A Mother is a Story: New York Public Library Exhibit (April 2016)

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The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library, located on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, is a prominent historic landmark in the beautiful Beaux-Arts architectural style. The main branch of the system, the Schwarzman is known for its soaring fifty-foot ceilings, classical marble facades, and miles of bookshelves running beneath Bryant Park behind it. The library has been a destination for book lovers for over a century. My dream came true for a second time when the NYPL asked me to design an exhibit featuring art from my book, A Mother is a Story: A Celebration of Motherhood, for the front window of the lovely bookshop on the main floor.

I enlisted the help of the most talented multimedia artist, Eloise Corr Danch. Eloise created gorgeous paper stars and flowers plus a huge 3D mock-up of the book with incredible deckle edges to make it seem full of pages. Amanda Smith, the visual manager at NYPL turned my sketch into an actual installation plan and physically installed the exhibit along with Eloise (I helped but without them it would have looked like a 7th grade school presentation). Erik Heywood of the incredible Book Shop generously gave us his stunning book cases to showcase actual spreads along the base of the display. Print Space did a beautiful job on the book cover print. Special thanks to Helene Silver, Elana Sinsabaugh and Abrams books.

The exhibit will be up through the month of May. Please swing by to check it out and pick up a signed copy of the book and journal for Mother’s Day and beyond.

Here’s a peek at more images of the exhibit and the installation:

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Erik Heywood
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Eloise
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