Please join us at our reception for the exhibit Illustrious Travels: Ancient Stories Re-Told, curated by Drew Griffith, Professor and Head of Classics, and Lise Melhorn-Boe, Kingston Book Artist. Both will speak about their work and creative inspiration.  All are welcome!

Exhibit description:

Vergil’s Aeneid is an epic poem not quite finished by the author at the time of his death in 19 B.C.E.  It describes the perilous sea-voyage of a group of refugees from the war-torn city of Troy in modern Turkey in search of refuge in Italy.  Drew Griffith’s edition of the original poem with his own facing line-by-line translation and illustrations is itself a work in progress.  Presented here in public for the first time are several scenes from his version of Aeneid Book One.

Look, Don’t Touch is based on Aithiopika, by Heliodorus. The novel (one of the five complete novels that survive from ancient Greece) with its subterfuge, romance, and intrigue and its huge cast of characters—Greeks, Persians, Egyptians and so-called Ethiopians (actually Kushites)—inspired Lise Melhorn-Boe to create a pop-up version of the tale using photocopies of actual artwork gleaned from these ancient civilizations. Look, Don’t Touch was created by Lise Melhorn-Boe for the University of Washington’s Special Collections Library, as part of Just One Look, an exhibition of contemporary book arts, exploring the theme of women and vision.