CARLY KNASZAK
Special to The Leader
Shale, written by Fredonia’s Professor Timothy Frerichs of the Department of Visual Arts and New Media, has been added to the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Rare Book Collection. Frerichs also had his very own installation at The Echo Art Fair that reflects “Shale.”
Friechs has received countless awards including a 2010 Netherland-America Foundation Cultural Grant, a Constance Saltonstall Foundation Grant for Printmaking, two Fulbright Awards and the 2007 Senior Lecture Award Fulbright to the Universität Osnabrück, Germany.
Shale is not like any other book that one would come across in a public library. The book’s covers are literally made to look like shale, made with homemade papers produced from black denim that Frerichs constructed. Shale is influenced by the English translation of George Agricola’s De Re Metallica done by former United States president, Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover.
“The book Shale actually uses the imagery from the wood cut illustrations from the book in the 1500s. So what my concept is, is making connections between history and, of course, science, since science has shaped us on the way we perceive and interact in the world around us. Then connect that up with how we are currently interacting with the world or current contemporary issues,” Frerichs said.
Shale might not have been open for the public to experience at The Echo Art Fair, but Frerichs did have his own installation that gave more of a visual representation of what Shale is all about.
“It incorporates the book (“De Re Metallica”), the actual book from the Rare Book Collection, on display on a pedestal, and then it is casting a shadow, a stone shadow across the floor and wall,” Frerichs said. “That shadow is the shape of the Marcellus Shale formation. So it’s actually made out of stone.”
But what makes a book rare? Not just anyone could have his or her artist book put into the rare book collection. Amy Pickard, the library’s Rare Book Curator, shared what the library looks for when a book is acknowledged.
“For an artist book to [be] put in the Rare Book Collection, the piece needs to be by a recognized book artist, which Tim is, and it has to be something that is going to contribute to the artist book collection in a complementary way to those artist books we have in the collection,” Pickard said.
The Book Arts Collection, for the artist books, is relatively young compared to other collections in the rare book collection.
“The book Shale directly links to some of the science books we have, in particular De Re Metallica, which is a sixteenth centenary book. It had a lot of significance in terms of the understanding of its geology and mining and that area of science,” Pickard said.
Shale is not Frerichs’ only artist book in the rare book collection.
“Timothy has other artist books in the rare book collections — his Linnaeus Garden sketchbooks,” said Charles Alaimo, Rare Book and Maps librarian at Buffalo & Erie County Library. Back in 2009, The Rare Book Room purchased two sketchbooks and two folios of Frerichs’. The sketches are influenced by the Linnaeus Gardens at Uppsala University in Sweden, where Frerichs was a Visiting Artist. The sketchbooks are entirely homemade, much like Shale. The Linnaeus Gardens sketchbooks are hand-bound and are in encaustic wooden boxes.
“It’s a great honor to have your artist book along side the big names of science and history. It’s very humbling,” Frerichs said.
The Book Arts Collection is actively seeking artist books and continues to build its collection.