Channeling Cousteau

Friday, Nov. 11th. 3:00-6:00. Reception @ Artist, Oceanographer & Historian: Open to the Public.

Whether you like art or history, Ebling Library has something for you. The 3rd floor galleries are host to “Beyond the Edge of the Sea,” which includes over 40 realistic, powerful, detailed scientific illustrations done in watercolor by the preeminent deep sea artist, Karen Jacobsen. Karen was piloted around eight sites of deep sea terrain in the Alvin submersible by oceanographer Cindy Lee Van Dover. Cindy and Karen will be at Ebling November 11th from 3:00-6:00 to discuss their project and Karen’s incredible renderings of whale falls, tube worms, shrimp towers, and hot vents with incredible diversity of often previously undiscovered sea life. The exhibit comes to us from Virginia’s College of William and Mary and is brought to us from UW-Madison’s Geology Museum with a grant from NASA.

In the Historical Reading Room there is an installation called “Seaworthy: A History of Maritime Health and Medicine (1550-Present).” Historical Librarian, Micaela Sullivan-Fowler has looked at the subjects of the eradication of scurvy, whaling and its relationship to medicine and women’s health, the health of slaves on the Middle Passage, SCUBA, cod fishing, sea sickness, the health of seamen, and on and on….There were not enough books or cases to chronicle it all. Micaela took books from Ebling’s Rare Books & Special Collections as well as Memorial Library’s Special Collections and Steenbock Library to illustrate themes of discovery, evolving therapeutics, and the often exploitative relationship of the sea to people and their well being. One of the biggest surprises in the doing the exhibit research was a UW connection (landlocked in terms of salt water) to sea urchins and horseshoe crabs. Classes are welcome to come and discuss how the exhibit was imagined, developed and constructed. Micaela will be joining Cindy and Karen for the reception on November 11th.

Both exhibits are up through January 31, 2012. Please join us. msullivan@library.wisc.edu with questions or for a guided discussion.