Blog Posts by Subject: Art

Jennifer Steffey's trio of paintings, grouped together under the title of Agrivulture, will be on view at the Mulberry Street Library through August 30, 2013. An illustrator for the American Museum of Natural History, Jenn also has a wide range of independent artistic projects. Using pen and ink, watercolor, and even animation to capture her inimitable style, she is Influenced by comics and superheros, surrealism, photography, pop culture, and especially her unforgettable Murphy the dog. I spoke with Jenn about her artwork.

"I think it's a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power." Ai Weiwei, "Ai Weiwei 'Does Not Feel Powerful'"BBC, October 13, 2011.

Ai Weiwei was commenting on being named the most powerful person in the art world in 2011 by ArtReview magazine after his three month detention by the Chinese government for alleged tax evasion. His position as most powerful art world representative is largely due to his political statements and the conscientious stance he chooses to make with his art.

The Fort Washington Library will be participating in the Uptown Arts Stroll as a venue for work by local artists. One of the artists displaying her work is Joan Wesley Usher. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and mental health professional based in New York. We asked her a few questions about her work.

Come see and even touch this new art exhibition, created by adult students from the Metropolitan Museum, drawing class called "Seeing Through Drawing."

The Fort Washington Branch will be participating in the Uptown Arts Stroll as a venue for work by local artists. One of the artists displaying her work is long-time Fort Washington patron Elizabeth Starčević. We asked her a few questions about her work and about being an artist uptown.

One of the goals of exhibiting art in our library is to highlight the talents of local community residents. Fred Gutzeit is not only a frequent library patron at the Mulberry Street Library, but a vibrant visual artist who wanted to contribute his work so that other library-goers could enjoy and contemplate art during their visits here. Fred's been making art in this neighborhood for over 40 years. Much of his work has been heralded by the press, and exhibited in galleries in SoHo and the East Village. I spoke with Fred about his work.

With my hand, I touch the outside, or contour, of a small ceramic jug, a container for cream. I slowly trace the curve of the rim, continuing to the pointed lip. I put down the jug, and pick up a piece of charcoal or a soft pastel. I draw round curves, recreating what I see in my mind's eye, moving my hand across the paper, keeping pace with my inner vision.

At Jefferson Market Library, our 10 week drawing course for adults 55+ is drawing to a close, and we are gearing up to host an event celebrating the artists who have participated.

We will be showcasing all of the work that the students have created, on Friday May 17th from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. in our first floor auditorium. Please join us to see what has been created by the class, and have some refreshments! Additionally, we will be exhibiting some of the artwork from the course in the library's second floor reading room throughout the month of June.

Hear the audio version of this blog post. Narration: Kevin Gillins. Music performed by La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations; conductor: Jordi Savall.

I am looking at Monet's Weeping Willow series and want to describe these works to people who cannot see. I think music, with its sensual and dramatic language will most elegantly convey the power of these works.

I hope you have enjoyed reading Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner. Listed below are suggestions of novels, poetry and non-fiction that might also be of interest to you.

The Todt Hill-Westerleigh Library is currently displaying original art by students at Wagner High School. The artwork on display includes colorfully surrealist backgrounds, surrealist black-and-white images and black-and-white still lives. The artwork is exhibited on the Todt Hill Westerleigh Library lobby level for the public to enjoy.

The exhibit 'Brother, Can You Spare a Stack,' on view at the Center for Book Arts through March 30th, is a thoughtful consideration of the contemporary state of libraries by 13 socially engaged artists, librarians, and art collectives. Curated by Yulia Tikhonova, who organized the exhibition MAPnificent at the Mulberry Street Library in 2012, 'Brother, Can You Spare a Stack' breathes to life the spirit of librarianship in the 21st century. In today's challenged economy, public libraries are relied on more heavily than ever. The artists who have created the libraries for this exhibit have moved beyond the traditional four walls of the public library, and have brought collections and 

Welcome to the Reader's Den for March. This month we will be discussing Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner. It is a novel set in Spain, written by a New York author. The novel follows Adam Gordon to Madrid in 2004 on a fellowship to write poetry influenced by the Spanish Civil War. We learn about Adam's relationships as a poet-tourist-student and his process of writing and self-discovery through experiences outside of his control.

This Friday, teaching artist Josh Millis will begin his 10 session drawing class for adults 55+ at Jefferson Market Library. (This class is full, but check out the Creative Aging classes being held at other branches.)

Below is a list of artists whose work Josh will be showing to the program's participants over the course of the sessions. Take a look at some of the artists that the class will be using as inspiration, and please join us on May 17th for a culminating gallery show!

Harper Montgomery, a writer in the Wertheim Study, has curated a fascinating exhibition at Hunter College, going until May 4. At 68th and Lexington, it is a smallish (read: do-able) delight — Open Work in Latin America, New York & Beyond: Conceptualism Reconsidered, 1967-1978.

In 1955, the artist Leon Dabo (d. 1960) donated a thin manuscript volume to The New York Public Library. Prolific during his time, Dabo is perhaps best known as a muralist and landscape painter. Dabo also spent many years in New York, and was involved with organizing the artistic community, including a part in shaping the 1913 Armory Show. Seemingly an address book, the volume Dabo donated also contains a handful of small sketches. Looked at as a whole the pages provide information about his social life and artistic process.

In the process of imaging digital material from the Timothy Leary papers, my eyes have scanned some curious documents, but sometimes the most intriguing files are the ones I can't read. Timothy Leary collaborated with a number of celebrities on projects during his years of freelancing. One of the celebrities that left his mark on the Leary papers is Keith Haring.

In the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, there is a reading room with high wooden carved ceiling called the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Reading Room. You may have seen the historical room decorated with large murals reflecting major publishers of periodicals, newspapers and books at the turn of the century by Richard Haas, an American muralist known for his architectural murals.

As the new movie Hitchcock has recently come into theaters, I am reminded of the silhouette so eloquently drawn at the beginning of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Before photography was a household staple, silhouettes provided an inexpensive way to record someone's likeness. And, as with Mr. Hitchcock, a shadow is often stunning in its ability to capture the likeness of a person or to tell a story.