Wendy will be joining Collins Library on August 1 as our Arts & Humanities Librarian. Wendy comes to us from Central Washington University where she was the liaison librarian to Africana & Black Studies, Art & Design, Asian Studies, English, Music, Philosophy & Religious Studies, World Languages & Cultures, and Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies. She earned a Master of Library Science from Indiana University, an MFA in Creative Writing and Poetry, also from Indiana University, and a BFA with an emphasis in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wendy has experience with a number of community organizations, including four years as the Youth & Teen Programs Manager at the Indianapolis Art Center, and most recently as a volunteer creative writing teacher and mentor at an LGBTQ+ youth support center in Ellensburg, WA. Learn more about Wendy and her interests below.
What attracts you to Puget Sound? I attended a small, liberal arts college for my undergraduate degree and I am excited to be back in an environment that values critical thinking and the development of the whole person. The friendly faculty, dedicated library staff, and beautiful campus won me over immediately when I did my campus visit, too!
What are you looking forward to most? Artist’s Books! Teaching with them, acquiring new ones, making use of the Book Arts Studio. I have a passion for book preservation and conservation and did my undergraduate degree in fine art and my MFA in creative writing, taking numerous courses on bookmaking, publishing, and artist’s books. I’m also looking forward to making personal connections with faculty and collaborating on supporting student’s research needs in the Arts & Humanities.
Past accomplishments you would like to share? In my previous role as Arts & Humanities Librarian at Central Washington University I was nominated for a President’s Diversity Award, was the principal investigator for an NEA Big Read Grant that we were awarded, and collaborated with numerous departments and student groups on events and collection development projects.
Anything that might be fun to know? In addition to being a librarian, I’m a poet! I publish my writing under my initials: WLS. You can find links to my poems here: wlspoet.com
On Tuesday, June 28, the Library will be transitioning to a new web site as well as a new version of our online catalog PRIMO. There may be some moments on June 28 when either or both the library website and Primo are unavailable. While we hope for a seamless transition of services, we recognize that these major implementations sometimes come with a few hiccups.
We ask for your patience as we transition to these new services. Library staff have been working behind the scenes throughout the academic year on this major transition and we look forward to showcasing enhanced searching and discovery options for you and our students.
In the short term, if you experience any disruption of service, please use the following email to report: libref@pugetsound.edu.
Thank you.
Jane Carlin | Library Director University of Puget Sound, Collins Memorial Library 1500 N. Warner St. CMB 1021 Tacoma, WA 98416 phone: (253) 879-3118
University of Puget Sound is on the traditional homelands of the Puyallup Tribe.The Puyallup people have lived on and stewarded these lands since the beginning of time, and continue to do so today.
Each year the Collins Memorial Library sponsors an award for a graduating Art major. The monetary award is $250 and the honor of displaying their art work in a prominent spot in the library for a term of one year. The winning art work is selected from a preview of the senior show by a Library panel.
Collins Library is pleased to bestow the 2021 Senior Art Award to Patrick Selner.
Comments from Angela Weaver, Fine & Performing Arts Liaison Librarian:
Of his work, Patrick wrote in his artist’s statement:
The human body is immensely beautiful and powerful in portraying emotion and how we connect with others and ourselves. I believe that physical connection and the body’s portrayal of emotion are extremely moving and intimate.
In selecting Patrick, the committee cited the quality of his printmaking as well as his amazing use of color and the beauty and emotional resonance of the finished prints. We are thrilled to honor him with this year’s Senior Art Award and look forward to exhibiting his work in Collins Library in the upcoming year. Congratulations, Patrick.
Library Jurors: Angela Weaver, Fine & Performing Arts Liaison Librarian Jamie Spaine, Administrative and Special Projects Coordinator Hilary Robbeloth, Systems and Discovery Librarian Nick Triggs, Public Services Specialist
Creating images of the human form and the language of the body allows me to create a story for the viewer to observe. My prints focus on the human body and how it interacts with others. The human body is immensely beautiful and powerful in portraying emotion and how we connect with others and ourselves. I believe that physical connection and the body’s portrayal of emotion are extremely moving and intimate. I hope that the figures are brought to life and encourage pause and contemplation on their significance and purpose.
