Recently I received an email from a student who graduates this semester that reminded me that you never know how the work you do and the small decisions you make can a profound impact for someone else. Over the course of my work as a librarian, I founded and curate a collection of artists’ books (started nearly 20 years ago). This collection is used heavily to create hands-on, interactive experiences for students in courses in a wide variety of disciplines. The excepted emails below are from a studio art student about a work they encountered earlier in their experience but came around full circle in an art history course this past semester. What I love about this email is that it’s not about me – not about something I taught or some memorable way I talked about something – it’s just about one particular artist’s book that I collected….one that really never struck me as anything significant (probably more a commentary on me than on the work!), but made a difference to this student.
Here’s what they shared in the email:
“As my time at Baylor is coming to a close, I have been more and more reflecting on how my art has changed through the years. My work is heavily centered around found imagery and when thinking back to where that interest came from, I realized it was the book arts collection! My sophomore year, I saw [title/artist]. I had never before seen anyone use collage and the archives in a fine arts context and it really opened my eyes to a new possibility. Ever since then, I have been working in collage and found imagery and even created my own digital archive. I would not have taken this direction with my work if it weren’t for the book arts collection, it has had such an impact on me. I just wanted to share with you my love for the book arts!”
I’m grateful to be involved in meaningful work, especially work that might seem small or insignificant on the surface and I’m grateful for the time this student took to shine a light on how those little things can ripple out beyond our control to influence the world.