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Brand from Home | September 17, 2020



Virtual Author Talk with Eric Nusbaum, September 24 at 6:30pm

Author and journalist Eric Nusbaum will discuss his new book, Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, with Los Angeles Times columnist and author Gustavo Arellano at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, 2020, as part of the Be The Change Series, which is focused on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Antiracism.  


This program is brought to you by Glendale (California) Library, Arts & Culture and the Southern California Library Cooperative, with funding provided by the City of Glendale Arts and Culture Commission and support from Niche Academy and Outlook Newspapers.

Register to attend the event HERE.



Brand 48 Online Exhibition

Brand 48​ Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper is now on view in Brand's virtual gallery! This year, we welcome Dan McCleary as our juror, a Los Angeles-based figurative artist and the founder of Art Division. McCleary selected 108 diverse works of art from over 100 artists. We invite you to explore the virtual gallery, read through our on-line catalog and enjoy informational videos about our award winning artists.

Brand 48 is organized by the Brand Associates, an all-volunteer non-profit organization that raises funds to support the rich array of cultural, arts, and educational programming at Brand Library & Art Center.


Music Playlists


Today's recommending listening is Palmas, Buena Vista Social Club, Bruce Springsteen, and Brahms' violin sonatas.

Get a free Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Library eCard instantaneously. It can be used to access our online resources including eBooks, eAudiobooks, eNewspapers, eMagazines, online classes, online tutoring, and learning games, as well as streaming movies and music, and more.Try listening to a streaming Playlist from Freegal Music, Naxos Music Library, Naxos Jazz Music Library, Hoopla or Alexander Street free with your library card. Alexander Street will ask for an academic institution, use Glendale Public Library.


Read Music

Explore Gustav Mahler’s epic sound world with an article from The Guardian titled Mahler: where to start with his music. You can login with your Glendale Library card to Naxos Music Library to hear many of the recordings mentioned in the article conducted by Bernstein, Chailly and Abbado. For even more recordings, login to Alexander Street - Music Online.


Learn About Music

L.A. Phil SOUND/STAGE begins September 25. This online collection of concert films and interviews, essays, and artwork offers insights into the music. Performances range from orchestral concerts featuring Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil to Kamasi Washington, Andra Day and Chicano Batman.


Streaming Music

The next online concert on Skirball Stages will feature Aditya Prakash Ensemble and Rini on Saturday, September 26 at 8pm. The ensemble combines classical ragas, chants, and rhythms with brass band arrangement, jazz harmony, and hip-hop–infused beats. Composer and violinist Rini will be performing with the ensemble. The Skirball schedule is also on the web site.

Cellist Mark Bassett has a wonderful YouTube channel with his arrangements of video game music. It’s a good introduction to game music is you are unfamiliar. His arrangements are fun and beautiful. He has almost 10,000 subscribers because of his skills and the popularity of game music. Mark performed at the 2019 Brand Library Holiday Open House to an overflow crowd.

 

Art Online

Take a break with Short Trip, an interactive illustration by Australian artist Alexander Perrin. The meditative simulation places you in the conductor’s seat of a cross-country train, allowing you to use the arrow keys to go forward or back through the game’s peaceful black and white countryside while delivering a series of animated cat passengers.

Explore the world of video game art. Many studios offer behind the scenes videos of their development and design work. Check out the art of No Man's Sky exploring different environments. GRIS from Nomada Studio has a detailed watercolor world with its soft, gestural graphics. Prague-based Amanita Design, relies heavily on symbolism in their puzzle game Samorost 3.  London studio State of Play created Lumino City, handmade entirely out of paper, card, miniature lights and motors. Monument Valley from Ustwo Games is influenced by the drawings of M.C. Escher. Check out the art of The Last of Us, Metal Gear Solid V and more on Hoopla.


Learn About Art

Clara Wainwright has created over sixty community quilts, bringing her projects to people who, like herself, may not have had the good fortune of growing up with art in their lives. Wainwright has spent her career using her fabric-based art to tell stories within diverse communities. Learn how she got started as an artist and more about her passion for collaborative work in part of WBUR's Visionaries series.

Learn about contemporary quilters from diverse traditions as Craft in America celebrates the important role quilts play in our country's story. Featuring Susan Hudson, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Michael A. Cummings, Judith Content, International Quilt Museum & Ken Burns.

Get inspiration from the Library of Congress Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978 to 1996 collection including patterns, interviews and more. Explore history through different historic quilt patterns on the National Park Service's Quilt Discovery Experience.


Art Inspiration - Try It at Home

Make a patchwork quilt, one of the most well-known methods of construction. Find out how this facet of quilting got its name and the general step-by-step process you need to take to make one of your own from the Met. Need more help getting started? Try workshops on quilting and more on CreativeBug with your library card.

 

Staff e-Recommendations

Abandoned buildings with rays of hazy sunlight leaking through, climbing ivy, trees crashing through windows, and untamed plant growth share a post-pandemic world with the military, the rebellion, the blooming Cordyceps fungus, the Infected, and the people in the middle trying to survive. That’s the world detailed in The Art of the Last of Us, based on the 2013 adventure-horror game. The concept art shows us sketches of who protagonists Joel and Ellie could have been, before their final forms were nailed down and they began their journey — along with us, the players—east to west, from Boston to Salt Lake City, through the ruins of cities and towns. There are dozens of costume sketches, expression sheets, mood boards, and grayscale imaging that honed the tone as well as the individuality and practicality of the characters. The book also goes through the seasons—and why each was pivotal to character development. These realistic design details immersed me in every scene of the game, and the art allows us to enjoy the details without gameplay stress! I particularly love the suburbs with its hastily abandoned dwellings, downed power lines, and rosy, decaying interiors of peeling wallpaper and movie posters reflecting a thriving pre-pandemic world. Best of all for enthusiasts: there is information about the classes of the Infected, and how the infection takes hold! If you’re interested in Ellie’s backstory with Riley and Marlene, you can also read through the short comic The Last of Us: American Dreams illustrated in a less realistic, more innocent and cartoonish style by Faith Erin Hicks. If you’re ready for spoilers, or if you’ve already played through the newly-released The Last of Us Part II, check out The Art of the Last of Us Part II on Hoopla . -SB

No Man’s Sky: Music for An Infinite Universe by 65daysofstatic (2016). Music for An Infinite Universe is the soundtrack for the video game No Man’s Sky performed and written by the band 65daysofstatic in 2016. They are a British instrumental band that was formed in 2001. They were already a successful band with quite a few albums and a solid fan base when they wrote this soundtrack. The album is both rock and electronica and seems to be both forward and backward looking. They emphasize textures and timbres over standard pop song structures focusing on moods and the sheer expansive sound. While I am not a gamer, I did enjoy the soundtrack quite a bit. The album is 1 hour 50 minutes long with 16 music tracks. I’ve seen their music described as “epic soundscapes” which is actually a good description to my ears. This album is pretty much in line with the trajectory of their other albums. Music for an Infinite Universe is on Hoopla but several of their other albums are available on Freegal; you can login to both services to with your Glendale Library card. Brand Library also owns the CD which you can order via curbside pickup. -BW

 

Covid-19 Resources


Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) is available from the World Health Organization, the California Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, the City of Glendale, and the Library, Arts & Culture department.



 

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