Printmaking, one of the more precise and structured forms of art-making, is a process that I find beautiful. I love being able to watch my creation emerge until the final image is revealed. Each color and layer adds deeper meaning, building the image layer by layer. With each, the form evolves and comes into view through these color blocks.
Color combinations are something I consider carefully. With different color choices and combinations, an image can completely change. Color creates the mood of the piece and can change the viewers’ perception of an image. I value clean hard edges and larger blocks of color that interact with each other to create forms. I enjoy vivid, bright, warm, and cool tones in my prints and how these types of colors interact with one another. Highlights and shadows are created using different colors and hues to help place the figures in the space. My prints include squares at the base to emphasize the color choices and to show the progression of the layers and colors throughout the print. These also help in showing the relationships between the colors, and how each contributes differently to the figures in combination.
Each year the Collins Memorial Library sponsors an award for a graduating Art major. The monetary award is $250 and the honor of displaying their art work in a prominent spot in the library for a term of one year. The winning art work is selected from a preview of the senior show by a Library panel.
Collins Library is pleased to bestow the 2019 Senior Art Award to Ada Hoch-Schneider for her sculpture “Lobus.”
Ada’s work focuses on the importance of sustainability in design, and acknowledges everything has a monetary and environmental cost. The selection committee chose this work because of the artist’s statement regarding her thoughtful use of recycled materials and her concern about contributing to the garage on earth. Out of discarded fabrics and single use items, Ada has pieced together an object that resembles a fluffy cloud. The sculpture “Lobus” evokes a sense of lightness, reminds us of childhoods spent outdoors, and suggests a positive approach to waste use is possible. Her whimsical cloud skillfully crafted out of discarded materials invites us to look at a different end for fabric and other resource waste.
We are proud to have “Lobus” grace the Learning Commons area of the Collins Library so Ada’s artistic talents and important message can enrich our local community.
Congratulations Ada!
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Artist Statement
I find myself unable to separate waste and my artistic practice. Waste has often been a point of contention in my work and life in general as I feel the need to know exactly how to work material, mould it, manipulate it, and struggle to justify my use of it as a resource. Unable to remove the monetary and environmental cost from my mind, room for exploration and margin of error dwindles. Every part of my work must be worth the resources and space it inhabits or else I have failed, contributing to the overflow of garbage we leave on this planet. I am invariably present in the work; my own worth invested in it, leaves me with little in the way of rational reasoning to pursue artistic expression at all.
Working with fabric waste I am able to set aside parts of my ego and my own insufficiencies. Making becomes a practice. Sewing becomes a self-examination. Through piecing together each cut edge, puckered seam and twisted contour, I test my limits of craft, colour, shape and line recovering my love for art and creation in a medium I have known so well. These leftover scraps are discarded silhouettes produced by an industry focused on the expression of self and individuality, but what it leaves behind is, in part, more informative then the products designed. The material allows me to recall my love of fashion and sewing without my practice taking a backseat to the investment of resources. The only goal being the work itself and giving three dimensional form to something that often remains invisible.
About the Judges:
Hilary Robbeloth is a Metadata Librarian at Collins Library. Jada Pelger is the Information Resources Coordinator at Collins Library. Jamie Spaine is Administrative Coordinator at Collins Library. Lori Ricigliano is the Associate Director for User Services at Collins Library.
This piece is located on the first floor in the Learning Commons
Each year the Collins Memorial Library sponsors an award for a graduating Art major. The monetary award is $250 and the honor of displaying their art work in a prominent spot in the library for a term of one year. The winning art work is selected from a preview of the senior show by a Library panel.
Comments from Angela Weaver, Fine & Performing Arts Liaison Librarian:
On behalf of the Collins Library, I am happy to announce the Senior Art Award for 2020. As many of you know, this is my first year at Puget Sound, and I’m pleased to be part of this ongoing tradition. When our library director Jane Carlin asked me to coordinate the award, I was delighted, as I have been impressed by the caliber of student work. Pandemic or no pandemic, it was important to all of us in the Library to offer this award, which comes with a cash prize and the opportunity to display the work in Collins for the upcoming year. So without further ado, I’m pleased to announce this year’s award winner: Bridget Myers, for “Climate Change in the Time of Coronavirus.”
