Graduate Studies

Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media and Design (MA, MDes and MFA)

Noa Billick

coffee table book

"coffee table book" is a reddish-brown coffee table with bright, yellow-gold feet and two gold rings on its surface. This table belonged to my great granny Anita Mendel, the third female orthodontist in Canada. It lived in the waiting room of her office. She passed away in 2001 or so, and when my great grandfather Paul died in 2012, our families took turns going through the house and taking what we wanted. Two of the things my father (who was their eldest grandson) took were this coffee table, and the hobby desk used in "drawer book". I was given both objects for my first apartment. To me, archiving is not about preserving forever, because it is simply impossible. The goal is to preserve for long enough that the next archivist can have something to work with; so I refurbished it (with a bit of help). It has been sanded, re-stained, re-varnished, and, to highlight the history of the table so it is not lost, I picked two of my favourite (and two of the most prominent) ring marks left from years of use and memorialized them in gold foil.