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Get involved with ICPL's Art To Go collection!

Posted by Candice on Friday, Apr 10, 2015

Caged Sisters For over 30 years, the Iowa City Public Library has maintained the Art To Go collection--maybe you've seen it, stored in bins and along the walls that separate the Children's Room from the rest of the first floor. About half of this collection is made up of framed posters and prints of well-known works of art, and the other half is original works of art by local artists. Anyone with a library card can come in to the Library, browse the collection, and take home with them something beautiful and unique to decorate their walls with.

How do we add the original works of art to the collection? Each year the Library holds the Art Purchase Prize, a contest that invites local artists to submit their original works to be judged for purchase and inclusion in the collection. The budget for this comes from the Library Board of Trustees and the Friends Foundation. What about the artistic consideration and judgment? That comes from the Library's Art Advisory Committee, and that committee is looking for a few good people!

If you would like to be involved with this collection--to help select and provide art for our community to enjoy, while at the same time providing artists with a chance at some recognition and compensation--please think about serving on the Art Advisory Committee.

If you have questions or would like more details, please contact Candice Smith at csmith@icpl.org or 319-887-6031.

About the Author

Candice's picture

I work at the Info Desk on the second floor, and I select books for the adult nonfiction collection. I have a degree in anthropology, which really helps in selecting...well...almost anything. I also manage the Art To Go collection of framed prints and original art, and the nonfiction DVDs.
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Candice Recommends

  • The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America

    by Erik Larson

    364.1523 /Larson
    Nonfiction, History, True Crime

    "Larson's ambitious, engrossing tale of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 focuses primarily on two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect who was the driving force behind the fair, and Henry H. Holmes, a sadistic serial killer working under the cover of the busy fair. After the 1889 French Exposition Universel wowed the world with the Eiffel Tower and high attendance numbers, interest began to grow in the U.S. for a similar fair. Chicago and New York were the top contenders for the location, and in February 1890, Chicagoans were overjoyed to hear they had won the honor. Burnham and his partner, John Root, the leading architects in Chicago, were tapped for the job, and they in turn called on Frederick Law Olmstead, Louis Sullivan, and Richard M. Hunt to help them build the world's greatest fair. They faced overwhelming obstacles: inhospitable weather, bureaucracy, illness, and even death. Unbeknownst to any of them, Holmes, a charismatic, handsome doctor, had arrived in the city and built a complex with apartments, a drugstore, and a vault, which he used to trap his victims until they suffocated. When the White City opened for business in May 1893, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to it, although a plummeting economy and several accidents did nothing to help business. A shocking murder concludes the ultimately successful fair, and that's before Holmes claims his final victims in the cruelest act of his career. A magnificent book."--

    csmith's picture

    Erik Larson does an absolutely amazing job of telling the story of H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who operated during the World's Fair in Chicago, 1896. Not only that, but this is a fantastic story of the city itself, particularly some of the early architects and their works. Will make you want to go visit some of the buildings. -Candice
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