Currently showing in the library space is The Spice Market by Brendan (aka. Design Guy). Our shelves are green so the drawing is a dramatic statement against that background. It’s visible to everyone walking into the building as it’s positioned facing out towards the clear window/walls. (Where our display of new items is usually.)
When Brendan tentatively floated the idea that he would display the drawing in the library I was all for it. He said that The Spice Market has grown out of conversations in this place and therefore should be shown here first. He’s a regular library visitor. Sometimes he takes stuff out, sometimes he doesn’t. Mostly we talk about the stuff that he’s doing with his Art, the things that we’ve been watching or reading. [NTS: leave more comics on your desk to start conversations.] For me it’s a great example of how I want the Library (staff and resources) to work with the students.
In a weird way it feels very similar to the mentoring I’ve been doing. It’s the same process of discuss, question, research, explain, clarify, action etc. It’s not that the Library (staff and resources) are telling him how to be an artist, it’s that we’re facilitating the space he needs to work that out for himself. After that initial display conversation I tweeted “Don’t make art in isolation“, a bad reflection of the idea that art only becomes art when it is seen by someone else. @KiwiLibrarian responded “I make art while isolated in my art room, but I am not isolated in my art practice.” Yeah, I like that.
librarykris 
