Events & Exhibitions

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Get Involved: Events & Exhibits at Decker

Each academic year, there's something fun to do at Decker! From game nights, book sales, collage and zine-making, and more, we're always excited to have you in our space. Explore what we've done in the past. Or check out our annual events such as Art & the Archive or the Edible Book Festival

Each semester there's a new exhibit in the cases on both levels of the library. Check out what's on display today!

Follow us on social media to stay up to date on events and exhibits throughout the year.

Upcoming Events

Fun at Decker

Final Fridays @ Decker Library

Join us at the library for extended hours and fun activities every final Friday of the month! Each Final Friday will have themed activities, music, snacks & drinks, and a campus collaborator. Below are the dates and each month’s theme for this semester.

January 31st, 4:30-7:30pm - Warm Your Winter Blues⁠
February 28th, 4:30-7:30pm - Love Your Library⁠
March 28th, 4:30-7:30pm - Share Your Story⁠
April 25th, 4:30-7:30pm - Grow Your Ideas

Past Events

Outreach & Engagement

Library Pop Up in Lazarus

Hey graduate students - we're coming over to you! January 16th from 11am-1pm we'll be bringing lots of different books, games, and DVDs to check out, as well as artist books from our special collections. Come visit us in the hallway of the 1st floor of Lazarus!

Outreach & Engagement

Decker Library Book Sale 2024

On November 22nd from 1-4pm at the Decker Library, we’ve got new and used books for everyone, with prices starting at $1! Proceeds from the Book Sale support the improvement of library spaces and services. Don’t miss out on this chance to stock your shelves or buy a perfect gift for someone who loves art and design books!

Outreach & Engagement

Edible Book Festival 2024

Join us on March 29th from 11:30am-1:30pm at the library for a day of frivolity, literary references, many puns, and way too much sugar!

The Edible Book Festival is an annual international event that unites bibliophiles, book artists, and food lovers to celebrate the ingestion of culture and its fulfilling nourishment. Any member of the MICA community may attend and participate. Attendees will have the opportunity to view, vote on, and (eventually) taste different bookish treats.

Decker Library first launched this mouth-watering tradition in 2013, and it has since become a cherished event, showcasing the creativity and culinary wizardry of our community.

Outreach & Engagement

Centering the Margins: Archives in Art & Art Education

Art & The Archive, launched in Fall 2020, is a conversation series that will explore the archive's role in the production of art and culture. Featured speakers will include writers, archivists, artists, and researchers who all engage with archives in meaningful ways. Attendees can expect a lively, expansive discussion of how archives unfold in our everyday lives.

This year's panel features two artists and art educators whose research and practice uses the archives to tell the stories that have been hidden, misrepresented, and otherwise untold. Nicole Marroquin is a transdisciplinary artist and teacher educator who explores youth resistance movements, belonging, and spatial justice through histories of Black and Latinx Chicago. Dr. Pamela Harris Lawton is the Florence Gaskins Harper Endowed Chair in Art Education and thought leader for the Hurwitz Center at Maryland Institute College of Art. A fifth-generation educator from Washington, DC, her scholarly research and teaching revolve around visual narrative and intergenerational arts learning in BIPOC community settings.

This conversation is sponsored by Decker Library in collaboration with the Art History Department.

Exhibitions

Resilience, Resistance, & Remembrance: Opening Reception

From March 10 to April 7, 2022, the Decker Library is hosting a new exhibit of artist books which present visual narratives of human experience that transgress, transcend, or transform often traumatic experiences and speak to the resilience of the human spirit.
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“Resilience, Resistance, & Remembrance” features artist books from the Decker Library Special Collections materials alongside artist books from “Nine Artists|Nine Months|Nine Perspectives: Birth of 2020 Visions”, a collaborative artist book project reflecting on the events of 2020 created by members of the Dandelion: Black Women Artists collective. This exhibit, curated by Pamela Harris Lawton, Florence Gaskins Harper Endowed Chair in Art Education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, encourages the viewer to reflect on their own histories, memories, and sources of strength in envisioning and building a more just, empathetic, and harmonious future, particularly for intersectional identities and marginalized cultural groups.⁠
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Join us for an opening reception on March 11th from 2-3pm EST at the library with artists from the Dandelion: Black Women Artists collective and curator Pamela Harris Lawton!⁠

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT

Art and the Archive: Black Art in the Archive

In this conversation, archivist Jessica Douglas and multidisciplinary artist and healer Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle explore Black and African American arts and culture in the archives. From a diversity of backgrounds, these speakers come together to examine how Black arts and culture has been preserved in the archives and its impact on scholarship and creative practice.

Exhibitions

ART IS NOT ENOUGH: Opening Reception

Join us for the opening reception of our 5th bi-annual Community Show, ART IS NOT ENOUGH, February 11th from 2-4pm EST at the Decker Library!

