Blog Posts by Subject: Drawing and Illustration

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.

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.

In recent decades, much has been said about the demographic changes that New York City shares with the rest of the world. Yes, we are getting older!

One widespread response has been a surge of programs to promote creativity in mid- and later life. NYPL has happily participated in these efforts, especially since 2010 when we started partnering with Lifetime Arts Inc. to offer our first Creative Aging courses, which took place in six branch libraries. Each course was taught by a professional teaching artist and lasted a minimum of eight 90-minute classes so that the two goals of the project — mastery of the basics of the art, and social engagement of the participants