Big, beautiful ornaments handmade by local artists are hanging throughout the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County during the month of December. Fifteen of the ornaments in the Bausch and Lomb building are part of an ornament hunt. Pick up a clue sheet on the 2nd floor in the Arts Division or Children’s Center, look for ornaments, and return your completed sheet to the Arts Division for a prize.
Here is a sample of a few of the amazing ornaments on display:
Celestial Gourd
Sandra and Dennis Kamp take the ordinary gourd and turn it into something extraordinary. They carve intricate patterns into gourds making beautiful vessels and weave on top of others. Other works have beading and weaving that completely surrounds the piece. You really need to see these to appreciate nature’s beauty made into art. The image above is just a small sampling of the pieces they make. Here are more…
Here are some resources at the library that you can check out if you would like to make you own gourd crafts.
Antler art for baskets and gourds/ Betsey Sloan
Historic gourd craft/ Angela C. Mohr
Beyond the basics :gourd art /David Macfarlane
Gourds :Southwest gourd techniques/ Bonnie Gibson
Complete book of gourd carving /Jim Widess & Ginger Summit
Glorious gourd decorating /Mickey Baskett
The decorated gourd :beautiful projects & new techniques /Dyan Mai Peterson
ourd pyrography /Jim Widess
The complete book of gourd craft :22 projects, 55 decorative techniques, 300 inspirational designs /Ginger Summit, Jim Widess
Come see beautiful quilts in the Arts Division @ the Central Library, Rochester NY.
We have many books on quilting in the Arts division. Here is a small sample of what you will find here in the collection.
Vintage 1930’s baseball uniform worn by Eric Henry Erickson. Mr. Erickson played for the American Bridge Company, Division of U.S. Steel. The team was part of the Industrial League in Elmira Heights, N.Y.
Vintage ice skates and hockey stick on loan from RPL staffer Chris Costigan. Golf items are Arts Division’s Ove Overmyer’s. Ove is our resident sports expert. He is always happy to answer reference questions on all areas of sports.
The Arts Division and the Media Department are having a contest this week to gear up for the 84th annual Academy Awards to be broadcast Sunday evening, February 26th. A ballot box is set out in both divisions for patrons to make their predictions for this year’s winners. To participate come to one of these locations and fill in a ballot sheet by marking one choice in each of the categories. The person who predicts the most categories correctly will win 2 movie tickets. Second most correct predictions will win a past Best Picture DVD. And the third place winner will take home a book based on one of this year’s Best Picture Nominees. The Art Division has a large selection of resources about the film industry. Our Media Department has many new and popular films on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Calligraphy Display
Toi Clawson from Fairport and of the Genesee Valley Calligraphy Guild has a wonderful display of her work, as well as the Guild’s, in the Arts Division this month. Toi will also be presenting a calligraphy demonstration in the Arts Division on Monday evening, January 23, from 6 pm to 7:45 pm. Toi writes, “Calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing. Using bold colors and illustrations to capture the viewer’s attention, I invite the reader to think more deeply about the text.”
Beautiful Words
Tools of the art
For more information about this display and Toi Clawson’s presentation call the Arts Division at 428-8140. The library has many books and resources about the art of calligraphy if you are interested in learning more about this popular art form.
The Central Library Arts Division is pleased to display the glass artistry of two local talents, William Glasner and Peter Secrest. Two very different styles yet both equally beautiful examples of the art of glass.
Peter Secrest makes colorful blown glass vases, vessles and bowls. His murrini vases are created from decorative cross sections of canes. The fused scupltures are formed from larger murrini. He has participated in the Naples Open Studio Trail.
The hand-carved beads featured in William Glasner’s jewelry are unique in the 3,500 year history of glass bead making. Traditional techniques are combined in an innovative way. All beads are made by pulling hot glass into long hand blown tubes which are sawed into bead sized segments. The bead segments are then individually carved by hand with diamond wheels using traditional cut glass and Italian “batutto” techniques. Glasner then finishes the pieces with a proprietary polishing or acid etching process. His pieces have been exhibited throughout the U.S. including the Corning Museum of Glass.
