This art exhibition of young learners marks a celebration of 50 years of the Public Schools of Brookline Early Education Program, BEEP. Through a generous grant administered by Brookline Education Foundation, BEEP’s work with local artist and art therapist, Erin Palazzolo Loparo, showcases original artwork and documents the mindful, discovery-driven process behind it. It features over 250 students’ art, ages 2-5 years old, across 19 classrooms. Art experiences incorporate traditional and non-traditional mindful materials exploration and experimentation based on the works of artists Yayoi Kusama, Barnett Newman, Pablo Picasso, and Imagine. The program also offers a unique opportunity to share connections between a working artist and the work of students and teachers. According to Palazzolo Loparo, “Collaborating with BEEP in this way is entirely joy-filled. We’ve created a transformative model for arts in early education where every child is experimenting, making choices, and finding meaning.”

Erin Palazzolo Loparo MS-ATR is a former BEEP parent, local artist/teacher, and registered art therapist who has scientific artwork on permanent display at Harvard Medical School. To view her artwork and commissions, visit Erin’s website and instagram, @loparoerin.

The Special Collections continues to find tidbits in the image collection, including items from the 19th Century periodical, Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion. This Boston publication was established 1851 by Frederick Gleason and future Boston Daily Globe editor Maturin Murray Ballou. Inspired by The Illustrated London News, Gleason’s sought to combine local and national journalism with high quality illustrations rather than letting the text stand on its own. Gleason’s regularly featured work by artists such as Winslow Homer and John Andrew, as well as many anonymous and semi-anonymous artists. In a world before cameras, Gleason’s is a fascinating time capsule of what mid 19th century America looked like.

Come to the library to see the examples in our photograph and image collection. Talk to one of our archivists if you have questions about this or any other part of the local history collections.

The Public Library of Brookline houses a collection of paintings by local artist Dorothy Clemens in our Special Collections. We are pleased to display a selection of Clemens’s work. Focusing primarily on abstract expressionism, Clemens was most active in the 1950s and 1960s.