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Exhibits

Main Library Exhibit Areas

First floor:

  • Foundation Case — located in the west entrance foyer near School St.
  • Lobby Case — in the main lobby across from the Circulation Desk.
  • Emery Case — in the main lobby across from the new fiction books.
  • Brookline 300th Display Case — in the Reference Room

Children's Room:

  • at the entrance
  • across from the Circulation Desk
  • all around the room.

The Gallery in Hunneman Hall — located on the second floor

"NOT-BOOKS: An Exhibition of Installation Art in the Library"

Mar 3, 2008-May 15, 2008
Coolidge Corner

Beginning Monday, March 3, the Brookline-based sculptors' collaborative Studios Without Walls presents "NOT-BOOKS: An Exhibition of Installation Art". The eleven-week exhibit will feature original site-responsive art, sculpture, and video by ten local sculptors. The varied works will examine the changing role of libraries as centers for transmitting human understanding, preserving culture, and reflecting our social identities.

The sculptures and installations of "NOT-BOOKS" intermingle with the paths of library patrons, investigating the changing forms and uses of public libraries. The art also celebrates the public role of Brookline's libraries in modeling and teaching democratic values.

Elizabeth Michelman, "NOT-BOOKS" curator, explains: "The artists challenge our expectations that literary and visual expression remain separate by introducing a variety of unexpected materials and innovative forms in unexpected settings throughout the library. Playing off the library's own collections, the themes of the works run from didactic to transcendent, from commentary on local community matters to affirmation of global inter-connectedness."

Among the works developed for this show, Wendy Soneson's winged books above the stacks convey the soaring flight of books, while Muriel Angelil's suspended book/letters of "Waves of Learning" curtly instruct us to "R-E-A-D." Karen Klein's original haiku carved from wood, wire and bone fragments defend poetic minimalism against the sea of fact.

Some of the art works delineate areas within the open-plan architecture of the building, such as Myrna Balk's high-trapeze newspaper racks in "The International Swing". Joan Schwartz's "nä-lij/wiz-d?m" transforms an encyclopedia circa 1985 into a web of words that seeks new connections to enduring wisdom. Exploring ambivalence between domesticity and adventure, Elizabeth Michelman's video frames the narrative structure implicit in a staircase.

Other works fitted to their sites include Bette Ann Libby's garden spot for curling up to read a mosaic book, Barbara Vogelsang's oversize hand-made paper calendar and pen, a deconstructed steel and copper "book" by Jim Wright, and book-bursting collages of poetic fragments and urban detritus by Susan Alport.

The ten exhibiting artists include:
Susan Alport; Muriel Angelil; Myrna Balk; Karen Klein; Bette Ann Libby; Elizabeth Michelman; Joan Schwartz; Wendy Soneson; Barbara Vogelsang; and Jim Wright.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Brookline Commission for the Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Celebrating a book from the first 50 years of printing

Apr 5, 2008-May 31, 2008
Main Library, First Floor, Emery Case

"Celebrating a book from the first 50 years of printing" will focus on Schedel Hartmann's Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most illustrated books from the 15th century. It will also focus on the binding of this remarkable work offering examples of book structure and hardware from this period in history. On display will be a full-size facsimile of the Latin edition as well as a facsimile of the German edition. More information is available at Smith & Press.

Watercolors by Anita Jamieson and Lisa Goren

May 2, 2008-Jun 1, 2008
Main Library, The Gallery in Hunneman Hall

Watercolors by Anita Jamieson and Lisa Goren are now on view in Hunneman Hall and can be seen whenever the room is not being used for another purpose (check the library calendar). According to Brookline Arts Center faculty member Wendy Soneson, "Lisa Goren and Anita Jamieson took a weekend, three-hour art class and both turned it into an intense fine arts course, working many hours outside of class in an effort to understand the strange mysteries of watercolor. Lisa became mesmerized by the textures, values and hue spectrum she saw in ice and bones, and watercolor's ability to depict the patterns. Anita took on flowers and vegetation—her love of color and composition finding endless fascination with nature's variety."

Local History by Brookline Authors

May 3, 2008-May 31, 2008
Main Library, First Floor, Lobby Case

This exhibit features the following Brookline authors and their books:

These books explore Boston and Massachusetts history including several Brookline connections. Artifacts, photos and other material related to each book's subject will be on display.

Coolidge Corner Arts Festival

May 6, 2008-Jun 3, 2008
Main Library, First Floor, Foundation Case

On display in the Foundation Case from May 6 to June 3 is a preview sampling of original artwork by those participating in this year's Coolidge Corner Arts Festival. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, more than fifty crafts people and fine artists will show and sell their work in an array of media, from jewelry, fiber, glass, ceramics to photography, watercolor and mixed media. The festival will take place on Saturday, June 7 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Devotion School at 345 Harvard Street. Free to the public.