The GEEX Book Club offers an opportunity to connect with extended members of the glass education community through shared material, ideas and conversation.
What is the format?
In 2023-24, Book Club meeting themes have been selected by current members of the GEEX Bookclubs group. Before each meeting, new and existing members can vote on the book they would like the group to read.
November: Afro Futurist Joy February: Dreaming and Memories Spring: Pedagogy Summer: Female/Femme/GNC Identity
For up-to-date info and discussion, follow the GEEX Book Club. Haven’t joined Bookclubs yet? Follow this invite link.
Our third year of Book Club covered readings centered around anti-racism, allyship, and visibility, facilitated by guest educators and researchers.
Month/Theme/Guest Facilitator
Readings
November: Erasure: Visibility & Absence in the Art World Facilitated by Davin K. Ebanks
Art history and artmaking are predicated on something created, written, built, documented, and exhibited. But what voices, bodies, and stories are missing from the narrative? This meeting will discuss the writing of theorists like bell hooks, Édouard Glissant, and other thinkers of color who lay out the systems that have, historically, marginalized voices in favor of the status quo.
Marginality as a Site of Resistance by bell hooks from Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Culture (p.341-343) LINK TO READING
Triple Negation of Colored Women Artists by Adrian Piper, from Out of Order, Out of Sight (p.161-173) LINK TO READING
The Arts as White Property: An Introduction to Race, Racism, and the Arts in Education by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, Amelia M. Kraehe, and B. Stephen Carpenter, II, from The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education (p.1-31) LINK TO READING
The Open Boat, fromPoetics of Relation by Édouard Glissant (p.5-9) LINK TO READING
January: Anti-Racism/Allyship Facilitated by Kim Harty
The novel Harry Sylvester Bird will serve as an anchor for a book club discussion about whiteness, race, and allyship. We will reflect on how the characters in the book illuminate ideas of intention vs. impact, unconscious bias, white supremacy, self preservation, and we will consider paths forward for allyship and personal accountability.
Our second year of Book Club was co-facilitated by a rotating roster of current active participants, who proposed titles for each meeting, which participants voted and determined using Bookclubs polls.
Month/Co-facilitators
Reading
September/October: Amber Mooers & Suzanne Peck
Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
December/January: Kim Harty & Suzanne Peck
Maggie Nelson: The Argonauts
March/April: Brynn Hurlstone & Suzanne Peck
Cherríe Moraga: Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir
June/July: Amber Mooers
Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 50th Anniversary Edition
Our pilot year of GEEX Talks was facilitated by Suzanne Peck.
Month/Theme
Reading
October Pedagogy
bell hooks: Teaching to Transgress + Teaching Critical Thinking
November Political non-fiction or anti-racist literature
Susan Sontag: Regarding the Pain of Others
December/January Science fiction
Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents
February Glass-focused
Peter Carey: Oscar and Lucinda
March Art history
Erin O’Connor ‘Embodied knowledge: The experience of meaning and the struggle towards proficiency in glassblowing’ and Karen Sherman ‘The Glory Hole’
April Poetry
Share a poem!
May/June Biography or memoir
Michelle Zauner: Crying in H Mart
July/August Graphic novel
Nick Sousanis: Unflattening
We’re hoping to consistently select books which are in print and widely accessible via public libraries or local independent bookstores. If you’re concerned about your ability to obtain material now or repeatedly over the course of the next year, please contact GEEX staff at support@geex.glass.
How do I participate?
Make an account on Bookclubs! Bookclubs is a platform specifically designed to organize and consolidate book clubs. It’s available on the web or as a mobile app.
For the most up-to-date information, and to participate in ongoing dialogue about materials, join the conversation on Bookclubs.
In 2023-2024, the GEEX Book Club will meet on November 12, February 25, and one or two additional meetings to be announced. Meetings will be announced on Bookclubs and social media.
Participate freely! You’re welcome to come and go as you please; there is no wrong way to book club!
Can anyone join?
While we’ll emphasize glass-specific insights into the reading material, GEEX and the GEEX Book Club welcome and benefit from many perspectives.
Everyone is welcome to join.
How can I support this program?
This is a free cooperative model activity. In this and all GEEX-related programming, staff are working to minimize prohibitive paywall access.
Amber Mooers (she/her) is based in Durham, North Carolina. Amber is a full-spectrum doula and visual artist, working with ceramics, textiles and glass.
