Books for Comfort, Books for Inspiration

Posted on by Julie Falsioni

An exhibit by Brookline author Sarah Smith at the Brookline Village Library in the Foundation and Lobby Cases

In times like these, we need comfort and inspiration. Local authors and people round the Internet share the books, old and new, that have comforted and inspired them. Local authors talk about why they write, and do other creative things, during this time.

What books have inspired and comforted you?

A booklist is available on the Lobby Case.

Photo Credit: Joyce Shan

Special Thanks: Sarah Collier

Salon de Corona

Posted on by Brita Zitin

This collective of women artists — Juliet Lockwood, Shelley Borg, Sherry Flashman, Rachel Cox, Sheila Golden, and Sarah Lyberger* — began gathering online during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ranging in age from 22 to 79, they benefited from daily invitations to challenge themselves with themed references, photos, paintings, and drawings. Each artist brought her own gifts to the collective’s intentional, supportive, shared space. This group show features work that brings tragedy to light, inspired by feelings of uncertainty, isolation, and unrest. The Salon de Corona still gathers, evolving in membership but persevering in its mission to stay real, celebrate growth, and nurture creativity.

*Other participants, also integral to the group, are not represented in the exhibit.

Art by Juliet Lockwood

Posted on by Sebastien Sulser

Juliet Lockwood studied painting at MassArt, graduated in 1986, and moved to San Francisco. She has had several careers under the greater title “artist.”
Drawing was not always a focus; as a painter, she used her brushes to find her art consulting business, coach her decorative art crew, and advise administrators.

Juliet’s creative place-making led her to Louisiana, where urban planning was a collaborative response to the economic development needs of a cultural district. Juliet’s contribution as a designer and grant writer was adding murals to a traffic-calming initiative in Mid City and advising a team of artists to implement them. Before leaving Louisiana, Juliet was an artist in residence at Baton Rouge General Medical Center. Her community-building continues to draw her towards the “art curious.” She now draws with a group of women as the instructor/catalyst to her “Salon de Corona.”

Welcome Blanket Project

Posted on by Brita Zitin

Welcome Blanket is a national craftivist project conceived by Jayna Zweiman, the co-creator of the Pussyhat Project. It reconceptualizes Trump’s 2,000-mile concrete border wall into 2,000 miles of yarn knitted into blankets for new immigrants and refugees to the U.S. Participants knit/crochet/quilt/sew blankets and write their family’s own immigration stories, with words of welcome in accompanying notes. The blankets (over 6,000 thus far) are displayed in the community and then distributed through 30+ resettlement agencies.

In 2017, Hadassah Margolis formed Welcome Blanket Brookline, where community members could come together, create, and talk about immigration. The group met initially at the Coolidge Corner Library. Welcome Blanket Brookline now has 200 members and meets monthly, either in person (at the Senior Center) or on Zoom. For more information or to join, email Hadassah Margolis at media@welcomeblanket.org.

Teen Tiny Art Challenge

Posted on by Robin Brenner

In recent weeks we challenged our local teen artists to take home a tiny canvas and paints and contemplate the following creative prompt:

What is haunting the stacks?

  • A feeling? A ghost?
  • A rogue idea? A smell?
  • A long lost love?

Here are a few of the resulting paintings from teen artists Elana, Sarah,  Ellie, Erika, and Leigh.

   

   

Stop by the Brookline Village Teen Room to see the amazing details in these works of art.

If any more of our teen artists would like to drop off their Tiny Art Challenge painting for display, please just bring your entry to the Children’s Desk at the Brookline Village Library.

The Writing of Jack Curtis

Posted on by Julie Falsioni

The Emery Case display presents the recent work of freelance writer Jack Curtis in Art New England, a contemporary art and culture magazine. His report, “Re-thinking, Re-telling, Re-installing” (Art New England, November/December 2021) marks the 60th anniversary of Brandeis University’s Rose Art Gallery and surveys “re: collections,” the Rose’s innovative exhibition that displays canonical artists alongside emerging and historically underrepresented artists.

Curtis focuses his writing on history, art history and on socio-political and literary themes. His features, essays, and reviews have also appeared in publications such as the Boston Globe, Harvard magazine, Technology Review, and the Los Angeles Times. He served for six years on the Brookline Commission for the Arts and currently serves on the town’s MLK Day Celebration Committee. 

NOTE: For complete copies of the articles, contact Jack at jack.curtis1789@gmail.com.

Photo Credit: Joyce Shan

Special Thanks: Sarah Collier

 

Leonard’s Stamps and Maria’s Itty Bitty’s

Posted on by Julie Kellndorfer

Children’s collections in our display cases at Brookline Village are back! Leonard, a first-grader, displays his stamp collection in our flat case. He loves the variety of pictures on stamps, and has almost a whole page of French stamps.

 

 

plush doll figurines from popular series like Star Wars and Harry Potter, displayed in a lit wall display caseMaria, a fourth-grader, showcases her Itty Bitty collection in our wall case. She has been collecting them for a couple of years, and it all started with Han and Leia from Star Wars!

Stop by the Brookline Village Children’s Room to see both of these amazing collections!

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month!

Posted on by Julie Falsioni

November is Native American Heritage Month; a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people.  It is also an opportune time to learn more about various tribes, the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, treaties, and the contributions Indigenous people have made to American government and culture.

The items displayed in this exhibit are on loan from the North American Indian Center of Boston, as well as individuals in the Native community.

For more information on the North American Indian Center of Boston, please visit www.naicob.org.

Photo credit: Joyce Shan

Special thanks: Sarah Collier

3D Printing & Laser Cutting Services Start Monday, November 15!

Posted on by Christiana Urbano

The Library is excited to announce the launch of new-and-improved ideaSPACE Fabrication Services beginning Monday, November 15, 2021.

How Does It Work?

  1. You send us your design via our new ideaSPACE Fabrication Request form. We’ll be able to accept laser cutting designs as .png or .jpg files and 3D printing designs as links to publicly hosted .stl files (like Tinkercad or Thingiverse designs).
  2. We get making! Our ideaSPACE Team will reach out with any questions they have about your design, then produce it on our machines.
  3. You pick up your project at the Library location of your choice and pay for the cost of material used – 25¢ per square inch of laser cutting or 25¢ per gram of 3D printing plastic.

Have more questions? See our ideaSPACE Fabrication Services Guidelines and Policy.

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