First Friday Gallery Night, October 6, 2012 at TCPL

Banned Books the Library’s exhibit celebrating Banned Books and Freedom to Read Week which takes place September 30 through October 6, continues on display in the Avenue of the Friends. Featuring a display of books that have been challenged or banned together with the reasons for this action, this provocative exhibit reminds readers of the importance of access to uncensored literature.

Drawing on Democracy, curated by local artist and CSMA faculty member Terry Plater, this exhibit continues through October 11.  Offering a glimpse into the definition of “democracy” as defined by nine local artists, the exhibit also offers hands-on involvement through Ben Altman’s installation Citizens Are Encouraged To Use The Pencils Provided which invites visitors to write their comments on his portraits.  This ever evolving piece demands that viewers return to see its development on a regular basis.

Drawing on Democracy is supported by a grant from the Community Arts Partnership.

Access to the Library during Gallery Night will be through the BorgWarner Community Room door, opposite Gimme! Coffee, and directly behind TCAT’s Green Street bus shelter. 

Drawing on Democracy curated by Terry Plater

Drawing on Democracy will be on display in the Library through October 11.

Jane Dennis

Terry Plater

An elaboration of the curator’s ongoing preoccupation with questions of aesthetics and equity, and fortuitously timed to coincide with the nation’s 2012 presidential campaign, this exhibit asks artists to address one simple question:  What does democracy look like?  Guest artists were asked to respond to that question in drawings, an act which is as conducive to thinking as it is to mark-making and art-making.  The result provices an informative and thought provoking visual answer to this important question, and the beginning of an extended conversation.

Nancy Ridenour

The exhibit features multi-media pieces by Ben Altman, Stan Bowman, Jane Dennis, Yvonne Piburn, Steven Phillips, Nancy Ridenour, Werner Sun, Marion Van Soest and Plater and offers a visual and hands-on exploration of democracy.  Issues explored by the exhibit include:  the honorable treatment of children, the unambiguous recognition of religious freedom, the flag as a metaphor for inclusion or as a fabric of disarray, the spectrum of public participation and the notion of artistic expression and creation.

Ben Altman

Through the inclusion of Ben Altman’s photographic installation, the viewer is asked to participate in the exhibit and make their own comment on democracy.

Farewell – an Exhibit of Ceramic Sculptures by Eric Serritella

Join TCPL to say “good bye” to artist Eric Serritella at his final local exhibition and sale before relocating south.  His exquisite weathered logs and sculptural birch tree pieces will be on display in the Avenue of the Friends until September 17.

Artist’s Statement

The purity of nature and the Asian art aesthetic have always inspired me and I find clay the ideal medium for reflecting both.

Through my trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures I challenge the viewer with both the nature of the material and the messages within. Whether wheel-thrown or hand-built, these forms are completely hand-carved and transformed to mimic weathered logs and birch trees—the angels of the forest.

I strive to show how nature maintains its splendors through tenacity and triumph of existence despite the disregard we humans show her. I appreciate how ceramic mirrors the environment’s fragility and durability—easily damaged if disrespected and yet invincible in its inherent beauty.

Each piece I create is a relationship—the story of shared discovery. The clay and I make the journey together through the tension of disagreement and the harmony of accord. The final form—the result of our conversation—has a life all its own.

 I strive for the life in each creation to foster awareness and influence viewer behavior toward the environment. My hope is that at least some will acquire new appreciations and ways of seeing and thus choose to walk with softer steps.

The Heart Gallery will be on display in the Avenue of the Friends through October 5, 2012.

TCPL is proud to display the Heart Gallery in conjunction with this year's Community Read - The Life Before Us by Romain Gary.

The Heart Gallery is a traveling photographic and audio exhibit created to find forever families for children in foster care. The Heart Gallery of America is a collaborative project of over 120 Heart Galleries across the United States (and growing) designed to increase the number of adoptive families for children needing homes in our community.

Now, in its tenth year, the Heart Gallery model is being replicated in many communities across the country. Although many of our children were removed from abusive and neglectful situations, they still have hope. They love to laugh, to learn, and to be with their friends. Most of all, they dream of finding a forever family to be their own.

There are nearly 500,000 children in foster care in the United States.

Over 250,000 will never return home.

Over 123,000 need adoptive homes right now.

More than 29,000 aged out of foster care in 2008, at age 18 without anyone, to live on their own, unprepared and unsupported.

Can you change the life of a waiting child? 

Can you adopt?

Can you foster?