Library Echos by Corrine Lightweaver - AIR 2021

"My work is about the delicate balance between people and nature as a part of the story of public, private, and school libraries," say Corrine Lightwearer, one of EveryLibrary's 2021 Artists in Residence. "Libraries echo, preserve, and champion both the natural world as well human, historical, and cultural components."

Artist Corinne Lightweaver is the author of the art books In the Breast of Health: Healing from Cancer through Art and The Psyche’s Gifts: Art, Art Making, and the Journey from Mental Illness to Mental Wellness. Her mother graduated from South Pasadena High School and attended Pasadena City College. Her father graduated from CalTech in Pasadena. Her grandmother served as both a teacher and librarian at Chandler School in Pasadena, where the library was named after her posthumously.

Corinne still remembers the day she was finally eligible for her own library card. She recalls holding her mother’s hand as they walked into West Los Angeles Library and standing on her tiptoes to sign for the card. Libraries have continued to have that magic for her throughout her life. Corinne lives on Vashon Island, WA with her wife and daughter.

Complicity 

	Here, frogs represent the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, harbingers of a soon-to-be uninhabitable environment. Raccoons live in urban areas, trying to feed themselves outside the natural order, where humans have taken over their territory. The elephants, rhino, and turtle struggle for survival.
Critical Juncture
	In these artworks, columns and edifices symbolize both strength and structure, the best of human civilization that has to offer. But as beautiful as these structures may be, they also represent restriction and oppression, as well as encroachment on natural habitats.

These are powerful pieces because they represent not only nature vs civilization but symbolizes preservation, past, and future, how libraries are bridges to preserve old, historical components of our lives as well as provide information of the present.

To follow along with all of our 2021 Artist in Residence exhibits, please visit our main AIR 2021 page as well as EveryLibrary on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.