the work of Illinois artists who wrote music and lyrics, participated in publication or designed cover art. These materials are now a part of Booth Library's Special Collections. The Garners are longtime residents of Charleston.

  The exhibit includes albums, musical instruments, historical information, sheet music and biographical souvenirs, in addition to a Meme Generator, at which visitors are invited to create their own title or caption for historic sheet music and photos. For exhibit descriptions and online access to the Meme Generator, visit http://www.library.eiu.edu/exhibits/americasmusic/.

  Curators for the exhibit are graduate students in history Philip Mohr and Patrick Vonesh, assisted by Amy Gilkey, undergraduate student of English, and Luis Alarcon, graduate student of English.

• Exhibit focuses on Jan Spivey Gilchrist

  A new exhibit at Booth Library focuses on the works of award-winning writer and book illustrator Jan Spivey Gilchrist. Gilchrist, an alumna of Eastern Illinois University, was recently appointed to serve on the EIU Board of Trustees.

  The exhibit, on display in the third-floor reference hallway, presents some of the many books and illustrations composed by Gilchrist. She has won numerous awards and commissions, including the Coretta Scott King Award. She has illustrated many of Eloise Greenfield's books and has written and illustrated picture books, including "Obama: The Day the World Danced."

  Gilchrist has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. Her works have appeared on national television, and her illustrations have been featured or reviewed in many national newspapers and magazines.

  Gilchrist earned a bachelor's degree in art education at EIU in 1973 and was named a Distinguished Alumna in 1992. She was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent and the Society of Illustrators. She and her husband, Kelvin Gilchrist, live in Olympia Fields and have two children.

  The Booth Library exhibit was curated by Jeanne Goble, senior library specialist.

• Summer exhibits focus on science fiction, travel

  The Marvin Foyer on the north end of Booth Library is home to four new exhibits this summer.

  The north side of the foyer takes a look at "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" and "Celebrating the National Park Services." The exhibit includes a large map of Route 66, which stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles, and examines the 97-year history of the National Park Service, with a look at national parks such as Yellowstone, Olympic and the Great Smoky Mountains.

  The south side of the foyer hosts exhibits about "Jules Verne: Father of Science Fiction" and "Steampunk World." Verne is a French novelist, poet and playwright best known for his adventure novels and for the genre of science fiction. Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery.

  These Booth Library exhibits were curated by Booth Library support staff members Jeanne Goble, Joseph Hall-Ingram, Michele McDaniel and Sally van der Graaff.

• Cultivating Creativity

  The traveling exhibition Cultivating Creativity 2012-2013: Consolidated Communications Children's Art Exhibit will end its yearlong tour at Booth Library on the EIU campus, Charleston.

  The exhibit will be on view Aug. 6-25. Cultivating Creativity showcases some of the outstanding art produced through east-central Illinois school art programs. Presented is art by 43 students, each representing a different school. The art was created during the 2011-2012 school year.

  Representing schools in the Charleston area are Correye Johnson, Lake Crest Elementary School; Isabel Magee, Oakland High School; Jasper Jones, Carl Sandburg Elementary School; Greta Larson, Mark Twain Elementary School; Madelyn Pooley, Jefferson Elementary School; Todd Shaffer, Charleston Middle School; and Deece Schwartz, Ashmore Elementary School.

  Johnson's textile piece, The Pretty Flowers, was created in the second grade at Lake Crest Elementary School, under the instruction of Jill Sweeney. Tenth-grader Magee at Oakland High School also worked under teacher Jill Sweeney when she created her watercolor pencil drawing, Red Wolf.

  Under the instruction of Heather Bryan, Jones created his torn and cut paper piece Matisse Inspired Icarus at Carl Sandurg Elementary School. Larson's watercolor and crayon piece Bouquet for Mom, was created in kindergarten at Mark Twain Elementary School under the instruction of Penny Hess. Fifth-grader Pooley at Jefferson Elementary School was under the direction of Mandy White when she created her watercolor and crayon piece, Sea of Color.

  Under the instruction of Toni Satterfield, Shaffer created his pencil drawing My Bedroom Drawn at Charleston Middle School in the seventh grade. Schwartz's watercolor and pencil piece, Trees and Winter, was created in the third grade at Ashmore Elementary School, under the instruction of Penny Hess.

