29 Dec. 2003

CARTOON CHARACTER HAS ADVENTURES IN BOOKS: SIXTH ARTWORK IN THE PEEPHOLE SERIES

Seattle cartoonist Jim Woodring has created three, short animated cartoons that feature his best-known character, the generic anthropomorph Frank, in a series of adventures inspired by books found in the collection of The Seattle Public Library.

As Frank flips through books in a library, the books absorb Frank into their pages and immerse him in the fascinating and intense worlds contained there.

Called “Frank Finds Out,” the cartoons are part of The Peephole Series sponsored by The Seattle Public Library and the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. The Peephole Series is funded by Arts & Cultural Affairs. The cartoons are on display on Arts & Cultural Affairs ’ Web site at http://www.seattle.gov/arts/showcase/peephole/ .

Frank cartoon

Like a peephole in a construction fence, the library-related temporary public art projects are intended to provide the public with insights into the development of the new Central Library and to promote discussion about the place a 21st century library holds in a democratic society. The artwork leads up to the completion of the new library in spring 2004.

The new 362,987-square-foot Central Library was designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in a joint venture with Seattle-based LMN Architects. The building is currently under construction at 1000 Fourth Ave.

Woodring based Frank’s adventures on books in the Library collection. “Ankhs Aweigh” is based on several books about ancient Egypt, including a book published in 1997 by Oxford University Press and edited by David P. Silverman. “Hero With 1,000 Excuses” is based on “The Hero with A Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell, and “Fossil Follies” is based on the undersea world described in “Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History” by Stephen Jay Gould.

“The mystery of life is all-pervading, inescapable; we cannot avoid it, and we cannot understand it,” Woodring says. “No wonder our minds work so diligently to keep us from seeing it. By building comprehensible models of incomprehensible events we are able to function in our daily lives, but over time our awareness of the greater reality may be lost, a calamity for any sentient being. Art is one way of knocking these obfuscating and misleading models aside.”

Woodring, who lives in the University District, explores hidden and mysterious worlds in his work. He is best known for his alternative comic books, particularly his Frank stories, which have earned him an international reputation as a cartoonist. His work has been displayed in galleries and museums around the world, and has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope, The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, World Art, The New York Times and many other publications.

Woodring’s artwork is the last piece in The Peephole Series.

The first piece – Decimal•Points by Helen Lessick – was unveiled in March. Based on the basic premise of Dewey’s classification system, Decimal•Points features 10 original works of research and visual art. Staff members at the first-floor checkout desk at the Temporary Central Library will distribute the bookmarks the first week of every month through 2003.

The second artwork – The Peephole Theatres by Edie Whitsett – was installed in mid-May on the Fourth Avenue side of the construction site of the new Central Library. The four toy theatres, which are modeled on historic toy theatres from the 19th century, illustrate books in The Seattle Public Library collection.

The third piece – a sound installation created by sound artist Franklin Joyce in collaboration with computer-based musician Andy Rohrmann – turned a stairwell at the Temporary Central Library into a passageway of animated sounds, dialogue and interviews, during its installation from May 15 through July 3.

The fourth piece was called “The Central Library: A Physiological Study.” Performance artist Stokley Towles performed the free, humorous talks in the Temporary Central Library from Aug. 5-16.

The fifth piece, a radio documentary called “Seattle’s Living Room” by audio producer Larry Stein, highlighted Library events that deepened the experience of literature and the information available at the Library. Segments aired in August on KUOW.

The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the city agency that promotes the value of arts and culture in and of communities throughout Seattle, manages the Library’s public art program. Arts & Cultural Affairs is supported by the 15-member Seattle Arts Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council.

Voters approved the new Central Library in 1998 as part of the $196.4 million “Libraries for All” bond measure. The bond money, which can be used only for construction of libraries, is funding a new central library and new and improved branches.

(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, Library communications assistant, at 206-615-1627, or Karen L. Bystrom, communications director, Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, at 206-684-7306.)

For more information about “Libraries for All,” visit the Library’s Web site at www.spl.org.

(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, Library communications assistant, at 206-615-1627, or Karen L. Bystrom, communications director, Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, at 206-684-7306.)

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Content modified: 17 July 2003

12/30/2005