Collister Library, 4724 W. State St., 562-4995. Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday; noon-5 p.m. Saturdays, 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.
Walk into the new Collister Library, and the idea of suburban, strip-mall sterility vanishes, thanks to artist Stephanie Bacon. Her public art now adorns the once-plain concrete pillars and stretches neatly across the walls of what used to be the M & W grocery store.
With this piece, "The Museum & Farm of Ideas," Bacon aspired to capture a sense of grandeur she remembered experiencing in the libraries she knew as a child. They were large, neo-classical structures, with ornamentation, sculpted cornices and murals. They are buildings that are impressive just to enter, she said.
"Libraries are wonderful places of civic consciousness. I wanted to make everyone feel part of that shared cultural heritage, to acknowledge the treasures a library holds," Bacon said. "I knew this site would be so new it wouldn't have that so I tried to create that through art. I wanted to give this place a sense of gravitas."
Bacon is an associate professor of art at Boise State University. This is her first public art piece, made possible by the city's percent-for-art initiative that designates 1 percent of the budget of capital projects for public art.
The art helps give this little neighborhood library a sense of identity.
For media, Bacon combined collage, painting, handwriting and some digital printing in some pieces, to create the seven murals and multiple cornices included in her installation.
For inspiration, Bacon drew on her general fascination with the world, much of which she explored as a girl at libraries.
The faux cornices throughout the space reflect architectural ornamentation in styles from Egyptian to Greek to neo-classical. Each one is different. A series of seven murals illustrates the breadth of knowledge, theories and ideas one might find in a library. The murals explore languages and literature; music, art and dance; history, architecture and political science; math, physics and number theory; agriculture, home economics, 4-H; philosophy and theology; and geography and maritime exploration, a subject that totally fascinates Bacon.
"The idea that people would just set out on the sea in these ships is so integrated in human thought. The sea is so vast, it is just amazing to me that anyone could do it," she said.
The maritime mural with its bright red lobsters is a favorite of library patrons, said branch manager Jillian Subach.
"People love the art. It's cool. It's unusual. It's vibrant and interesting. Everyone likes to come and tell us what they love most about it. They're always asking questions about it and are excited to learn about what it means," Subach said. "We're proud to have it. In fact, give us more."
Dana Oland, 377-6442
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