In selecting Bridget, the committee cited the rigorous connection between her artist statement and the resulting pieces; the meticulous craftsmanship evident in the work; and finally, as library professionals, the quality and quantity of information gathered. Her resulting project is a case study in creativity through research and we are thrilled to honor her with this year’s Senior Art Award. Congratulations, Bridget.
Library Jurors: Angela Weaver, Fine & Performing Arts Liaison Librarian Jada Pelger, Information Resources Coordinator Laura Edgar, Assistant Archivist
The coronavirus pandemic has seeped into every crevice of our human existence. It dictates and restricts who we see, how we see them, where we go, how we consume, and our very livelihood. It impacts each and every one of us, simultaneously illuminating inequities in society that are only deepened during times of crisis. It underscores the incapability of government and highlights the importance of collective power to enact change. All the while, the pandemic forces us to slow down, to consume less, to reflect on our way of life, and confront our single-use, throw-away fast consumption that has destroyed our environment. It has shut us indoors, grounded planes, halted cruise lines, cleared highways, brightened smoggy skies, clarified waterways, and welcomed back species to former habitats.
The pandemic has simultaneously divided and unified us around the goal of flattening the curve and responding to this crisis. Through this, we are united under the same necessity of safety and health, represented by the simple face-covering mask. This image has become a symbol of the pandemic, creating a uniform of what a secure and healthy society looks like, shrouded by the sterile image of a flimsy, single-use face mask.
This project comments on the single-use nature of today’s society, all the while necessitating the production of these throw-away products for our safety and health. Displayed collectively, these masks underscore the uniformity of our fearful human response to crisis, uniting us in the desire to overcome and find a cure for this pandemic. I’ve selected reclaimed single-use plastic as a medium for this project to emphasize the environmental healing that has resulted from this crisis. This microscopic, though destructive virus comes with a call to action, a reminder that we can indeed slow down, take time to reflect on our consumption, rewire our daily life, and refuse to return to the inefficient and unsustainable pre-pandemic “normal” way of life.
Lyndsey Nichols (Photo on left) is the current recipient of the annual Library Art Award for her work “Nestlings,” which will be on display in the library for one year. A Washington native, Lyndsey grew up in Olympia. She became interested in art at an early age and recently completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art at Puget Sound. A recurring theme of Lyndsey’s work is self-expression, heavily influenced by ideas concerning the human body, anatomy, and processes of the subconscious mind. Although Lyndsey began her art career as a two dimensional artist, she gradually moved towards three dimensional, interdisciplinary works to better communicate and integrate the viewer into the piece. Lyndsey’s future plans include continuing to explore mixed-media and pursuing an MFA.
Artist’s Statement
The subconscious mind is said to play a critical role in the subliminal processing of information. Most commonly linked to dreams, the subconscious can define other activities as well, such as image creation. As in dreams, images generated by subconscious responses can combine seemingly unrelated elements in extraordinary ways. Though these amalgamations may not appear logical, they are frequently indicative of an internal mental state and are likely to reveal important mechanisms and non-rational relationships used by the mind to process and manage information.
These pieces are direct and unfiltered reactions to the ways my subconscious mind copes with the intangible nature of relationships and major transitions. These pieces are the material translations of internal responses to such intimate and pivotal aspects of experience. They embody and reenact significant experiences I have undergone, though in a very personal way.
In 2012 the University of Puget Sound received fourteen model totem poles from the Kenneth McGill Family Collection. Carved between 1890 and 1950 for commercial trade, these poles represent Northwest First Nations Material Culture. They were collected by Edith and Dr. Charles McGill and their son Kenneth McGill. This collection of model totem poles encompasses several different tribes from the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Tlingit and the Haida.
In addition to the model totem poles, from the Kenneth McGill Collection, is the Large Tlingit Totem(circa 1900).
