Fly Me to the Moon at Library of Congress.

Tuesday was another great day.  The "Fly Me to the Moon" book of quilts is currently featured in a display at the Library of Congress, in the Science and Reading Room in the Adams building.  The quilt artists who were close enough and able were invited to come for a special tour and viewing of the exhibit, as well as a display of the quilts made by the participants, for that day only.  It was a very special event!

As we gathered outside the main entrance we began signing each other's copies of the book. Here are Marsha White and Linda Cooper, two of the local quilt makers.

Our morning started off with a tour of the Jefferson Building which opened in 1897.

This is the Great Hall on the main floor of the Italian Renaissance-style building which is heavily ornamented.  A large brass inlay of a compass rose is the centerpiece of the marble floor.

The second level mezzanine is highly decorated.  Fifty-six circular printers' marks adorn the triangular ceiling vaults.  In the ceiling of the west mezzanine above, the 8 paintings in the arches show The Sciences.  Three medallions in the center depict the arts - sculpture, architecture, and painting.

We saw the reconstructed Thomas Jefferson library on the second floor.  When the original collection of books was lost to the burning of the Capitol in 1814 where the library was housed, Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement.  It was purchased by Congress in 1815 and became the foundation of the national library.  The books remaining are what is left after a second fire, before the current library was built.

Some of the books are Jefferson's originals.  Some have been purchased to replace ones that burned.  Some were replaced with identical copies from the Library's collection.  Others are still missing and the library continues to search for copies and replace them as they are found.

Above is the overlook of the main reading room.  It's hard to see here, but all those alcoves under the arches contain books.  The top of the dome which isn't visible here contains a mural painted by Edwin Blashfield representing Western civilization as understood in 1897.  The marble columns support 8 figures representing features of civilized life and thought. The bronze statues are tributes to men whose lives were devoted to the subjects which the plaster statues represent.

We then moved on to the Adams building where the Science, Technology and Business Division is located.  In the Reading Room here is the exhibit honoring the Fly Me to the Moon book. 

The display includes photo copies of some of the quilts, and other books from the library collection that connect to the events and themes depicted in the quilts.

From there we went to a central room where the quilts of those in attendance were on display.  Again, the display included books that linked to the subject matter of the quilt, as well as a placard for each quilt on display.  It provided an opportunity to see the quilts up close, sign each other's books, and chat with members of the library staff who came in to see them.

Here is Sue with her quilt.  Another amazing thing the library staff had done was create a slide show of all the quilts, which was showing on 2 electronic screens in the room.  The colors of the quilts on screen were particularly vibrant.

Above are the folks who made this all possible: Nanette Gibbs, exhibit curator and guide, her supervisor, and Susanne Miller Jones with husband Todd.  Susanne is the curator/book author of the Fly Me to the Moon collection whose forethought and dream made this idea a reality.

Finally, we have the  book itself along with Sue's quilt "Moon River" shown in the book.  The book has just shipped from the publisher and is available from Amazon. If you want to know more about the creation of Sue's quilt, you can read about it in this blog post.

Library of Congress - National Parks Display

Yesterday Sue had an opportunity to visit the Library of Congress to see a display commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the National Parks that included the "Inspired By the National Parks" book. 

Donna Marcinkowski DeSoto, who is the author of the book, got a call a few weeks ago letting her know that the book was selected for a special display in the Science Reading Room, and inviting her and other local contributing artists for a brief tour of the library and official greeting.

We were taken on a brief tour of the original library building (above), the Thomas Jefferson building.  This building was completed in 1897 and is incredibly beautiful as you can see in the photos below.  First is a collage of parts of the interior.  The top two photos show ceilings, all inlaid mosaics, the bottom left shows the main entrance area and bottom right is the main reading room. 

There are also exquisite floors with many geometric patterns that are sure to catch the eye of any quilter.  Here are just 2 examples.

After our tour we traversed the underground tunnel to the Science Reading Room in the John Adams building where the display was located, passing one of these along the way.

This is one library that still has card catalogs! 

This is a shot of the Science Reading Room.  The display was at the back on a lovely marble table behind the stacks.

The book is at the center of the display, opened to one of the quilt pages.  We're told that they periodically change the page that it is open to.  In addition, they selected some of the pages of the book to reproduce and display behind and around the book.  In addition, there were a few other materials pertinent to the national parks.

Pictured above are Donna DeSoto and our LOC guide, Nanette Gibbs. After viewing the display, we were taken to a conference room where we met Constance Carter, a recently retired 50 year employee of the LOC.  We enjoyed Connie's homemade chocolate chip cookies and stories of her time at the Library.  Donna brought along a few of the quilts from the book to show.  From there it was off to the Madison building for lunch. 

Above is part of our group on the library steps before the tour.  It was a beautiful day and a great excuse to visit one of DC's famous landmarks, one of the advantages of living in the shadow of the nation's capital.