White Stork. Congratulations

This card is unlike all the others. It was drawn by me from an item held in The Mitchell library. It was my first letterpress plate. So I have included it so that I can tell the story of how it all began.

Over the year The Mitchell library has been a great source of  inpiration and enjoyment. I visited whilst in my first year at Glasgow School of Art to research the history of the tobacco industry in Glasgow for a site specific public art project.

I was then and am still amazed at the amount of fantastically old and wonderfully interesting books, maps, posters, records and letters that can be accessed free and in person.

It is a few years ago now that I went in looking for a picture of a stork to make a baby announcement card and made great use of their marvellous micro film catalogue Looking for Audabon style ornathalogical drawings. After enjoying an afternoon looking through a number of books that were brought up from the Soecial Collections stores I found the perfect one. I wanted to share my enjoyment and my surprise at how easy it was to sit in the reading room and look through these precious books. I began wondering if I could make cards that might celebrate the marvellous collections around the country that are held in Libraries and Museums and encourage people to access items that are there for them to see. There is nothing like finding a real gem that maybe has not been out of the store for a long time and simply appreciating it.