Standing Eagle Totem by Al Zantua. (Also displayed in the library) Al Zantua worked as an art teacher in Chief Leschi Schools. This totem pole is made of red cedar wood and acrylic paint. It was originally a gift of the Union Board to the Wheelock Student Center.
Eagle Spirit Mask by Al Zantua (1992). (Also displayed in the library) Red cedar & goat hair. This mask was a gift of the artist, dedicated to David Dobson, Dean of Students from 1983-1993.
[From Left:] Large Tlingit Totem (circa 1900), Standing Eagle Totem by Al Zantua. Eagle Spirit Mask by Al Zantua (1992).
For more information on totem poles, visit the following web sites:
For over a decade, the Collins Memorial Library has sponsored an award for an outstanding graduating Art major. Each year a Library panel convenes to preview the senior show and after much discussion selects the winning artwork. The artist is awarded $250 and the honor of displaying their artwork prominently in the library for one year.
Collins Library is pleased to bestow the 2022 Senior Art Award to Willa Bartholomay!
Excerpts from Willa’s Artist statement:
“People, place and materiality are the three vessels that hold stories from which I draw inspiration for my art. Community gardens tell stories about the connection between people, people and the earth’s materiality. Additionally community gardens hold a radical aspect necessary for cultural survival. They are inserted in cities that focus on the built world and infrastructure, holding a contrasting space that honors growth, resilience, and the communal over the individual. Gardening is a way of life with stories to tell and lessons to teach.”
“In allowing the community garden ethos to guide my process, I abided by a central rule: all material must be able to be planted back into the Earth.”
“These paintings/collages/studies speak to the beauty and connection between the people and place found in the Viet Huong Community garden.”
Some of the Library panel’s comments regarding Willa’s artwork:
“We loved that their work beautifully portrayed the local Viet Huong community and their relationship and work in community gardens here in Tacoma.”
“All of us were especially enamored of Willa’s commitment and their labor intensive process. Their use of natural and discarded materials was both beautiful and appropriate: linseed oil, earth, lily, rose, cardboard, rabbit skin glue. The work was time consuming, and lovingly handcrafted. Over time, it will react to its environment, expanding, cracking, absorbing, ultimately fading into a warm autumnal glow. A visual palimpsest.”
“The values of the artist show through in the materials and the stories they chose to highlight.”
“Intersections between people, place, and materiality are emphasized and communicated beautifully in the artist’s composition.”
We are thrilled to honor Willa with this year’s Senior Art Award and look forward to exhibiting their work in Collins Library in the upcoming year. Congratulations, Willa!
Library Jurors: Hilary Robbeloth, Associate Director for Resource Management Services, Digital Services Katy Curtis, Humanities Librarian Jamie Spaine, Administrative and Special Projects Coordinator Nick Triggs, User Experience and Discovery Librarian
Summer semester is upon us, and so, too, are the many research-based projects Puget Sound students have undertaken as part of their coursework. Collins Library staff wish to reach out with some reminders of the services and support we offer to students.
The Library continues to offer multiple avenues for students to receive research guidance. For example, the liaison librarians make several hours a day, Monday through Friday, available for individual research consultations. These are opportunities for individual students to engage in dialogue with a professional librarian, try out various search techniques and discovery tools, discuss approaches to the evaluation of information sources, and in general to move their research projects forward. Please see research.pugetsound.edu/help for links to access all library research services.
The Library is also a great place for study, reflection, and creativity.
White boards are available on a first-come, first-use basis, and dry erase pens can be checked out at the circulation desk.
Library 146 is used for peer research advising in the evenings, but is available the rest of time for students to book as a group study space. Two large monitors are available in the room where students can plug in their laptops. Reservations can be made for up to two hours at a time: https://pugetsound.libcal.com/space/116738.
Need Information? Don’t forget the Collins Memorial Library – Library Guides Questions? Contact your liaison librarian Comments: Contact Jane Carlin, library director Remember – Your best search engine is a librarian!
PSBA Opening Reception: Saturday June 11, 2–4pm Collins Memorial Library The University of Puget Sound *masks are not required but recommended
The Puget Sound Book Artists are pleased to announce the 11th Annual PSBA Members’ Exhibition. The exhibition will be on view this summer at the Collins Memorial Library at UPS. The suggested theme is “peaks and valleys,” and promises not to disappoint. It will be the first PSBA Member’s Exhibition held in person since the pandemic began.
