art

Fair Use and the Arts: Collage-Making at Snell Library

ARL-FairUseWeek-White-Logo February 20-24 is Fair Use Week, and this year Snell Library is focusing on the arts. Come and make a collage with us…details below! What is fair use? It’s a right granted to us that allows us to use copyrighted materials without permission from the copyright holder, under certain circumstances. The central purpose of the doctrine of fair use is to encourage creative expression and innovation through the transformative use of intellectual property. It is part of U.S. copyright law. People often ask, “how much of someone else’s work can I use without asking permission and have it be considered fair use?” The answer is “it depends.” Fairness is something that needs to be assessed for each potential usage, against four factors:
  1. The intended purpose and character of the use, such as whether it’s for commercial or noncommercial, educational use.
  2. The nature of the copyrighted work – is it factual or creative?
  3. The amount of the portion to be used in relation to the entire work.
  4. The effect of the use on the potential market for the original work.
There’s also a concept of “transformativeness,” which, while not specifically codified in copyright law, has been shown to be a favored use. Transformativeness has to do with the creation of a new work through the use of others’ work. Recording artists and visual artists use remixing, mashups, and sampling in this way. Sometimes they need to ask permission, but sometimes appropriation of others’ work is considered fair use, and the courts agree: Make a Collage and Learn More About Fair Use! Creativity can be a great way to think about how fair use can apply in your research output and other work. Our Art and Architecture librarian, Regina Pagani, and I will be hosting a collage table in the lobby of Snell Library on Thursday and Friday this week (2/23 and 2/24), from 2:00 to 4:00. Stop by and find out more about fair use, and make your own collage to take with you or contribute to a larger collaborative effort! Further Reading:

Massachusetts Summer Fun!

As the summer weather starts to creep over Boston, students everywhere have started looking for creative new ways to relax and enjoy themselves, both inside and outside. Here are some local (and one not-quite-so-local) events to keep in mind for the upcoming weeks! NOW: Flash Forward Festival, Boston The Flash Forward Festival comes to Boston to showcase the best contemporary photography from all over the world, including Canada and the UK. The festival lasts for four days (June 2nd to June 5th) and runs from 12pm to 7pm, leaving ample time to explore the other activities going on around the showcase. You have your choice of public art installations, lectures, panel discussions, gallerists, and countless artists from around the city and the world. This four-day festival is free to the public. http://www.flashforwardfestival.com THIS SATURDAY, June 4, 2011: The Cambridge River Festival This one-day celebration brings the Charles River to life with countless musical performances and more than 200,000 attendees flanking the river’s edges. Come on Saturday, June 4th between noon and 6pm to experience the magic and culture of this celebration. The festival is free for everyone! http://www.cambridgema.gov/CAC/ July 4: 38th Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular Every year on the Fourth of July, the Boston Pops play an amazing free concert at the Hatch Shell on Boston’s Esplanade along the Charles River. There are usually several exciting guest performers, and the fireworks that follow the concert are truly not to be missed. The crowds can get intense, and people camp out for space early in the morning. Tip from the locals: you can see the fireworks just as well, sometimes better, from the Cambridge side of the river, and they usually broadcast the concert to that side as well. Another tip to beat the crowds — see and hear the same concert the night before, July 3, at the dress rehearsal. (No fireworks that night, though.) http://www.july4th.org/ Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid with Live Score by Marc Ribot This event at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday, July 9th at 9:00pm revamps a classic Charlie Chaplin film with modern guitar solos and soundtracks. Marc Ribot’s transformation of the film brings a whole new meaning to the timeless piece. Ticket prices vary, but if you are a student (at NEU or any other college) you get a flat rate ticket for $10. Note: This museum is in North Adams, Massachusetts, about a 2.5-hour drive from Boston. http://www.massmoca.org Around the World in Watercolor, 1860-1920 This exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts from July 16th to March 4th features works by American watercolorists such as John La Farge, Thomas Moran, Henry Roderick Newman, and Joseph Lindon Smith. These painters all travelled the world for inspiration, and their pieces are sure to transport you to the beautiful hills of Greece or the deserts of Egypt. The best part about this showing? Admission to the museum is free when you show your NEU student ID. http://www.mfa.org

Goldberg art collection at Snell now online

As part of our celebration of our 20th year, we are highlighting some of the key features, services and collections of Snell Library. One of these features, which we sometimes take for granted, is the collection of paintings that grace our walls. If you stop by 421 in Snell Library and walk around the halls on the fourth floor, you will see a collection of paintings that came from Northeastern alumnus, Arthur S. Goldberg, MEd ’65, a Boston-area businessman who has been an avid collector for more than 30 years.  Now you can enjoy his collection anywhere, anytime, by viewing an online exhibit, designed by Steven Olimpio, a former graphic design co-op student at the library:  The Arthur S. Goldberg Collection at Northeastern.

Art & Design Lab in Snell!

With finals week fast approaching and students all over campus getting ready for the end of the semester, art and design students are bound to start camping out in Ryder to work in the computer labs for their final projects. It can get pretty crowded, and difficult to work around class time blocks in the labs- so what do you do? Snell conveniently offers a full room of state of the art computers equipped with all of the software you find on the computers in Ryder. The BIG difference is that this lab, the Digital Media Design Studio on the second floor of Snell Library, comes with knowledgable staff who are there to help you with your projects and assist you with your design questions. You can also reserve a computer station by calling the studio at 617.373.2465 to ensure you have a space in the studio. Stop by and check it out!

Deborah Davidson's Visit Makes Us "Consider Books"

Earlier this semester a couple of coworkers and I participated on the planning committee for a campus visit by artist, curator, and educator Deborah Davidson, through the NU Humanities Center’s Artists and Practitioners in Residence Program. This week I was pleased to see those plans come to fruition, as the campus and Snell Library saw a successful series of events with Ms. Davidson, who has an interest in the book as subject and object in her artwork. On Tuesday morning, the lobby of Snell Library played host to a book-making event led by Davidson, in which participants could fold a piece of paper into a book form and then decorate/fill it however they chose, with a wide variety of art supplies she provided. The event was well-attended and participants really seemed to enjoy themselves. I myself channeled my inner 10-year-old and covered a few pages with smiley stickers and paper cutout hearts. For a great account of this event, including photos, see the nice writeup from news@Northeastern. On Wednesday at noon, an audience at Snell Library was treated to a “Meet the Artist” presentation by Davidson, in which she discussed her interest in making and thinking about books, and how books as art can both reveal and conceal themes and ideas. She focused on her book, Voices, which was part of a long-term project in which she used the book form to investigate her family history and its intersection with larger historical and cultural issues. She showed photos from exhibitions of her work and answered questions from attendees about her process and directions she may take with her future artwork. By the way, she has curated an art exhibit that is currently on display at NU’s Gallery 360 — I encourage you to go check it out to see some of Davidson’s work as well as that of other artists. Snell Library was delighted to host multiple events as part of Davidson’s residency on campus, and my colleagues and I certainly enjoyed this opportunity to look at and think about books in a way quite different from what’s required by our day-to-day jobs. We look forward to future collaborations with the NU Humanities Center!