The Book Vault
The Book Vault
Jennifer Drinkwater. The Book Vault, acrylic on wood, 12” x 12”, 2024.
**Please note that while The Book Vault is available for purchase, it is currently in an exhibition and will not be available for delivery until late April. Please email jennifer@whatsgoodproject.com with any questions.
The Book Vault arrives wired and ready to hang. My genius husband Aaron Swanson carefully crafts each panel with high-quality wood, mounting a smooth plywood surface onto a sturdy, mitred wooden frame that provides depth and support to the painting. The sides of the panel are sanded and finished for smoothness.
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Twenty percent of profits support Oskaloosa Main Street.
The community story that inspired The Book Vault…
Nestled in an old bank building, the Book Vault encapsulates the typical ways-of-being in Oskaloosa, Iowa. This independent bookstore has an open-door-policy with Smokey Row, its next-door-neighbor coffee shop, with literally an open door between the two so that folks can wander in and out with books and coffee.
There are multiple book clubs that meet regularly at the Book Vault. The shop even has its own demonstration kitchen, and since it’s opening in 2005, it’s employed many, MANY Oskaloosa residents. Matter of fact, folks new to town have been known to work there just to meet people.
Julie Hansen, Emeritus Librarian at William Penn University, and Nancy Simpson co-developed the Book Vault from the (not literal) ashes of the former Johnson Abstract Building, using the vaults in the building to house different genres of books. Nearly everyone I spoke with about what was good in Osky mentioned the Book Vault by name.
Oskaloosa’s superpower is collaboration, and it’s genius lies in cultivating many third places in the community. The Book Vault is no different, co-hosting public puzzle tournaments at Penn Central Mall, pop-up shops at regional breweries, book signings, storytimes, yoga classes, and many, many book clubs.
