First Friday Gallery Night, July 6, at TCPL

TCPL showcases three exciting exhibits Politics in Print:  Treasures from the Walker Library of the History of Imagination, Visual Culture at IHS and Good Books, Bad Covers during First Friday Gallery Night from 5:00 – 8:00 PM on July 6.

Politics in Print: Treasures from the Walker Library of the History of the Human Imagination includes one of only two known anastatic facsimile copies of the Declaration of Independence.   Learn more about the anastatic printing process and view a folio of samples printed using this process at 6:00 and 7:00 PM. 

Good Books – Bad Covers  - an exhibit of vintage paperbacks from the collection of James Baker displayed alongside modern cover art.  Book jackets have evolved greatly over the years – so much so that a cover used in the 1940s or 1950s would rarely be used today to represent the same book. From marketing a book as a sensational bodice ripper when it first came out, to designing a modern cover to represent how the book has become an American classic, this exhibit shows how book jacket design has changed in just a few decades.

Visual Culture – Art from IHS an exhibit featureing art in all media created by Ithaca High School students during the past year.  This spectacular show is a compelling reason to visit TCPL after hours this Gallery Night.

Entrance to the Library at this after-hours event is through the BorgWarner door adjacent to Gimme! Coffee on Green Street and just behind the TCAT bus shelter.

Urban Street Art Mural at TCPL

Like many other buildings TCPL is often subject to graffiti and tagging.  In an attempt to overcome this problem, Library Director Susan Currie, with the support of the staff and Tompkins County Facilities, has welcomed the painting of a Street Art Mural on the loading bay wall by street artist Kevin Parker, visitng Ithaca from the United Kingdom, and local artist Jay Potter.

Painting started at 2 PM and is expected to be finished by this evening.

Visual Culture at IHS

Visual Culture, the art exhibit presented by the Art Faculty and students at Ithaca High School every June, is of particularly high quality this year.  Beautifully hung by faculty and student volunteers, the artwork is displayed throughout the Library including the Teen area in Youth Services.  Ceramics are displayed in the exhibit case.

While the Library is not an art gallery, we are always pleased to put patrons in touch with artists when they are considering purchasing a piece of art.  It is particularly gratifying this year, to learn that one of our patrons found one piece of art that “really spoke to (me) him.”  We hope he is able to work something out with the young artist.

Visual Culture is one of the featured exhibits at First Friday Gallery Night on July 6.

With help from Historic Ithaca, TCPL hangs Urban Street Art Mural

If you drive south on Route 13 past Purity Ice Cream in Ithaca towards Esty Street on Friday, June 15 after 3:00 PM, be sure to check out the new Urban Street Art Mural, which will be hung along Fulton Street.

7 local artists participated in an Urban Street Art Paint-Off at the Ithaca Festival on June 1, during Gallery Opening night, creating an exciting, book themed 48 foot long mural. 

Special thanks are due to Purity Ice Cream for allowing TCPL to use their fence and to Sustainable Tompkins, which provided the funding that made the mural possible.

Art in the Heart of the City Returns to TCPL

On Wednesday June 6, Good Morning Blues by Glenn Zweygardi became the first sculpture to be installed in this year’s "Art in the Heart of the City" sponsored by the Ithaca Downtown Alliance.

TCPL is delighted to host this sculpture located outside the Library on the corner of Cayuga and Green Streets.

Contact the Downtown Alliance for information about other sculptures being installed throughout the Downtown area.

TCPL's 48' Urban Street Art Mural completed successfully

Thanks to a Sustainable Tompkins mini-grant TCPL was able to invite 6 local graffiti artists to turn 6 wood panels into a 48’ Urban Street Art Mural during Gallery Night, June 1. 

Bad weather forced us to move the event to the front of the library under the awning.  Painting started at 2 PM when a light beige base coat was applied to all the panels.  Using spray paint, brushes and, in some, cases marker pens the designs slowly emerged, were changed, developed and finally completed by 8:00 PM.  

There was no set theme for the mural, rather it had to reflect a feeling for the Library.  During the painting it was decided to add a book to each panel.

The first panel features TCPL.  The last panel features PAC the City Public Art Commission with whom the Library worked to identify artists and locate potential hanging sites. The other four panels include birding, Spiderman, an artist’s name and the Public Library.

Library patrons and Gallery Night visitors came to watch the painting, talk to the artists and to listen to music by Fall Creek Folk and Uncle Joe and the Rosebud Ramblers, who generously played from 5 to 8 PM. 

A site along Fulton Street has be confirmed for hanging the finished mural.  Details of the hanging will follow.