> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Library turns a new page - URL: https://www.smdp.com/library-turns-a-new-page/ - Published: 2007-01-08T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T23:39:46.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Events, Downtown, #archive-import *EXHIBIT: Library announces art show featuring Nordic pieces* DOWNTOWN — When a new state-of-the-art main library was first envisioned years ago, its planners dreamed of a place where the community could not only find the best literary material in the world, but would gather to appreciate the arts and engage in thought-provoking discussions. In conjunction with the first anniversary of the new main branch last Sunday, the Santa Monica Public Library has announced its first art exhibit, set for next month. It’s an educational series that will pay homage to the design of the new library — at Fifth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard — and much of the Nordic style pieces that were selected to furnish the multi-million structure. City Librarian Greg Mullen hopes the potential success of the furniture show will prompt an ongoing series of artists’ events at the library. “This is a first for the main library and we’re excited about it,” Mullen said on Thursday. The space where the exhibit will be held, near the magazine racks on the first floor, is a versatile area where furniture and other pieces can easily be moved around to create space to accommodate a reasonably sized show, whether it’s specifically for art or not. “The whole beginning concept for the library was that it would be a place where the community could gather,” said Edward Edwards, chairman of the Library Board. Hosting future art shows is something the Library Board would like to see in the future, Edwards said. “We have been working with \[city\] cultural affairs to bring things like poetry... and art into the building.” Before the art exhibit came under the radar, library officials were busy trying to keep their promises to bring the community together through library events, staging movie showings and book discussions over the past year. The library would seem to have a full plate in its future with karaoke style sing-along screening of “Grease” on Saturday and a book signing and discussion about “The Golden Girls” on Jan. 21 with Jim Colucci, a freelance television writer. The library is about to approach its one millionth visitor as a new facility and Edwards think it’s due in large part to the programming. “What’s really driving the library now is all these community events,” he said. “I’m hoping with this event, it will spark people’s imagination and help the library get input from different departments in the city on what they would like to see.” KEEPING THE ‘BASTARDS’ AT BAY A collaboration between the library and Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, designers of the library, an exhibit entitled “Nordic LAttitudes will educate the public about the Scandinavian type of design of the new library, an approach that combines aesthetics and usefulness,” said John Ruble, principal of the firm. “The library is a beautiful setting for a show like this,” Ruble said on Friday.“It’s not just functional design, but a design that marries aesthetics and function and physical comfort. “We want to show the people the background and the inspiration for much of the library design, which does come from this Nordic modernist approach to functionality and art,” he added. The primary reason why the team from Moore Ruble Yudell decided to undertake this showing was because of the questions and comments they had received over the past year about the interior design of the new library. The team hopes the exhibit will educate the public about the design and pay due respect to Nordic style of furniture. The public should learn that Nordic furniture isn’t just about style, but about survival for those who use it in the Northern European countries, said Haekwan Park, designer and exhibit curator. The furniture in the exhibit is similar in appearance to the Swedish do-it-yourself styles of Ikea, a favorite brand among college students and young professionals. But appearance is where the similarities end, said Park. Ikea is a “bastardized” version of what Nordic style furniture is, Park explained. “The furniture at Ikea is quite disposable and the furniture we’re showcasing are things that easily can be passed down from generation to generation,” he said. The exhibit is scheduled to run from Feb. 1 through March 18 in the first floor of the main library *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 8, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)