Carla Rae Johnson’s piece in Desmond-Fish, Butterfield
The Alternet, a collaborative project conceived and organized by artist/sculptor Carla Rae Johnson, will be on exhibit at the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison through March 27 and at the Butterfield Library in Cold Spring from March 31 through May 23. An opening reception will take place Saturday, April 3, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Butterfield Library.
In 2010, Johnson purchased an old wooden card catalog with 50 drawers. The catalog sat dormant in her studio for a year and a half while she contemplated how to use it. Finally, the idea emerged to honor its original function: fill the drawers with cards, hundreds of individual cards. That was when she invited every creative individual she knew to collaborate with her on the project. More than 70 artists, writers and creative thinkers are participating in the Alternet. The 50-drawer cabinet is now home to more than 15,000 works of art.
With two other card-catalog projects (works by Barbara Page and Joanne Wilcox), the Alternet has been exhibited in 10 venues since it was completed in 2012. Under the banner “Artists in the Archives,” the card catalogs were installed in libraries in New York and New Jersey as well as at BookWorks in Asheville, North Carolina. In June of 2015, the Alternet will travel to Galesburg, Illinois, where it will be installed over the summer in the Blick Contemporary Art Gallery at the Galesburg Civic Arts Center.
This exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library hours. For more information, contact the Desmond-Fish Library at 845-424-3020 and the Butterfield Library at 845-265-3040, or visit desmondfishlibrary.org and butterfieldlibrary.org.
