Library Artwork: First Floor

Current: A Glass Art Sculpture by In Plain Sight Art

This piece was installed at Livingston Lord Library on February 29, 2016 by artists Amy Baur and Brian Boldon of In Plain Sight Art Studio in Minneapolis.

The work is arranged to resemble an open book; when lit, the 23 glass panels project images on to the wall to create the illusion of pages turning.

The visuals include the winding Red River, glimpses of campus, elements from nature, and scenes of early settlers. The work also contains the text, "Come then come and we shall unravel and weave them well the many strands of stories." The text was taken from the poem, "The Weaver" by alumna Debra Marquart. It was originally published in the book, Everything's A Verb (New Rivers Press, 1995). Ms. Marquart earned her Master of Liberal Arts at MSUM in
1989 and generously gave permission to use this quote.

The dimensions are 4 feet high x 30 feet wide x 16 inches deep.

Thanks to the campus Percent for Art committee members who reviewed submissions and selected this piece.

The history of the three stained glass windows that hang in the Library's Creative Commons begins with the First World War. The classes of 1919 and 1920 donated money for a memorial to the Moorhead Normal School students who died in the war. The windows were built as that memorial.

Designed by the college's art instructor, Mary Brumby, the figures represent "undying loyalty," "service," and "self-sacrifice."

The 4' x 11' windows were originally installed in the Weld Hall auditorium in the early 1920s. They remained there until 1969 when the building was remodeled. They languished in storage until MSUM President Roland Dille had the windows reconditioned for the University's Centennial in 1986.

The windows were placed in their present location as part of the 2014 remodeling of the Library.

Wayne Gudmundson taught photography at Minnesota State University Moorhead and is former director of New Rivers Press. His work has appeared in nine book and forms part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, the Microsoft Collection, and the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

Mark Vinz retired from the MSUM Department of English in May 2007 after 30 years of teaching. He is the author of several poetry chapbooks, and has done much to advance the literary scene in the Fargo-Moorhead community.

Amy Baur and Brian Bolden are Minneapolis-based artists who focus on integrating digital images with architectural spaces.

Maika Ueno is an MSUM graduate.

Clare Hauck is a watercolor artist in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Nicole Nouwen is an MSUM graduate.

Travis Dolence is an MSUM librarian.

Kevin Zepper is an MSUM professor in the Department of English.

Patrick Vincent is a former MSUM professor of visual arts

Ken Bennett is a former MSUM professor in the Department of English