  Cultivating Creativity 2012-2013 is sponsored by Consolidated Communications and the Tarble Arts Center, EIU. The exhibit traveled to 14 area communities, from Assumption to Paris and from Tuscola to Effingham. The Tarble Arts Center teams with Consolidated Communications in this annual program to showcase some of the outstanding art by area students and to help raise awareness of the importance of including the arts as part of the regular school curriculum.

  Area districts and schools participating this year are: Altamont C.U. District 10; Arcola Elementary and High Schools; Arthur Elementary; Casey-Westfield Junior High and High Schools; Central A&M C.U. District 21, Assumption-Moweaqua; Central Grade School, Effingham; Charleston C.U. District 1; Crestwood C.U. District 4, Paris; Effingham Junior High and High Schools; Kansas Community School; Oakland C.U. District 5; Mattoon C.U. District 2; Neoga Middle and Junior-Senior High Schools; Okaw Valley Elementary, Middle, and High Schools, Bethany-Findlay; South Side School, Effingham; St. Anthony Grade and High Schools, Effingham; St. John's Lutheran School, Mattoon; St. Mary's School, Paris; Sullivan High School; Tuscola High School; and Windsor Elementary and Junior-Senior High Schools.

  The exhibit is comprised of art works in a wide variety of media and styles. Included are drawings in ink, colored pencil, crayon, and charcoal. Papier-maché, textiles, photography, computer graphics and mixed media also are represented.

  Cultivating Creativity is a community engagement program of the Tarble Arts Center. The Tarble also offers a variety of other educational programs for area schools, including a tour/workshop Enrichment program that is open to area fifth grade and to junior/senior high art students, a monthlong artist-in-the-schools residency, guided tours, and teacher workshops. Most programs are presented free to the participating schools and supported through Tarble membership contributions and the Tarble Arts Center Endowment/EIU Foundation.

  For more information about the Cultivating Creativity exhibit or other programs contact the Tarble Arts Center at 217/581-ARTS (-2787) or tarble@eiu.edu.

• 'Literature of Prescription' exhibit and programs announced

  Booth Library will present Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and 'The Yellow Wall-Paper' from Sept. 23 through Nov. 2.

  This exhibit and programs will examine a 19th-century writer's challenge to the medical profession and the relationship between science and society. Artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman was discouraged by her doctor from pursuing a career in order to preserve her health. Gilman rejected this idea in a terrifying short story titled The Yellow Wall-Paper. The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women's professional and creative opportunities.

  Literature of Prescription will include national and local exhibits, lectures and a film screening. Faculty and staff from the EIU departments of English, art, women's studies and the library will participate, in addition to the EIU Counseling Center.

  The public is invited to attend all programs in this series. For more information and a complete schedule of events for Literature of Prescription, visit the program web page.

  The national exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

• Let's Talk About It: Muslim Journeys

  Booth Library is presenting Let's Talk About It: Muslim Journeys, a reading and discussion series, through April 15. The library is one of 125 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to participate in the project, which seeks to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world.

  Booth Library will host a five-part, scholar-led discussion series on the theme Pathways of Faith, in addition to exhibits and other related programming.

  Books in the series are The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam by F.E. Peters, Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan A.C. Brown, The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson, The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter, and A Rumi Anthology edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson. Book discussions will be led by Brian Mann, Dr. Jaysinha Shinde and Dr. Ahmed Abou-Zaid.

  In addition to the book discussions, related exhibits are on display at Booth Library and the Tarble Arts Center. Other upcoming programs include student research presentations; an interfaith panel moderated by instructor Daniel Otto; and a panel discussion, Women in Veil, moderated by Dr. Bonnie Irwin. For the complete schedule visit the website.

  In addition to the Muslim Journeys discussion and program series, Booth Library patrons can access Oxford Islamic Studies Online for a limited time. This resource will be available to the EIU community through Dec. 31, 2014. The database includes reference entries, primary source documents, learning resources, and images and maps. Click here to link to this resource.

  Let's Talk About It: Muslim Journeys has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in cooperation with the American Library Association.