(Sample excerpt from my recent to-do list):

"...pull West African artifacts from storage; take to Menninger Room for Dr. Janzen’s African art class / eat pizza / introduce the collection and its provenance / find seating for 28 Washburn students; facilitate discussion; turn over to Janzen’s class; remain as back-up ..."

After being told for years, “you’ll never get a job in the arts so study something more practical,” and then getting a job in the arts—one that’s located in a public library—well, it’s not just any art job. It’s better. I was reminded frequently during a talk last week how unique my workplace really is.

700 what? Who knew the Dewey Decimal System had so many art categories? There’s a copy by my computer now—hooray!

sabatini gallery news: We will be closed for installation from September 8–27, reopening the 28th with The Journey of Tea. While we pack and patch walls, you can kill time between shows learning more about tea history. Check out The Eccentric Teapot, The Tea Companion or this tea recipe book. This one is good, too: Tea and Sympathy: The Life of an English Teashop in New York. Friday is your last chance to see Brian Collier’s Master Collection of Very Small Objects and your final opportunity to submit something for our Community Archive project. Congratulations to Brian on his new teaching position at the Kansas City Art Institute and upcoming group exhibit at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Weather Report: Art and Climate Change, curated by Lucy Lippard.

local: High-fives and jazz hands to Topeka’s Collective Art Gallery, which celebrates its 20th anniversary on September 7. If you can’t make this retrospective, check for pictures on TSCPL’s Flickr account soon. It’s also the first Friday of the month which means you can participate in Topeka’s city-wide gallery crawl (Sabatini Gallery included). Check here for details.

If TSCPL departments were family members, Special Collections is like your great aunt and uncle who’ve lived in Topeka as long as you can remember and they seem to know everyone. They were friends with Langston Hughes, Karl Menninger and Grandma Layton. They’ve had dinner with Robert Sudlow and Anna Bloch.  They’re world travelers with a cool collection of art and artifacts and are as fond of their Chokwe Pwo mask from Angola as they are of Nikol Miller’s knitted burlesquewear seen this past summer at The Harveyville Project’s open house party.

Some say they’re master storytellers as recollections are often enhanced with odd trivia, amusing details, maps, yearbook photos or an architectural blueprint from the early 20^th century. They preserve tradition while encouraging innovation, and are permanently invested in maintaining our “family” history. Auntie Special and Uncle Collection are like your favorite relatives who want to see you more often and get to know you better.

Because most people don’t expect to find an art gallery, archivists, art historians and a 4500-piece (and counting) permanent collection of art and artifacts in a public library setting, we encourage you to explore our services.