Columbia College Chicago Library

Presenting the work of Columbia College Chicago students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Art in the Library program exhibits works in all forms of visual arts, including sculpture, painting, drawings, and paper and book arts. Exhibitions by different artists are shown quarterly on a rotating basis. You can view the current exhibit at the Art in the Library website.

Jane Alexandroff was a vital part of the Columbia College community for nearly 40 years. She worked at the College, was the wife of president Mike Alexandroff, and founded Chicago Artists Abroad, a granting agency designed to support Chicago artists performing and exhibiting outside of the United States.

Bill Russo founded and directed Columbia College’s Center for New Music in 1965. Russo also formed the Russo Orchestra (later known as the London Jazz Orchestra), the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, the Chicago Free Theater, and composed operas for the BBC, among many other accomplishments.

In 1980 Chicago, a book with photography by Archie Lieberman and text by Robert Cromie, was published. The photographs in this exhibit were taken for the people and neighborhoods section of the second edition. Only a small number of those photographs were used in the book so many of them have never been published or seen by the public before. Featuring the photography of Archie Lieberman.

When Columbia was located at 540 North Lake Shore Drive, the Project series, a portfolio of photographs taken by college faculty and students had been compiled annually and made available for purchase. This exhibit represents the second collection of the series, reproduced for display.

Learn the steps involved in making problematic archival material accessible. Photographic negatives and metal printing stamps hold images that are often difficult to discern so students explain how they provided access to these items.

A showcase of typefaces that explore the limits of legibility, the elements in this display derive from books housed in the Library Special Collections. Typography is one of the collecting strengths of the collection.

Made of metal with very fine detail, these printmaking stamps are unlike ordinary ink stamps. Rather than simply blotting them on an ink pad and applying to paper, these require a far different technique in order for the intricacy of the stamp to emerge.

Organizations worldwide worked to end apartheid, the system of government-sponsored racism in Southern and South Africa. Chicago was active in anti-apartheid efforts, passing sanctions against and divesting holdings from South Africa primarily through the efforts of local social justice, religious, and activist groups.