Visiting the Marking Time Exhibition

Sandra Kroupa
Book Arts and Rare Books Curator
Special Collections, University of Washington

Marking Time, an exhibit from the Guild of Book Workers, will be on display in Suzzallo/Allen Library December 2009 through February 2010. The exhibition is being co-sponsored by The Special Collections Division of the University Libraries and The Book Arts Guild. The exhibit will be shown in three venues and only two venues will be on display in December. Having the exhibit spread throughout the main Library means that many more visitors will “discover” the exhibit in their regular use of the Libraries.

Special Events

There will be several events for the exhibition co-sponsored by the Special Collections Division and The Book Arts Guild:

On January 21, Thursday, 2010 the Book Arts Guild will hold its 31st annual meeting in the Maps/Special Collections classroom in the basement of the Suzzallo/Allen Library. The brief business meeting will be followed by a gallery talk by the BAG members whose work is represented in the GBW's Marking Time exhibition: Don Glaister, Bonnie Thompson Norman and Jessica Spring. The annual meeting will begin at 7:00. The gallery talks will take place both in the Special Collections Lobby and in Suzzallo Room 102. The gallery talks will begin with a discussion about the Guild of Book Workers by these artists in the classroom and then the audience will walk to the different exhibit sites throughout the building.

On February 11, Thursday 2010 Karen Hanmer will talk to the Book Arts Guild in their regular meeting place in the Maps/Special Collections classroom in the basement of the Suzzallo/Allen Library. A brief business meeting will be followed by a talk by Hanmer who is the curator of the Marking Time exhibition. Her talk will cover elements of the exhibition as well as information about the GBW.

On February 13-14, Saturday & Sunday, 2010 Karen Hanmer will give a workshop in flag books for the Book Arts Guild. Details will be available on each of these events at the Book Arts Guild website http://bookartsguild.org

Exhibit Hours

Starting December 7, 2009, the first part of the exhibition will be shown in the Special Collections Lobby Exhibition space in the basement of the South Wing of the Allen Library. This part of the exhibition will be on view at that site until the end of the exhibition on February 19, 2010.

The hours for this first part of the exhibit are as follows:

December 7-18, 2009
7:30 am – 6 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 5 pm Friday; CLOSED Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm.

December 19, 2009 – January 3, 2010
9 am – 5 pm Monday – Friday; CLOSED Saturday & Sunday, December 25, 2009, January 1, 2010; December 24 9am -3 pm.

January 4, 2010 – February 19, 2010
7:30 am – 6 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 5 pm Friday; CLOSED Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm.

[NOTE: These are NOT the hours of Special Collections. These are the hours when the LOBBY EXHIBIT AREA is open.] See http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/

The second part of the exhibition can be seen on the First Floor Balcony of the Allen Library, North Wing. To reach this location, proceed on the same floor as Suzzallo 102, walk straight ahead. When you reach the transition area between the Suzzallo and Allen Library you will come to the large, open Allen Main Lobby and to your left will be the second part of the exhibit. The Lobby also has the spectacular installation of Raven Brings Light to This House of Stories, a collaborative artwork by Carl T. Chew, Mare Blocker, J.T. Stewart, and Ron Hilbert. The artwork, installed in 1994, features 40 ravens and crows suspended from the ceiling, and the title, displayed in large letters on the wall, in both the Lushootseed language and English. In Pacific Northwest Native American lore, Raven is the being who went east to bring the light to the west. In this work, the light is the knowledge housed within the Libraries collections. Each bird carries a sample type style or other symbol from cultures around the world.

For more information see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/suzzallo/ This second part of the exhibition is available all the hours the Suzzallo/Allen Library is open:

December 7 – December 18, 2009
7:30 am – 10 pm Monday – Thursday, 7:30 am – 6 pm Friday, 12 pm – 5 pm Saturday, 1 pm – 10 pm Sunday

December 19, 2009 – January 3, 2010
9 am – 5 pm Monday – Thursday, Thursday December 24 9 am – 3 pm, Friday December 25 and January 1 CLOSED, Saturday and Sunday CLOSED

January 6, 2010 – February 19, 2010
7:30 am – 10 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 6 pm Friday; 12 pm – 5 pm Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 10 pm.

The third part of the exhibition will go on display beginning January 6, 2010. This part can be seen in the Suzzallo Library, Room 102 that is at the West Front of the historic Suzzallo Library, on the left as you enter the building. This part of the exhibition is available all the hours the Suzzallo/Allen Library is open:

January 6, 2010 – February 19, 2010
7:30 am – 10 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 6 pm Friday; 12 pm – 5 pm Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 10 pm.

Marking Time is the work of curator Karen Hanmer, the GBW exhibitions chair, who, along with jurors Jeffrey Altepeter, Melissa Jay Craig, and Peter Verheyen, created this exhibition and its attendant catalog. The installation of the exhibition at the University of Washington Libraries is the work of Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator and Kathryn Leonard, the Head of the Libraries’ Conservation Unit and her staff Judith Johnson and Moriah Neils.