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Japanese lacquerware picnic box is a work of art

As spring progresses and the days grow longer, warmer and sunnier, outdoor activities become more appealing. Picnics are a favorite way to celebrate the spring weather. But most of us wouldn’t pack ours in a box like this one, which sold for $2,560 at an auction by Nye & Company. This five-tiered lacquer picnic box was made in Japan in the 18th century. It was probably for a wealthy family whose crest graces the top. Today, it is a work of art, and similar Japanese lacquer picnic boxes appear in museum collections around the world. Lacquerware has been made in Japan for thousands of ...

Battle of the Books and Books

The Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative will host its Tween and Teen Battle of the Books on August 2, 2025 at the St. Peter Community Center. Battle of the Books is now accepting participant applications. You can apply at the New Ulm Public Library or on our website at www.newulmlibrary.org. Just scroll down on the library’s home page and click on the poster for the event in your age range. You have until May 29 at noon to apply and space is limited. Tweens (ages 9-12) and teens (ages 13 -18) who are accepted will receive four books to keep. You will be notified when your books ...

Wooden knives are functional works of folk art

A knife with a painted wooden blade might sound like something strictly decorative. If it’s a flax knife, or scutching knife, that’s not the case. Before mechanization, making flax into linen fabric was a very long, complicated, multi-step process. Scutching, removing the tough stalk from prepared flax stems, comes partway through this process. The resulting flax fibers are then further processed, spun into thread and finally woven into linen. The fibers are separated from the stalk by scraping or beating, not cutting; so scutching knives are made of wood. There are simple wooden ...

Off the Shelf

Pooh book by A.A. Milne, Pooh and Piglet set out on a very windy day to visit as many friends as they can within the Hundred Acre Wood to wish them a happy Thursday and perhaps get a “little smackerel of something.” Their friend Owl remarks, “…am I right in supposing that it is a very Blusterous day outside?” I have often been reminded of this story in the past few weeks as many people have commented on how windy it has been. Much like in the Winnie the Pooh story, trees have been knocked down by the wind, and people have been blown about too. In the English language, we have ...

Wiener Werkstatte ceramics feature modern designs

When the Arts and Crafts movement thrived first in the British Isles and then in the United States, Vienna, Austria, had the Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshop). Founded in 1903 by designer Josef Hoffmann, painter Koloman Moser and financier Fritz Waerndorfer, the workshop, which lasted until 1932, was a cooperative community of artisans making all kinds of decorative and functional products. Everything from tableware to postcards to furniture to jewelry was made from quality materials with innovative, artistic designs. Like the modern designers that came later in the 20th century, ...

Library services at risk

Support libraries! Contact your Congressional representative regarding the Executive Order to defund the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Without Federal funding, Interlibrary Loan and other valuable library services to public, K-12, academic, and special libraries will be at risk! Minitex services will be greatly impacted if funding is lost. Minitex services offer a variety of resources including scholarly databases from high school to graduate level, item requests from libraries across the state, historical archives, job and licensure exam preparation, over 9,000 e-books for ...