Library

Art Workshop Focuses In On Single Moms

by | Aug 8, 2023 9:09 am | Comments (2)

Eleanor Polak Photos

Mindi Englart traces Jamine Ackert at library-hosted workshop.

Jamine Ackert, a single mother and the friend of Mindi Englart, the organizer of an art workshop for single moms and their kids, lay on her back on top of a large sheet of paper on the floor of Ives Main Library on Elm Street. Englart painstakingly traced her outline with marker, so that Ackert could fill it in with a representation of herself. 

I feel like you can fill your real self in,” said Englart. When you trace yourself there’s a real connection, and I’m trying to encourage people to make that connection.”

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Art School Doc Uncovers Cuba's Unfinished Spaces

by | Aug 7, 2023 8:27 am | Comments (0)

Eleanor Polak Photos

The Art School, flooded, as shown in Unfinished Spaces.

The Cuban Revolution ended in the year 1959, leaving Fidel Castro as the country’s prime minister and Cuba itself poised for a time of questioning the old ways, and opening up new avenues of living. 

In the spirit of change and innovation, Castro commissioned three architects — Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi, and Vittorio Garatti — to build an art school on the location of an old golf course. 

Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray’s 2011 documentary, Unfinished Spaces, tells the story of that art school: its triumphs, its failures, and the ways in which it represents the triumphs and failures of Castro’s regime.

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Wilson Library Music Open Hour Reverberates With Joy

by | Aug 3, 2023 9:09 am | Comments (2)

Eleanor Polak Photos

Jakki Cousins and Azora Lindsay at the keyboard at Wilson library.

Hanhe Choi and Azora Lindsay ran around the Music Room at Wilson Branch Library like kids in a candy store. 

But instead of tooth-rotting sweets, the 23-month-old and 2‑year-old kiddos were focused on a range of keyboards, drums, and shakers, as pleasing to the ears as candy would be to the tongue. 

The toddlers rushed from instrument to instrument, touching everything they could and figuring out how to create the loudest sound. Before long, the room filled up with a cacophony of joy.

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City Librarian Kicks Off Tenure With Kids & Kits

by | Jul 5, 2023 8:47 am | Comments (4)

Allan Appel photos

New top city librarian Maria Bernhey, with see-through backpacks ...

... at Monday's Ives Branch "Stay and Play."

During her first day on the job, new City Librarian Maria Bernhey made a bee line to the new Early Literacy Corner, a cozy spot on the second floor of the Ives Main Branch on Elm Street, where a dozen of the new diaphanous see-through-backpack kits — a way to expand literacy beyond the library — sat invitingly on the shelves, their first day available.

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