A building full of treasure waiting to be discovered

This week I thought I would continue the thread of last weeks blog on research.

When I showed my sketchbooks (more like work books really) at the “Open Working Studio” at UWE last November, many people asked whether my sketchbooks were research for a course/exam – I was surprised at this question but I think they were equally surprised when I said I do the research for myself and I couldn’t produce a finished piece of art or textiles without it (at least not my best work). To me creativity (in whatever form) is a means of understanding and expressing something and therefore the subject needs to be researched to understand;

• the question (what exactly you want to express),
• the context (how its been expressed before) and
• develop your answer (experimenting with how  to express it)

So, last week I shared some podcasts and whilst the digital age provides us with a wealth of online information, I am still (and always have been), a big fan of libraries. There is something exciting about them, a big room or building full of treasure waiting to be discovered. I remember as a child walking along each week to the mobile library with my mum. A small lorry lined with shelves and boxes of books with a counter at one end where the librarian would write down what book you had borrowed in a buff coloured index card. Another of my Mums trips was to the main library in town, a huge Georgian building with dark, cold, stone rooms, dusty windows and shelf after shelf of books to wander amongst. (if you think of Harry Potter you aren’t far removed). I’m not sure at that age whether I was more interested in the books or just the spaces/places themselves. When I went to university I rekindled (pardon the pun) that love of libraries and it became a joke that if any of my friends needed to find me they’d seek me out on the floor between the shelves or if they rang me I would answer in a guilty whisper “I’m in the library”(we weren’t allowed phones in there).

Once I was working and had disposable income I started to buy my own reference books, but having moved house 3 times in as many years and a lesson learnt in the benefits of streamlining “stuff” I have reinvigorated my exploration of libraries as a source of research. Most materials are free and the staff are usually a wealth of information and only too keen to help plus, with interlibrary loans for 90p..whats not to like? When I mentioned to a friend that I had been to the library, I was shocked to find she didn’t even know our town had a library…..so I urge you all to go find your local library, pull a book off the shelves and start flicking through…..part of the fun is finding new ideas you didn’t even know you were looking for and who knows where that will lead………………………