Minnesota's Twelve Regional Library Systems Blog from June, 2011

The Viking Library System (VLS) in partnership with the Kaddatz Galleries offered “art history for real people” through their Bluestocking Salon series.  The guest speaker for 15 programs was Lorene McIntosh, a Minnesota artist and art educator who works from her CanvasDancer Studio in Fergus Falls.

From January to May, the five public libraries in Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Morris, Perham, and Wheaton, each hosted three seminars covering the most influential periods in art history: Greek and Roman, Renaissance, and Impressionist.  The project name, Bluestocking Salon, combines the historic concepts of Victorian era literary study and the gathering of people for intellectual conversation.

Print and share the event brochure.

Lake Agassiz Regional Library (LARL) is pleased to announce award-winning poet Mark Vinz will read his poetry accompanied by renowned jazz musician David Ferreira on keyboards and Jeremy Cahill on bass.  The LARL Events webpage offers more details.

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Tuesday, June 28
3 p.m. -  Twin Valley Living Center
6 p.m. -  Halstad Living Center

The Legacy of Elmer L. Andersen celebrates the life and contributions of Elmer L. Andersen, whose participation in the Princeton community was instrumental in the creation of the library.  The exhibit consists of a series of ten 16-inch painted and glazed earthenware medallions, created by local artist Amy Sabrina.  The exhibit will open at the Princeton Area Library tomorrow evening, June 22, with musical entertainment provided at 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and a program at 6:00.  The Friends of the Princeton Area Library and the Princeton Area Library Society will host the hors d’oevres reception.  Click here for a copy of the event flyer.

The Legacy of Elmer L. Andersen exhibit was wholly paid for with Legacy Funds.

Founded in 1996 and based in St. Paul, Minnesota, The Rose Ensemble entertains with music that strives to stir the emotions, challenge the mind and lift the spirit.  They will be performing in McGregor and Cambridge this June.  The dates/times of the And Glory Shone Around: Early American Hymns, Ballads and Spiritual Songs programs are:

• Monday, June 20 at 7:00 pm in the McGregor School Auditorium

• Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00 pm in the Richard G. Hardy Performing Arts Center of the Cambridge-Isanti High School

The Viking Library System (VLS) hosted CLIMB Theatre to present Return to Honor.  The play depicts the challenges of post-deployment life during World War II.  The performances ran from April 30 through May 7 in seven VLS communities.  Print and share the event poster.

• April 30 at the Pelican Rapids Public Library and the Wheaton American Legion Post 80

•  May 1 at the American Legion Post 29 in Morris and in Barrett

•  May 6 at the New York Mills City Hall Ballroom

•  May 7 at the Fergus Theatre in Fergus Falls
  
  

Scott Murphy, Artist, standing in front of the new mural painted with Library Legacy funding from the Arrowhead Library System

Artist's work is one for the books by Lisa Baumann as printed in the June 11, 2011 Duluth News Tribune

A new pop of literary color has come to the library plaza in downtown Duluth. In the form of a giant bookshelf, Proctor artist Scott Murphy´s 23.5-foot tall "Books on the Plaza" mural was dedicated Friday by Duluth Mayor Don Ness. "The thing I love about it is that it features a number of local artists," Ness said of the book titles featured on the mural. "It´s part of our heritage and culture. It´s fantastic." Murphy said he was excited to work on a large-scale project again, having spent 17 years painting billboards. He came up with the idea to paint books on the central pillar on the plaza after the original idea to paint on one of the flat walls nearby wasn´t feasible. "That wall had moisture problems," Murphy said. "So we moved it to the rounded pillar, which was a really nice surface." The pillar outside the library located at 520 W. Superior St. now is adorned with the spines of 18 books. Titles range from Dr. Seuss´ "Green Eggs and Ham" to an organic gardening book by local author Ellen Sandbeck called "Eat More Dirt" to literary classic "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. The books depicted are clearly from a library, complete with Dewey Decimal System numbers used by libraries to classify books. Murphy said his main goal for the design was to make the book titles legible from a distance. Up close, Murphy wanted the mural to look "brushy" and obvious that it was hand- painted. "There´s so much machine-made stuff in the world," he said.

"I think it´s comforting to see something made by a person." The project took Murphy about five weeks to complete starting in May. He used about nine gallons of paint and several coats of UV protectant. Besides working in some inclement weather, selecting the books proved to be the biggest challenge for all involved, according to Nancy Eaton, a community services representative for the library. Library staff, Murphy and members of the public had a say in the titles. They chose books that showed the range of the library´s collections, books with local significance and books that had interesting spines. Murphy had final say if he didn´t think a book would work and on the order of the books. Funding came in the form of a $12,000 grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. This money was made available when Minnesota voters approved a three-eighths-of-a-percent sales tax increase in 2008 to support environmental programs, parks, the arts and cultural heritage initiatives. No city money was spent on the painting. State Rep. Mary Murphy of Hermantown, who serves on the Legacy Funding committee that decides how to spend the sales tax money, said she wanted to make sure some of the funds went to libraries. "Libraries are the centers and heart of communities," she said. "We want to encourage the use of this plaza and this will help," Ness added. Libraries in Babbitt and Calumet also received the same amount of funding and are using it to create public art at their sites.

The SELCO Library Tour traveled south and east on Thursday, June 2 to visit Library Legacy art locations.  The visiting group included SELCO staff, members of the SELCO/SELS Board and library representatives.

Beginning the day at the SELCO office, the touring group visited the Mabel and Spring Grove Public Libraries.  Doc’s Blue Moose hosted the group for lunch before moving to the Bluff Country Artists Gallery.  With SELCO’s traveling art exhibit, easel (Experience Art in Southeastern Libraries) on display at the Gallery and at the library, the touring group was able to encounter a Legacy program at the local level.  The round-trip loop concluded with a stop at the Chatfield Public Library, one of the libraries featured in the new Libraries of Minnesota book published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.