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Exhibits

Riva Berkovitz: Macro Photography

Jun 21, 2010-Jul 29, 2010
Coolidge Corner

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In June, 2005 I moved very close to Griggs Park, in Brookline, MA. I felt a need to capture its beauty but realized that I couldn't paint it or draw it. So I decided to buy a digital camera and in doing so I became a new person.

I began to take pictures of flowers and plants. Soon, I began to crop portions of the photos and was entranced by the effects of cropping and the creation of abstract images. I discovered a new part of myself, my brain, my emotions. It has really been the most exciting happening in my life in many years. I had always relied on being a parent and teacher to fulfill my creative longings and urges. I was completely immersed in the wonders of having children, a grandchild and, in these past years, being an educational therapist. So, this new love came as a great surprise.

I began taking photographs with a Canon A510 camera and the day I discovered the possibilities of macro photography was of great importance. It paved the way for the direction in which my interests developed. A year later I went on to a Canon A640 which had higher resolution and allowed me to crop more successfully. I discovered the joys of printing my own photos and then decided I needed a better camera. After almost two years, I purchased an Olympus E-510 DSLR and began learning to use my macro lens. I hope I'm successful.

I love what I am doing and my interest seems unbounded. I look forward to spreading my wings for the rest of my life.

Riva Berkovitz
617-566-8935
www.rivaberkovitz.com

Phoebe Ann Erb: The Scraps & Snibbles Alphabet

Jul 7, 2010-Aug 17, 2010
Main Library, Lobby, Emery and Foundation Cases

The alphabet, it's been said, is the greatest thing in the world, as it contains all knowledge—you just have to know how to put it together. This book, Scraps & Snibbles Alphabet, is one way of doing that. But, what are scraps and snibbles?

Scraps, of course, are leftovers of something. Snibbles are smaller than scraps, like snippets. In Pennsylvania Dutch country, where I was born, they were tiny, useless bits of thread, paper, cloth and so on—swept up and thrown away.

Today my studio is filled with scraps and snibbles, the remains of years as a print designer for the textile industry, but I can't throw them out.

My cabinets are jammed with images of everything from African masks to zeppelins and Zeus. I have collections of lines, shapes and colored papers. Stacks of old designs and shoe-boxes of litter—store receipts, stickers from fruits and vegetables, etc.—sit in my studio.

What to do with all this stuff has been the question.

I turned to the alphabet and began making books of pasted paper compositions from A-Z. One such book might be words about a single subject, color for instance—amber to zincite. What better way to explore a subject than by following the ABCs? There's no limit to the ideas that come into play and where they might take you.

Another book might be twenty-six unrelated words, as in this display.

I've found no container as useful for organizing my scraps and snibbles as the alphabet. Each letter inspires a glued arrangement of cut and torn papers from my stash. And, with hundreds of thousands of words in the world, my surfeit of "waste" papers, can illustrate the ideas they evoke again and again.

"Go Green" (Mass. Statewide Summer Reading Program)—opening reception Thu 7/15, 5:30-7:30 PM

Jul 7, 2010-Aug 17, 2010
Main Library, The Gallery in Hunneman Hall

Elementary School partnership with Climate Change Action Brookline, and the Library; curators: Kathleen Scanlon (Lawrence) and Jeremy Kindall (Heath)
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 15, 5:30-7:30 PM

This exhibit is in conjunction with the Brookline Public Library's summer reading program. Students of Brookline's public K-8 schools were given a simple question, "What do you like best about the Earth?" and asked to create a work of art or poetry that expressed a green message they wished to share with their school community. Entries were submitted to individual schools and a portion was then selected to be displayed in the "Go Green!" exhibit. It is our hope that you enjoy the inspiring work that our children have created.

For more information about reducing your carbon footprint, go to:

Or reference the books:

thinkEARTHursdays

Throughout 2009 and 2010, the Green Teams of the Brookline K-8 schools have been working to lower their school's carbon footprint. With the support of Climate Change Action Brookline (CCAB), the Green Teams have encouraged students and families to cut their own carbon footprint through hands-on events during "thinkEARTHursdays".

