Bridwell Annex, September 27

Bridwell Annex, September 27
Joseph D. Quillian, Jr.
felt-tip pen on coated paper, 1973
1987.151

A mandala created in honor of the facility expansion project in 1973 which added space now occupied by Bridwell Library Technical Services, Book Conservation Laboratory, the Ashendene Press Room, Special Collections, Reception Hall (“Eric Gill Room”), Blue Reading Room, The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Galleries, and support areas.

Dr. Joseph Dillard Quillian, Jr. (1917–1992), dean of Perkins School of Theology from 1960 to 1981, practiced the discipline of making mandalas during conversations, in meetings, at study, and at leisure. As early as the 1940s, as chaplain in the U. S. Navy stationed in Atu, Alaska, Quillian doodled a mandala inside the cover of his ministerial records notebook. Throughout his career Quillian’s mandalas were treasured as gifts from him, and also by the public in displays at Main Place Gallery in 1970 and at Valley House Gallery in 1974. They adorned Perkins programs and booklets and were included in the Neiman-Marcus Library of Fashion line when Stanley Marcus issued a selection of Quillian designs as Italian silk scarves.