2010/06/25
Cheryl Hill and James Hill, directors of the Pine Island and Zumbrota Public Libraries, were kind enough to share with us their experiences hosting a successful Library Legacy project, sponsored by SELCO's Community Collaboration grant program:
|We contacted an artist, Greg Preslicka, who has a company called "The Big Picture" - http://www.thebigpicturemurals.net/
He visited our libraries and we talked about options and what we wanted to see for murals at our respective libraries. In Zumbrota, we chose a section of wall near our Young Adult section that we have been developing over the past year. In PI, they chose to paint a mural from the top of the stairway all the way downstairs and covering the walls of the lower level of Pine Island Library. Greg and his wife, Heidi, were very easy to work with. They offered presentations to the community while painting the murals. In Pine Island, the community voted on specific themes and characters the wanted to see in the mural, and these were worked into the designs. Greg and Heidi also helped write up the overview for the grant application that we submitted for legacy funds. Greg came up with conceptual designs for both libraries, and we chose the mural we liked best (In Zumbrota, I had my board vote on the design).
The murals turned out extremely well, and we were very pleased with the project, and excited to share the outcome with everyone. As Cheryl says, "It was such a wonderful experience that I have to say it was worth all the time and hard work. The best part of my day now is when people see the mural for the first time and I hear them go 'oh look there's Horton, there's the hungry caterpillar, there's Charlotte web'. Just the pure excitement from the kids and the nostalgia from the adults makes my day".
I've attached a couple photos of the work in progress and the final product. Pine Island has several photos on their flickr account off their website: http://pineisland.lib.mn.us/
If you are thinking of a mural at your library, I highly recommend these artists.
James Hill
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With programs, digitization projects, historical re-enactments and new books being published around Minnesota as a result of Library Legacy's creative energy, CRPLSA is happy to release an Arts and Cultural Heritage logo specific to library activities.
Greetings! We now have our very own Minnesota Library Legacy Logo to use on our promotional materials -- woo hoo! Please find the images to use on your materials below -- they vary in format, size and color.
The June 3rd edition of the Marshall Independent featured an article about a successful Library Legacy project. "Teens Publish!", a two-month writing course held at the library, culminated in the publication of a small anthology titled Oh My Gosh, I Can't Believe I'm Published! The anthology features selected works by thirteen different young authors, all written during the two-month course. Read more about the project and the publication release here:
Published and Proud, by Jodelle Greiner.
VLS was recently featured in an article in the Douglas County Echo Press. The article describes the wide variety of Legacy-sponsored activities availble in the region during July and August.
Local Viking Library System sponsors free cultural heritage programs