 
|
 |
The mission of the Okanagan Institute is to contribute to the quality of creative engagement in the Okanagan through publications, events and collaborations. » Home » Events » Publications » Collaborations » The Institute » Contact  Kelowna BC Canada Telephone 250.870.2690 Email: Click here  Click here to help us improve our programs. |
 | |
Images and Imagination INSIDE THE PICTORIAL WORLD OF MARK RUCKER » Tuesday 29 June 2010 | 5 pm » Hooked on Books, 225 Main Street, Penticton An informal afternoon hour showcasing ideas and people in the Okanagan creative economy. Join us as Mark Rucker showcases his rich and astonishing archive of over 300,000 pictorial images - and discusses his work and life as an artist, writer, curator, collector and cultural refugee. » $2 at the door. Refreshments will be available. » Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE A Collector Offers a Fascinating Glimpse Into a Rich Pictorial World Without the aid of original records and authentic documents, our history would be nothing more than a conjectures and amusing fables.  Sentiment, a perceived need to refer to these materials in the future, or admiration for their physical appearance impels us to preserve items of personal or professional interest. The theatergoer or sports fan who saves programs, the mother who treasures her children's school certificates and report cards, the businessman who retains examples of his firm's advertising brochures, the librarian who maintains a vertical file of menus, trade cards, bills and flyers, all are collectors of printed ephemera. Generations of collectors have sought ephemera, either for its intrinsic value or for the challenge of the quest. Dealing in printed ephemera has become a specialized activity of the antiquarian book trade, and these materials are inextricably entwined with political, economic, religious, military, and social history. Increasingly, editors and authors are using ephemera to illustrate books on various topics. On Tuesday, June 29th at 5 pm the alternate weekly Okanagan Institute Outlook series at Hooked on Books in Penticton presents Images and Imagination: Inside the Pictorial World of Mark Rucker. Join us as Mark Rucker showcases his rich and astonishing archive of over 300,000 pictorial images - and discusses his work and life as an artist, writer, curator, collector and cultural refugee.    From baseball cards to postcards, Rucker's collection is the stuff legends are made of. Over the years, Rucker's keen eye has attracted the attention of collectors, and publications ranging from the New York Times to children's books, and Ken Burns' Emmy Award winning 1994 documentary Baseball.  Mark Rucker is the author of numerous books himself, including The Beer and Whisky League:
The Illustrated History of the American Association, and Detroit Aces: The
First 75 Years. He received the Tony Salin Memorial Award in 2007 from
the Baseball Reliquary for his contribution to preserving the history
of the game.But his first love is always the image itself. "Seeing the image in person is always the most fun," says the Peachland resident, who has been operating his publishing and picture agency Transcendental Graphics since 1986. Rucker uses his artistic skills as both painter and sculptor to seek out the beauty in the images he collects. It's this above all, that makes his collection so noteworthy. He started out focusing strictly on baseball imagery, but by the mid-1990s, his need for more visual stimulus urged him to expand the agency to include historical images of all kinds, particularly in the genres of photography and lithography.   Not one to define himself by national borders, his love of the beautiful and the obscure has helped him unearth images from Cuba, Japan, Mexico, Dominican Republic, England and Australia. Today Rucker's collection includes images of the Old West, aboriginal people, carnivals and circus, theatre, the comical and ridiculous, transportation, social history, labour, women, advertising, and the fantastic. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE  Images and Imagination: Inside the Pictorial World of Mark Rucker takes place at Hooked on Books, 225 Main Street, Penticton. This is the 5th event the Okanagan Institute has held there, and the 148th public presentation offered in the Okanagan since 2007. Outlook is hosted by Robert MacDonald. The Institute has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet laureate and professor John Lent, creative entrepreneur Nikos Theodosakis, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, community activist Don Elzer, dancer David LaHay, architect Jim Meiklejohn, culinary artist and writer Heidi Noble, broadcaster Marion Barschel and many others from a wide range of creative fields.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.
| |
