News & Blog

Category: Special Collections & University Archives

Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit Banner

Exhibit: 17th Annual Student Book Arts Competition

The 17th Annual Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit is now open at the 4th Floor Gallery of the John C. Hitt Library. Sponsored by UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives, the competition invited UCF and Rollins College students to submit one-of-a-kind artist books. Unlike traditional books, artist books are handmade to reflect the personal artistic visions of their creators ranging from narrative storytelling through but not limited to drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and/or text. The 17th Annual Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit showcases of all entries created during the 2022-2023 academic calendar year.

Our guest judge for the competition was Karen Esteves, an artist, designer, and educator from Winter Gardens, Florida. Karen is an active member of College Book Art Association, The Movable Book Society, Chicago, IL, Book Arts Guild of Central Florida, Winter Park, FL and the Florida Craft Society, in St. Petersburg, FL.

This year the competition awarded two students.

“So I’ve Been Told ” by Stacie Becker (UCF) and “In Your Car” by Taylor Ingrassia (Rollins College). Both winners represented the creativity and craftsmanship of artist books and will be part of the Book Arts & Typography Collection at Special Collections & University Archives. Congratulations to both winners!

The exhibit runs from May 2023 – July 2023 which features all student book arts entries and select past winners.

Location: 4th Floor Gallery, John C. Hitt Library

Hours: 9 am – 4 pm Monday through Friday; closed weekends

For more information: speccoll@ucf.edu

Diamond's Hidden Gems

Diamond’s Hidden Gems – Special Collections & University Archives

Hello, everyone! My name is Diamond Williams; I am a second-year double-majoring in Criminal Justice and Writing & Rhetoric. Welcome to the ninth installment of Diamond’s Hidden Gems, a blog series in which I introduce you to the University of Central Florida’s library services that you may not have known about!

If you’re looking for a sixteenth-century book, artifacts from the early days of Walt Disney World, or the history of UCF, the UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives has what you need. Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA) houses the library’s rare, unique, and one-of-a-kind materials.

SCUA also provides an opportunity for students to showcase their art and potentially win a monetary prize. To learn more about the department, read on!

Special Collections contains original family papers, maps, photographs, oral histories, and more. You can view collections about: African Americana, Botany, Floridiana, Political Papers, Theme Parks, and more.

The University Archives holds materials on the University of Central Florida, formerly Florida Technological University, from its beginnings in 1963 to the current day. You can view collections about: Black Student Union History, University Branches, Offices, Services, and Programs, University Documents, and more.

UCF’s SCUA department holds an annual Student Book Arts Competition, in which students have the opportunity to showcase their handmade artists’ books and have them added to the permanent Book Arts & Typography Collection.

If you’d like to learn more about SCUA and the Book Arts Competition, visit Diamond’s Hidden Gems – Special Collections & University Archives in STARS.

Exhibit: A Splash From The Past

“A Splash from the Past: Homecoming’s History at UCF” exhibit is officially open! Dive into UCF’s rich history of Homecoming. From sports, to performances, and the ever-elusive Spirit Splash ducks origin story, the exhibit features memorabilia from UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives. Be sure to check it out at the John C. Hitt Library Gallery on the 4th Floor.

The exhibit will run from August until November 2022.

The exhibit was curated by Trinity Cruz and Elisabeth Jimenez, Special Collections & University Archives staff, with the digital designs created by Jawn Roppoccio.

16th Annual Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit

Exhibit: 16th Annual Student Book Arts Competition

UCF Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives is pleased to announce the 16th Annual Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit. The competition invited UCF and Rollins College students to submit one-of-a-kind artist books. Unlike traditional books, artist books are handmade to reflect personal artistic visions of their creators ranging from narrative storytelling through but not limited to drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and/or text. The 16th Annual Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit showcases of all entries created during the 2021-2022 academic calendar year.

Our guest judge for the competition was Nikki Fragala Barnes. Nikki an editor, curator, experimental poet and participatory installation artist, whose practice is collaborative, participatory, and place-based. She is currently the co-leader of the Book Arts Guild of Central Florida.

(more…)

Joy Postle artwork

Artist Spotlight: Joy Postle

Joy Postle was a prolific artist whose career spanned more than seventy years. Her artistic output was varied and extensive. She painted wildlife in their environment, created murals that covered entire walls and rooms, and during the Great Depression, worked for the Florida Art Project of the WPA. Besides being an accomplished painter, Postle also made block prints and hand-colored hundreds of offset prints. She worked in oils, acrylics, watercolor, pen-and-ink, and pencil. She painted landscapes and murals, made sketches of people and places, and created her own pen-and-ink cartoons. Additionally, Postle wrote poetry and then illustrated her poems with drawings, authored books on drawing, and illustrated books for other authors.

After graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago, Postle moved out west to Boise, Idaho, where she bought a ranch with her brother in the early 1920s. Postle began painting and sketching the wildlife around her in Idaho. She gained a reputation for her artwork, opening an art studio and working as an interior decorator. After marrying Robert Blackstone, a journalist who would become her publicist and manager, Postle and Blackstone lived and traveled in a modified Model-T Ford truck through the West, Southwest, and South. Postle was the primary breadwinner, selling her paintings and painting murals as they traveled. They lived the “van life” long before this nomadic lifestyle was popularized by influencers and Instagram.

The couple eventually arrived in Florida in 1934. They continued living their nomadic lifestyle, camping, hiking, and bird watching; these explorations allowed Postle to study nature closely and refine her craft. She created murals featuring birds and wildlife for many commercial sites, including Disney. In addition to painting and writing, Postle created and performed “Glamour Birds,” which featured her painting birds while accompanied by bird songs and music. Postle and Blackstone toured Florida with this one-woman show, a cross between educational talk and performance art.

After years of nomadic living, the couple eventually settled in a modest home and studio on Lake Rose at Orla Vista, near Gotha, Florida, in 1942. Postle continued as the family breadwinner, using Florida’s environment as the chief subject for art. She waded through swamps, climbed trees, endured bugs, and “stayed up all night” to observe her beloved birds and other wildlife. Postle witnessed the destruction of the Florida landscape and fought to save the environment she loved so much. Not one to sit idly by, Postle wrote letters to the local newspaper and used her art to voice her concerns about man’s impact on nature.

A fire at their home in 1968 killed Blackstone and badly injured Postle. She persevered despite severe burns and resumed her performances and exhibitions. She took commissions, exhibited her work, and sold paintings well into old age. Postle died on June 1, 1989, and her ashes were spread at her home at Lake Rose in Florida.

Joy Postle is one of the artists featured in the UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives’ current exhibit, “Wild at Heart: Conserving Nature Through Art & Archives.” This exhibition explores the art, artists, and activists that challenge us to think deeply about the impacts of urbanization and climate change on the world around us. The exhibit runs through May 1, 2022, in the 4th-floor gallery of the John C. Hitt Library.

Illustration caption information:

Left to right: [Industrial scene] block print, undated; Joy Postle painting by the ocean, copy photograph; “Narrow sound on bay, on road to Gule Beach, Grand Lagoon, Pensacola, Florida,” watercolor, 1931

Back to Top