Report: “How an Art Library is Changing Lives in Los Angeles”

From the University of Southern California:

In 2004, the mother of artist Dan McCleary passed away. “My parents were avid book readers and collectors of art books,” he told me. “So instead of buying flowers, I told everyone to buy me books.”
That was the early genesis for a library of art books that grew to become the core of Art Division, an L.A. nonprofit space that provides free art education to underserved young adults in the city’s MacArthur Park neighborhood. An upcoming show at the USC Fisher Museum of Art in March will feature 16 students — two have gallery representation and one has undertaken all of the graphic design for Art Division itself. And it all grew from just a few books.
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The books range from monographs of individual artists to scholarly works on architecture, fashion, art therapy — the list goes on. Teachers integrate the books into their classes and if a student is researching a particular subject or artist, McCleary will make an effort to obtain the needed materials.

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