A Library Book - Vince Koloski Studios illuminated art, sculpture, books, lamps

A Library Book

A Library Book, 2006 (Creekside View)
Mission Bay Branch, San Francisco Public Library
45 Feet by 5 Feet by 4 Feet
San Francisco, CA

A Library Book 4th Street View

The sculpture follows the form of an accordion-fold book starting with a "cover" panel carved to look like a rock slab covered with petroglyphs. This is followed by eight 5-foot high by 4-foot wide Lexan panels which serve as the pages of the book. Each of these pages holds two smaller panels of Plexiglass whch have benn engraved with the text of a quotation or hand carved with an illustration. The final panel serves as the rear "cover" of the book. It is a wood panel covered with small illustations and symbols which tell the history of the Mission Bay neighborhood from prehistory to the present.

The Plexiglass panels engraved with the quotations and illustrations are illuminated by LED lights along the edges of the panels. These LEDs shine into the panel and create a colored glow withing each quotation and illustration. This allows the spirit of the quotations to shine whether the library is open or closed much as the spirit of the library itself is felt whether the building itself is open or closed.

There are twelve quotations in the book. They were chosen by a committee of community members, libary staff and members of the Arts Commission from the submissions of Library patrons. Among them are quotes from local authors Anne Lamott, Ben Fong-Torres and Jewelle Gomez. Others with their words in light are Spike Lee, Groucho Marx and Jorge Luis Borges.

There are four hand-carved illustrations among the pages as well. These illustrations trace the development of human writing from the cuneiform to just before modern printing began.

See the Another Library Book Benefit Edition