Today is National Libraries Day in the UK.  I’m sure you noticed all the #lovelibraries and #NLD13 talk on Twitter – everyone expressing the positives of what libraries means to them.

My story with libraries, like so many others, is very personal.  Like so many people, we couldn’t afford books growing up.  I remember several independent book shops that used to be very welcoming but always had an air of elitism about them (looking back, it was my prejudice and stereotyping).  Maybe it’s because the owners always had cats and typical arm chairs that were associated with ‘rich’ people. Read the rest of this entry »

I first heard of Meet Me at the Art Museum via Twitter when Museum Secrets tweeted how great the book was.  I immediately knew I had to get my hands on it and was thrilled when it was sent to me.

The book is told from the eyes of Stub, a entry ticket stub who was left on the floor of an art museum and missed by the cleaner during his routine.  This leads to Stub meeting some of the people that work within the art museum. Author David Goldin creatively takes us with Stub on the journey through the art museum teaching us new vocabulary and jobs within most museums.

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London Children’s Story Centre Discover is based in Stratford, and very easy to find off the Tube. I recently visited to see the new SuperHeroes exhibition and to learn more about StoryCloud, a new web-based app that is an online story library.

My first site when I walked in was cake! They have a lovely café at the entrance which was very relaxing and allowed you have a snack before paying admission fees.*

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“50 Objects 50 Stories is a celebration of storytelling. Fifty objects from the Nicholson Museum’s collection has been chosen, not for their archaeological significance or for their aesthetic beauty, but for the often fascinating story they have to tell.”

I’ve had the honour of following Michael Turner’s honest journey in the creation of this book via twitter.  Although Michael is in Australia, our first connection was from his passion for Kids in Museums. It was from these conversations that 50 Objects and 50 Stories started to slowly come to life. However, until I received the gorgeous book in the post I did not realize the true meaning of the title.

The gorgeous A4 size hardback is filled with sharp, slick photos of objects that have fascinating stories to be told.  The photos, while very sophisticated, are not the selling point.  It’s the telling of the background of the objects. The historical importance.  The biography. That is the real importance. And that is what Michael Turner managed to do so flawlessly for each chosen object.

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Hay Festival is celebrating their 25^th anniversary this year.  If you have never been, you are missing out on the best literary festival.  Hay is set in a quaint little town in Wales called Hay-on-Wye and is sponsored by Telegraph Books.  I’ve only had the honor of going the past 3 years and I still kick myself for not going sooner.

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Museums and the Disposal Debate: A Collection of Essays, edited by Peter Davies, is a fascinating collection of international case studies trying to answer the age old question: How to know what to keep and what to dispose. While the book is collated in academia format, please do not let that discourage you from reading the valuable real-life examples.

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Along the same lines as 50 Modern Artists You Should Know, authors Kristina Lowis and Tamsin Pickeral have chosen 50 powerful paintings from renaissance to pop/contemporary and everything in between in this very comprehensive book from Prestel Publishing which is a most have for any art student or fan.

For the most part, each painting has a comprehensive biography listing the important factors in the creators career. There is a detailed timeline on the top of the page highlight important dates in history within a century timeframe. This helps show the influences of the artists.

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Anyone with even a passing interesting in modern art needs to own, at the very least, have access to this informational book by Prestel Publishing.

While I originally debated some of the artists (Whistler and Cezanne), it is fascinating to read a fact cheat sheets on each of the 50 artists. The book is designed so you don’t have to read front to back, however, it does make for an incredibly interesting read when you do.

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The British Museum iconic architecture has a fascinating historical story that is brought to life with this incredibly detailed biography.

The introduction is provided by both of the modern architects who were the geniuses behind the building as we see it today: the light courtyard that is now the heart of the museum. Read the rest of this entry »

Prestel Books are renowned for their quality and detailed art books and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Edward Hooper is the notorious realist painter that painted Nighthwawk (1942) the famous scene depicting big city loneliness in a diner.

Straight away, Wieland Schmied starts with provocative and thought provoking questions:

‘Is he a true Regionalist? Is his art great on account of its local color, or despite it? Or is his work not regionalist at all, and those who seek its origins in the American Scene are mistaken?’

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