This exhibition includes works from the MICA community as they explore ideas of protest, activism, and action. The show will be on view from February 11 through May 6, 2022.

Exhibitions

Saying hello again, again

November 8th, 2021 2:00-3:00 PM EST at Decker Library, Lower Level

Saying hello again is a display of books and instant photographs ruminating on memory, intimacy, and interpersonal relationships, curated by graduate student David Alpert. On view at the Decker Library from October 25 - November 19, 2021.

Saying hello again again is a brief talk by the curator about the display. During the talk you will also get the chance to look through some of the Decker's artist books in person! Join us!

Flyer with light pink background and text on top, below are two photographs of a glass display case with open books and photographs inside

Exhibitions

Opening Reception: Medals at MICA, 1852-1950

October 21, 2021 3:00-4:00 PM EST at Decker Library, First Floor

As part of the upcoming Decker Library exhibit, Medals at MICA 1852-1950, the library will host an accompanying opening exhibition from 3:00-4:00pm on October 21, 2021. Curated by undergraduate student Amanda Tetso, Medals at MICA 1852-1950 explores the medallic art history at MICA as well as the leaders of the medal-making industry such as the Medallic Art Company and community organizations like the Society of Medalists. Though small and old, these unique and beautiful objects feature the artwork of many prominent mid 19th and 20th century sculptors. Join us for the reception on the first floor of the library featuring a brief talk from the curator and Q&A!

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT

Art and the Archive: Canon vs. Archive

In this conversation, Josh T. Franco, National Collector at the Archives of American Art, and Sarah-Neel Smith, Art History, Theory and Criticism at Maryland Institute College of Art will re-envision the notion of the art historical canon through a discussion of their work in and outside of archives. In his role, Franco works to identify, investigate, and acquire personal papers, institutional records, and other primary sources that tell the stories of American art. Smith’s research focuses on modern and contemporary art, especially artistic exchanges and the Middle East.

Outreach & Engagement

Art & The Archive: Fashion and Textile Archives

This panel featured three practitioners who approach fashion and textile archives from a variety of angles. Marvin-Alonzo Greer is a public historian and historical interpreter specializing in African American history, Olivia Mueller is the Archives Manager for the Gap Inc. Heritage and Design Archive and Victoria Rose Pass is an art and design historian whose research considers the history of fashion culture in the 20th century and focuses specifically on issues of gender and race.

Multi-Institution Event

Remote Emote

Remote Emote is an event organized by staff at MICA's Decker Library, Towson's Albert S. Cook Library, and Anne Arundel Community College's Truxal Library. This event is intended to provide library workers with a space to share our experiences shifting to new, remote models of service. We’ll begin with a panel discussion with our three keynote speakers, in which they will have an opportunity to share how their institutions created and enacted plans, modified services and handled communications in the wake of global pandemic. Thereafter, we invite attendees to participate in breakout discussions.

Outreach & Engagement

Art & The Archive

Art & The Archive, launched Fall 2020, is a conversation series that will explore the role of the archive in the production of art and culture. Featured speakers will include writers, archivists, artists, and researchers who all engage with archives in meaningful ways. Attendees can expect a lively, expansive discussion of how archives unfold in our everyday lives.

This series is sponsored by Decker Library, in collaboration with the Art History and Humanistic Studies Departments.

Outreach & Engagement

Special Events: Info Lit (3/30/20 - 6/6/20)

Info Lit on Instagram Live (@micadeckerlibrary), March 30 - May 6, 2020

Info Lit was a series of discussions with Library staff, artists, alumni, and others about art and design research. Info Lit, short for information literacy - and lit being a slang term dating as far back as the 1910s [1] - is the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information. Generally across the profession, Library staff are passionate about learning about the information needs of our communities so that we can help folks make informed choices and feel empowered in our space and beyond.

All future Info Lit events will be included on the Google calendar above. Info Lit is hosted by Jennifer Ferretti ('07) (@thecitythatreads), Digital Initiatives Librarian.

Past Info Lit events:

- 03/30/2020: Heather Slania, Decker Library Director (@heathergalaxy).
- 03/31/2020: Siân Evans, Information Literacy and Instructional Design Librarian (@thereluctantlibrarian).
- 04/07/2020: Sid Champagne, Resource Sharing Coordinator (@sidchampagne).
- 04/09/2020: Akea Brionne Brown, MICA Alum, artist, curator (@akeabrionne).
- 04/23/2020: Rafael Soldi, MICA Alum, artist, curator (@rafaelsoldi).
- 04/29/2020: Arvay Adams, MICA alum, artist, business owner (@arvayadams & @thissportinglife).
- 05/06/2020: Barbara Calderón, artist, curator, art librarian (School of Visual Arts) (@sadsirena).

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/lit-meaning-origin

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