Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Congrats to Mindy Dubansky!

Yesterday, after shipping art to my Gallery Korea show, I read its description on their website, which only went live recently. They advertise hanji dresses, but none were in my original inventory, so I had to wait until morning to dive into the nearby recycling bin. There was almost nothing but a HUGE box, almost exactly the right size. My hair dryer took away some of the dampness as I built a custom housing. Four hours later, I'm back from UPS.

What I really wanted to say is hooray for Mindy! She is a remarkable scholar, teacher, gardener, and all around great person who has worked for years as a conservator for the museum library at the Met in NYC. She has amassed an amazing collection of blooks (objects that look like books), now on display at the Grolier Club. For the task, she painstakingly photographed her collection, curated it, and wrote a comprehensive catalog of the show. During my visits, she showed me blooks and talked about the laborious process of deciding how to publish, print, and disseminate the information. The NYT reviewed the exhibit and I am so glad I'll get to see it before it closes next month.
Mindy is especially important to me because she came to a museum event of mine two years ago with a gift of a 1980s paper exhibition catalog from the Mingei International Museum. She had noticed a couple of Korean woven paper pieces and knew that this book would be more useful to me than it was to her. Amidst the din of the family program behind me, I was totally entranced by this duck! I made my first two that summer, and started my 29th duck late last night.
These are in a private collection and they look remarkably happy together. Thanks to Mindy for her excellent eye and generous heart! Her show is already a huge hit and I hope that any of you who can, will see it.

3 comments:

Velma Bolyard said...

ducks unlimited. i love the blooks.

binderfinder said...

Have you seen objects like a dog composed of folded cigarette package papers? I consider them folk art but have seen very little over the years. I bought a dog for my "cigarette collection. Will send a pic if I have an email address. This link came from my Blook Buddy Mindy (I collect mini-blooks)

aimee said...

I think I know what you are talking about but would love to see the picture. Feel free to email me at contact at aimeelee dot net.