Artist Name: John Broderick
Based out of: Plainfield, Vermont

Artist Statement:
I have not made visual art in 30 years. The political turmoil we are currently facing would normally have driven me to the barricades. Instead, I'm driven to create something visual. It would be an honor to be part of NBOSS for Joe's final year as curator.

I've been thinking about authoritarian regimes and reflecting on the literature of repression... in particular the heroes that faced repression and made brave decisions, often to their own peril... and the villains who capitulated for their own gain. The books in this collage will be open to certain passages that capture this heroism. The title, You Can't Ever Have My Books, is a quote from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, of an old woman who refuses to leave her library as the firemen soak her books in kerosene.

I've been planning to create a collage of books, open to certain pages with key passages highlighted, and display them in a large acrylic frame. My plan was to create this for our home. Books and passages are mostly selected. All are works of fiction. The frame is one of three left by my mother-in-law, who had them custom made and transported from Chicago, to eventually display rare decorative kimono. Re-purposing one of these frames for this purpose has special meaning for us, because Yasuko Leahy is our reason for ever coming to Vermont, and to the Bennington/North Bennington community.

Site: North Bennington
Sculpture Title: You Can't Ever Have My Books
Materials: Paper, cardboard, mounted on fabric-covered wood, in an acrylic frame
Dimensions: 46" H x 46" W x 4" D
Price: $500