library card art set, action and plastics

 

Four ink and wash paintings on vintage library cards.

Each card is 3 x 5 inches and attractively packaged for gift giving, in a clear sleeve with a decorative card top.

Library sign-out cards only remain as curiosity items — relics still occasionally found in the back pocket of library books. I take these vintage, obsolete cards and repurpose them as art, making ink paintings that work in concert with the signatures, stamps and marks the cards have acquired over their history and service.

The titles of these four cards are …

Twelve Men of Action by Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1952)

The Military Interpreter by R. Dubuis (1954)

Statistical Methods in Structural Mechanics by Vladimir Vasilevich Bolotin (1969)

Plastic Theory of Structures by Michael Rena Horne (1972)

Library card artworks are fantastic bookmarks (they have an incredible durability), and absolutely shine when framed. They also make great gifts — just tuck one into a Christmas or other greeting card and suddenly you’re sending your friend or relative some original artwork for the cost of a stamp. 

The artwork is wholly original, done freehand, directly onto the cards, in ink and wash.

Every order comes with an extra art surprise.

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.  

— Anais Nin

All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure. 

— Jean-Paul Sartre

I love Los Angeles, and I love Hollywood. They're beautiful. Everybody's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic. 

— Andy Warhol

Buy from people, not from corporations. And buy things that are made by human hands, not computers. 

Escape the dreaming planet ... give the gift of original art.

SAVE OUR LIBRARIES

This collection is on Etsy, but you can find more work at BigCartel.