One of the hallmarks of the exhibition is that every member is offered an opportunity to exhibit. Narrowing down the 80 submissions was difficult as there is an abundance of talent in the organization. Sixty were ultimately selected, meaning some difficult choices were made by lead curator, Traci Timmons, and the rest of the curatorial team of Mark Hoppmann, Peter Newland, and Rachel Watson.
(From left) Laura Russell: A Slice of Heaven, Mari Gower: A Reliquary for Martha, Mary Preston: Phrases/Phases/Faces of the Moon, Bonnie Thompson Norman: If
Timmons, who managed the book arts collection at the Seattle Art Museum as head of libraries and archives, remarked on the high quality of the works in the exhibition. “The works submitted to this year’s exhibition felt especially personal, with many responding to the pandemic and the effect it had or is having on their lives. I was struck by the visual and technical diversity of the work, by the overall excellence of the submissions, and by how artists can imagine an idea, like ‘peaks and valleys,’ in so many ways. I really can’t wait for people to see these works in person.”
The exhibition’s opening reception will take place at the Collins Memorial Library on Saturday June 11, 2-4pm. Awards for this year’s exhibition will include the Award for Excellence and the Curator’s Choice Award to be announced during the reception.
The People’s Choice Award will be announced following the panel discussion on July 28 after the ballots have been collected.
POST OPENING-RECEPTION AWARDS:
This year PSBA is pleased to have Cornish College of the Arts faculty member, Dan Shafer, as the exhibition’s juror. Shafer is a Seattle-based graphic designer, artist, and educator. He owns Dandy Co., a graphic design studio specializing in book design, environmental design, and event branding and promotion. Dan is also the Creative Director for Chin Music Press and teaches book arts and design classes Cornish College of the Arts.
Juror Dan Shafer selected Kimberly Izenman’s maze-fold accordion book “Grief” for the Award of Excellence. “Grief” invites the reader into a dense meditation on loss and devotion. The meticulously stitched fabric scraps, layered with family artifacts and memories, are both beautiful and fragile, and they seem to be quiet islands in a sea of chaotic, abstract painted gestures. The book reveals a journey through immense challenge and loss which, though intensely personal, is also invitational. In Izenman’s work, we are all given a space to consider our own grief, and to see a way through it.
The Exhibition Committee awarded the Curators’ Choice Award to Ray Zill for her work, “Peaks & Valleys.” This flag book structure incorporates photography and poetry by the artist and chronicles the peaks and valleys she experienced during the pandemic. Through photos using different exposure techniques, Zill depicts herself in a number of powerful poses– sitting back to back with herself drinking and smoking, “Speak the truth, if you let me; cloud your judgment by choice, What is real becomes an effigy when all is shaken but your voice.” The work embodies the exhibition theme, from its visual depictions of the personal ups and downs in the artist’s life to the physical manifestation of peaks and valleys in the book’s curving flag segments. All in all, it was a compelling piece that strongly resonated with the exhibition team.
Mark your calendars for these events scheduled during the exhibition:
A four-part “open case presentations” series will be held on Wednesdays, June 15, 22, 29, and July 6 from 12-1:30pm. During these sessions, the public are given the opportunity to listen to artists speak about their individual work.
Panel Discussion, July 28, 2022, 5:30-7pm: The last event is a special screening of a panel discussion between several artists in the exhibition and moderator Peter Newland.
Once again, we are fortunate to have the exhibit hosted by the Collins Memorial Library. “The entire community is always delighted to see the return of the PSBA exhibition. Over the last 10 years this has become a summer tradition and it is always a joyful experience to see the library space transformed with the incredible books” states Library Director, Jane Carlin. Carlin goes on to say: “Over the years our exhibit has grown and expanded. We have many artists from out of state and PSBA now has a national reputation. It is truly gratifying to see the impact of what started as a grass roots organization 11 years ago grow into a nationally recognized book arts organization supporting artists at all levels.”
