Welcome to the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library
Life in the 700s is about everything from early cave drawings and fertility figures to the issues and shifting boundaries art generates and experiments with today. It reports from a world dominated by grey area, few answers and endless questions. It is also about exchanging ideas and information, and having a forum in which to respond to the Arts around us, both local and global.
In 1876, Melvil Dewey invented a system of library classification which attempted to organize all of human knowledge into ten major areas, one of which encompasses the Arts: the 700s. This category begins with the Arts in general then migrates to Landscaping/Area planning (710s), Architecture (720s), Sculpture/Ceramics/Metalwork (730s), Drawing/Decorative Arts (740s), Painting (750s), Graphic Arts (760s), Photography/Computer Art (770s), Music (780s) and wraps with Sports/Games/Entertainment (790s).
(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.
The Sabatini Art Gallery is located a short distance from the Library entrance, just to the right of the rotunda. Exhibits, programs and events are free, casual and open to the public.
Hours are the same as the Library, except when closed for change of exhibition.