Book Club
The HoMA Book Club brings together museum community members interested in exploring the intersection of literature and art. Currently held virtually via an online platform, Book Club meetings are centered around docent-led conversations that weave together themes from books selected for their ties to the museum’s galleries, specific works of art, or related cultures.
Online meetings take place on the last Wednesday and Saturday of each month at 1pm. Pick up one of the book selections below, and join the group to enjoy an hour of lively discussion and personal connection to members of the museum community—everyone is welcome!
For more information, or details on how to join future Book Club meetings, please contact Programs Coordinator Janna Plant.
Free to join. RSVP required.
2021 HoMA Book Club Reading List
Self-Portrait by Celia Paul
Mar 27 & 31
Discussion led by HoMA Docent: Marcia Morse
Self-Portrait is a beautifully written and illustrated memoir by Celia Paul, who as a young student at the Slade School of Art in London, became the student and lover of well-known artist Lucian Freud. Selected to be read in the context of Women’s History Month, the book explores a number of themes related to women artists and the challenges faced in the search for identity and independence
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
Apr 24 & 28
Discussion led by HoMA Docent: Carol Root and Pam Redding
Set in post-colonial 1950’s northern India, The Henna Artist is the story of Lakshmi, who leaves an abusive marriage and builds a new life as an herbalist and artist through hard work, optimism, and hope. Rich prose details images of everyday life in Indian culture. The reader learns details of dress, street markets, family values, and homes, along with multilayered characters from street children to royalty. Visual images from Hindu spirituality are woven throughout descriptions of life in Jaipur.
The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo (Tenshin)
May 26 & 29
Discussion led by HoMA Docent: Lynn Hiyakumoto and Bob Oaks
“Transcending the narrow confines of its title, The Book of Tea presents a unified concept of life, art, and nature, along the way exploring topics related to tea appreciation, including Zen, flower arranging, and Taoism. An early activist, Okakura’s mission was to preserve Japanese art and aesthetic practices from an extinction that seemed imminent.” – The Japan Times. In 1906 Okakura was working as curator of Asian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The Book of Tea influenced many artists, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Saving Kandinsky by Mary Basson
June 26 & 30
Discussion led by HoMA Docent: Sue Francis
Saving Kandinsky by Mary Basson is a historical fiction about the life of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky’s mistress, Gabriele Munter, during the dynamic years of new art movements in the early 20th Century. Together with other artists, they formed the Blue Rider group in Germany, a short-lived but highly influential movement toward Abstract Expressionism. Through the subsequent tumultuous years of two world wars, Gabriele’s mettle would be tested as well as her dedication to art and to love.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
July 28 & 31
Discussion led by HoMA Docent: Jan Tucker
Set against the backdrop of coal-mining Kentucky, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is about risks taken by a mule-riding woman whose job is to deliver books in remote areas of Kentucky, facing the dangers of being a woman alone in rural Kentucky as well as those engendered by her skin color. Blue-skinned librarian Cussy Mary was part of FDR’s Work Projects Administration (WPA) program putting women to work to help build literacy in poverty-stricken Kentucky. These brave Pack Horse librarians brought not only books but a human connection to those in desperate need of both. Strengthened by her mother’s loving memory, her father’s good intentions, and the gratitude of patrons of all ages, Mary risks her life to deliver the gift that sustains her: knowledge.
Atlantis by Renzo Piano
Aug 25 & 28
Discussion led by HoMA Docent: Nancy Miwa
Renowned architect Renzo Piano and his son, journalist Carlo, embark on a sailing trip around the world in an elusive yet irresistible search for the model of perfection. For Renzo, it is the ideal city or building and the relationship to habitat; for Carlo, it is the ideal expression of words and voices. A travelogue of sorts and interwoven with personal reflections and musings, their quest is merely a pretext to a larger conversation on what constitutes form and function. Do they ever finish their journey? Do they find Atlantis? Join us as we journey with them to some of Renzo’s most iconic designs.