A Gorey Display
With us being very short-staffed, having wrapped up <a href=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/2013/10/07/star-wars-reads-day-2013/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”><em>Star Wars Reads Day</em></a>, and needing to take over four weekly ongoing storytimes over the next month or so, I needed to get a quick and dramatic display up at our Main Library.
I came up with the concept of having it be a headstone (and had even fabricated one using cardboard boxes, duct tape, and white craft paper), but then had one of those random inspirations that it should have a very Edward Gorey-esque feel. I emailed Mary my idea and then attached <a href=”http://bulletinboardideas.org/1097/vampire-library-symbol-halloween-display-inspiration/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>this post</a> for her to look at the modified Nat’l Library Symbol.
When I got to work next she had the symbol traced out, and she and Brittany had come up with several ideas for the name on the headstone. We went with the one that made me laugh the most (yes, I have a corny sense of humor). Mary absolutely rocked the painting. I then had her paint cross-hatching on a piece of copy paper, and I copied that paper. Using the copies, I papered the table. I “feathered” some of the paper to add grass to the back of the table and around the tombstone.
When I finished, I had less than five minutes to add books and take pictures (a self-imposed deadline since I really didn’t want to come back to this display – it was the end of the workday for me). I felt like a reality show contestant rushing through the aisles grabbing books (yes, normally I love cross-merchandising but the clock was ticking), and arranging them on the table. The display is a bit King and Koontz-heavy, but our library page had just been complaining about how tight it was in that area (voila! a bonus problem temporarily solved).
<img class=”alignnone wp-image-863″ title=”Our Gorey-inspired Halloween book display at the Main Library.” src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/gorey-uno.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”620″>
I’m very pleased with the display: it’s clean and very dramatic. I kept throwing ideas out (like adding figures), but wisely Mary reminded me of time and scale. The only regret I have is that I didn’t think of the Gorey idea until after I had made the headstone. I would have definitely made it look more like one of the headstones from the beginning of <em>PBS’ Mystery</em>.