ThinkEARTHursdays occur at each school on the 3rd Thursday of each month during the school year. Green Team leaders organize activities at their own school to promote environmental stewardship and education within the school community.

Activities during the past year have included walk to school days, songs during school community meetings, sales of reusable containers and water bottles, weighing of cafeteria trash and recycling for analysis, newsletters with monthly topics and suggested activities, a town-wide "Spring Greening" clothing drive, surveys on carbon reducing activities, waste-free lunch months, educational campaigns to reduce/ reuse/ recycle, Earth Day activities, and creating artwork for the "Go Green!" exhibit at the Brookline Main Library.

Attractions: New Art Coming to the Brookline Arts Center—reception Thu 9/30, 5:30-7:30 PM

Aug 20, 2010-Oct 1, 2010
Main Library, Foundation and Emery Cases, and The Gallery in Hunneman Hall

The Brookline Public Library is presenting an advance view of the contemporary artists who will be exhibiting at the Brookline Arts Center during the next two years. Attractions: New Art Coming to the Brookline Arts Center will feature painting, drawing, ceramics, photographs, collage, jewelry and cast metal sculpture made by contemporary artists working across eastern Massachusetts. The artists vary in background: some are young professionals, or "emerging" artists, while others are established and well-known working artists. Attractions will be on view from August 20 to September 30, 2010. The public will be able to meet the artists at an artists' closing reception on Thursday, September 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Participating artists are: Heather Wang, Margaret Langdell, Leslie Shershow, Karenna Maraj, Melissa Finelli, Sean Malloy, Luca Ricco, Marc Mancuso, Eric Myrvaagnes, Taryn Wells, Jenn Sherr, Linda Goldberg, Judy Diamond, Dianne Brooks, Alison Wells, Evelyn Berde, Jessie Nickerson, Gerald Shertzer, Yanick Lapuh, Vladimir Barsukov, Lois Swirnoff, David Sturtevant, and Pablo Friedman.

The Brookline Arts Center is a non-degree school for the visual arts committed to stimulating individual creative expression to enhance community life by providing high quality, affordable programming in the visual arts. The Arts Center was originally founded in 1964, and its gallery has presented monthly exhibitions since 2002.

"Express Yourself"—Creative Work by Young Adults

Aug 25, 2010-Oct 1, 2010
Main Library, Lobby Case

Robin Brenner, curator

A.E. Ryan: new sculpture

Oct 4, 2010-Nov 1, 2010
Main Library, Foundation Case

Amy Beth Harrison, installation: "Raised Beds"

Oct 4, 2010-Nov 1, 2010
Main Library, Lobby and Emery Cases

Mixed Media—reception Sat 10/16, 2-4 PM

Oct 5, 2010-Nov 2, 2010
Main Library, The Gallery in Hunneman Hall

Jessica Finch, curator

The Dancing Chickens of Ventura Fabian: Oaxacan woodcarving

Nov 4, 2010-Dec 1, 2010
Main Library, Lobby, Emery and Foundation Cases

Presented by the Visiting Mexican Artists Program; Nina Hasin, curator
Sponsored by a grant from the Brookline Commission for the Arts

Catherine Zimmerman: paintings

Nov 5, 2010-Dec 2, 2010
Main Library, The Gallery in Hunneman Hall

Sarah Smith: Getting Published—A publishing house offers to publish your book—then what?

Dec 5, 2010-Jan 2, 2011
Main Library, Lobby Case

Follow the path to publication of one book through editing, design, publicity, and jacket (Sarah Smith's newly published The Other Side of Dark, set in Brookline). How are books published in the new ebook era? How are ebooks changing traditional publication? What helps to make your book, or a friend's book, a success?

Boston Camera Club: photography—reception Thu 12/9, 6:30-8 PM

Dec 5, 2010-Jan 2, 2011
Main Library, Foundation and Emery Cases, and The Gallery in Hunneman Hall

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

The Gallery in Hunneman Hall is open up to 30 minutes before closing as long as the hall is not is use. For scheduled programs and events, click on Calendar in the upper right-hand corner of our web page at brooklinelibrary.org. If the track lights are off when you arrive, the (labelled) switches are just inside the door to your right.