The third in a three-part series on the insights and ambitions of Problem Children from Education Director Daniel Lucas.

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Three weeks ago the seventh cohort of Problem Children artists officially completed the program. The closing exhibition was a day of mixed emotions: anxiety, relief, elation, and (oncoming) grief. After three months of steady contact with their mentor, journeying to Problem Library, and learning, playing, and growing together, they now face their most demanding task: integrating all they have learned as life continues to unfold.

Indeed, sorting out how experiences (should) inform our growth is one of the knottiest challenges any of us can face. Whether we struggle to recognize what has truly happened or we feel timid in its face, enduring change is hard. To meaningfully transform – not for today, but for good – we must overcome both of these extremes by rightly appreciating the past and boldly stepping into the unknown.

Through the preceding installments of this newsletter I sought to appreciate and communicate the most important aspects of what we have learned over the past seven years of Problem Children. Behind the scenes we at Problem Library have been in extensive conversations about how to integrate these experiences into a vision (and strategic plan) for the future of our organization.

The aim is to grow Problem Library into a place that offers educational opportunities for youth, adults, and families year round. What this will look like week to week is unknown, but over the past year we have explored through intimate programs and the more visible bi-yearly event Too Much Information (TMI).

While everyone at Problem Library has been involved in these explorations, for this newsletter I invited Tamara Chu to talk about the sense of adventure moving us forward. Since 2018 Tamara has slowly grown her involvement with Problem Library: from a performer, to a [working] artist, to the ringleader of TMI, and now as our Director of Events & Engagement. In taking on this newly-created (and volunteer) role, Tamara will bring her experience and creativity to bear as we explore this deeper understanding of what Problem Library is.

In her reflections below Tamara reminds us that indelible growth (in any domain) happens through the “delicate combination” of appreciation of the past and the boldness of real adventure. Her observation is a reminder that “dreaming in vacuo is usually not very profitable, but dreaming as an imaginative extension of known experience may be extremely profitable” ⁰¹.

Thank you Tamara for sharing your vision of where we are going and how we are getting there.

As always, if you are so called please reply to this email or contact me directly: daniel@problemlibrary.org

For many years it seemed one of the defining characteristics of Problem Library was that it was never open.

In 2017 I happened to walk by on a day that it was, diverted from my intended route by a simple HERE NOW sign that stood at the corner of 15th and Irving. I was entranced by the smell of wood, the shelves filled with curious objects and books wrapped in brown paper, titles and authors obscured, and the long, invigorating conversation I had there that started with me being asked, to my surprise: what do you think this place is?

And so I kept returning to this place that was not a store, not a gallery, and certainly not a library, drawn by a sense that underneath the sporadic activity that would light up 1288 15th Ave, there was some magnetic core, some essential generative truth that also drew those I met there, and that for a long time I couldn’t put words to.

What I could say was that it was always a good day when the lights were on, and Problem Library was HERE NOW.

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The summer that followed this first encounter with Problem Library was also the summer of the first ever Problem Children. While other events have come and gone, the Problem Children closing show has continued to mark our calendars every year, with each iteration representing new challenges overcome and new capabilities discovered.

Every year, I’ve experienced the show as not only a celebration for the students and their talent, perseverance, and creative achievements, but a celebration for the organization as a whole: a day of joy, gratitude, and optimism that quietly confirms that Problem Library, in all of its various expressions and undefinable qualities, is onto something.

This year, that something feels clear. I have seen countless students come through these doors and return again and again: to volunteer, just hang out, share developments in their lives, seek and dish out advice, propose and lead their own programs, and even reenroll as Problem Children. As we say goodbye to another summer, we keep the lights on for them, and devote ourselves to the introduction of new contexts for applied inquiry and lifelong learning.

The more opportunities we have to invite them in—to not only learn and participate, but to teach and lead—the closer Problem Library feels to that core that drew me in back in 2017; that force that continually loops us all back together.

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Problem Library has always been a place of possibility and experimentation—the result of many voices, minds, and hands striving to create what they want to see in the world and building their capacity for the unknown. Every experiment we have run over the years, from Barn Raising, to Ways of Sensing, to Too Much Information, has felt like practice for this next phase of Problem Library as a vibrant educational network.

There is so much I am excited for in the months and years to come. With a clear shared vision, and new roles devoted to making it happen, the leaps we take as an organization can be bigger and more daring, while also truer and more easeful. My hope is that you will join us as we enter the fall: first with a new series called Out of Office starting next Friday (more information below), and the return of Too Much Information on October 19.

Problem Library is HERE NOW—come on in.

— Tamara

Cultivating Problem Library into a “vibrant educational network” demands not just a physical openness – doors open, lights on, humans present – but an openness about how, from whom, and what, we share, learn, and discuss.

In this spirit, we invite you to join us on Friday, September 20th at 6pm for an open conversation on  The Case of The Disappearing Gauguin: A Study of Authenticity and the Art Market by Dr. Stephanie Brown. Facilitated by Historienne Nicole Meldahl, Dr. Brown’s friend and colleague, this evening marks our first step forward with Out of Office, a new series where we invite professors, academics, and researchers to present work that sits outside their primary field of expertise.

In 2016, Dr. Brown discovered Flowers and Fruit, a still-life formerly attributed to Paul Gauguin in a museum in California’s Central Valley. Intrigued, she began to research the painting’s history and the subsequent journey led her beyond an accounting of simple provenance into an investigation of the art market, museum practices, and how personal relationships shape the historical record.

During the talk these two friends and colleagues will share Dr. Brown’s findings as they delve deeper, asking: What is art worth? How do we determine the authenticity of an artwork? And who is qualified to assign value to cultural creations?

Learn more about the event and RSVP here.

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We look forward to seeing you.

With gratitude,
Daniel Lucas
Education Director

01 — This quote comes from a 1947 lecture by the noted Quaker Elton Trueblood on the properties of ingenuity and progress. Here he is advocating for visions of the future that are both bold and creative while being rooted in experience and understanding. The Latin phrase in vacuo translates to “in a vacuum”.