Artist’s Corner: Juliet Goodden - Blogpost 2

This is Juliet's second blogpost on her work for the 50 Jewish Objects project. Follow her journey.

My first visit to the John Rylands library in Manchester was July 2nd. I’d brought prints of what I was hoping to see that I could make notes on and a sketchbook. The spectacular library was purpose built by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband and I want to pay tribute to her extraordinary courage and vision in creating this fabulous resource. The neo gothic building is alleviated by arts and crafts details and was opened in 1900. I was directed to a desk in one of the reading alcoves in the main and lofty body of the library which truly resembles a cathedral. The feeling of being very small and insignificant is immediate, but that insignificance also allows for a freedom of expression thanks to the feeling of invisibility.  

My plan as to what I would do once there was unformed. I could study the ‘objects’, the materials, their designs, their antiquity, and the illustrations, but the text was beyond my ability.

One of the librarians explained how to use the pillows that are provided to support the books, the tray for manuscripts and how to use the weighted cord to keep the pages open. There were five brand new unmarked grey cardboard boxes on a second desk that each contained one of my chosen objects. Unpacking my very contemporary laptop, silenced phone, sketchbook and pencil case in this precious environment felt like a distinct imposition. The meeting between todays tools and the papyrus and parchment that I was studying was stark. I unpacked the 18th/19th century Karaite Bible and settled it into the grey cushion. Thank goodness I’d brought a sketchbook, as from that point on, as I turned the pages and noticed the disparity of everything on the desk top my task was to draw that divergence in time.