Beefcake Librarian A book nook experience by Jimmy McKinnell

This book nook is inspired by the work of stained glass artist Patrick Hurley (@pizzadonkey) and a conversation I had with him in September of 2022. I was first introduced to Patrick Hurley’s art in 2019 through a brief article in the Advocate titled “Extremely Queer Stained Glass Will Help You Get Through the Holidays.” I immediately fell in love with the simplicity, colors, and subversive humor of his work.

Listening to Hurley, I learned about his journey with stained glass, his creative process, and what it has been like for him to balance making art that feels authentic to himself while still marketable. He also mentioned some of the trouble he has experienced with other glass artists' responses to his work. Some people think that his designs are disrespectful to the medium, which is often used for pious, religious art. Luckily, Hurley has found a community of queer artists to support his work and understands that the reason some people are offended by his pieces is the exact reason others love it.

This aspect of Hurley's work deeply resonated with me as a gay man who grew up in and pursued work as an adult within the institution of the church. Questions of what (or who) is appropriate in a sacred space are often raised in churches and more times than not a narrow definition of acceptability is followed. Similarly, libraries (and the makerspaces that sometimes accompany them) are also institutions where questions of appropriateness often arise. I am pleased that this book nook will be displayed in SILS's library - at least for a few days - as it is most likely not the kind of piece that would be selected to be in a library were it left up to an authoritative committee. I hope that it receives a few smiles and encourages people to question what (or who) we think of as appropriate for libraries and other spaces.

In designing this nook, I wanted to extend Hurley's Beefcake series to include a beefy librarian. I wanted to create an inviting space that was rich and a little mysterious. I like the idea of people having to lean in closer to peek around to see what the scene contains. Part of this is in contrast to well-lit library spaces suited for reading, but I also wanted to make sure that the stained glass piece, once illuminated, was the focal point.

To create the stained glass element, I created an outline on Adobe Illustrator, loosely tracing an image of a beefy man leaning against a door frame. I added books and a bun (as a nod to the sexy librarian trope) and then laser cut the design onto ply wood.

I used tracing paper and colored gel transparencies (the kind used for theatre lights) to cut out shapes to attach to the back of the frame. This was extremely tedious and were I to do it again, I'm sure it would be worth it to figure out out to use a vinyl or Cricut cutter to my advantage. I would have liked more variety of colors to choose from as well. I tried to keep the color pallet bold, but limited as I have noticed in Hurley's work. Finally I hot glued lights to the back so that it would be illuminated from behind.

I 3D-printed the bookcase and books using designs from Thingiverse. It took a while to trim down the books individually and then paint each one, but I wanted to be able to arrange them in a way that felt realistic, like our librarian was in the process of tidying them up.

The plant I made out of paper. I drew out stalks and leaves in a long strip and then rolled it up. I added layers of brown and orange around the plant to look like dirt and a pot. The plant is an allusion to the flowers and leaves that Hurley often uses in his designs and that are included in his Beefcake series.

The door way is a piece of mirrored acrylic that I laser cut to size and then added a laser-cut door frame. As tight as this nook space is, I wanted to try to make it look like it was a part of a much larger space. The mirror adds the illusion that there may be an adjoining room and allows the viewer to see more of the book case from a different angle.

I added a single led light to the ceiling of the nook to brighten the whole space just a touch. It took several attempts to get it right and it only works half of the time, but luckily the light from the stain glass is bright enough that most of the space is illuminate that way.

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with an image by Gecko Studio - "Stack of books on bookshelf, close-up. Education learning concep"