Open Afternoon Book Club continues
(Cazenovia, NY – March 2015) The “Open Afternoon Book Club” for adults at the Cazenovia Public Library meets in the Story Garden every third Wednesday at 1:00 pm.
For the March 18 meeting, the group is reading the “richly riveting” novel The Vacationers by Emma Straub.
The Vacationers is an irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca. For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary and their daughter Sylvia has graduated from high school.
The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.
With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole. (Amazon.com)
Future selections for the “Open Afternoon Book Club” are Quirky Peggy and the Gold Finch by Warren W. Evans and the Summer of ‘27 by Bill Bryson.
The “Open Afternoon Book Club” is free and open to the public. Books are available at the circulation desk and all are welcome.
Frida Kahlo: Art for Kids
Pat Hill and Jenna Wright are calling all children ages 8-14 to the Cazenovia Public Library for this year’s final installment of the “Art For Kids” program. On Friday, March 20 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. the Library’s Community Room will be transformed into a Mexican Garden as children immerse themselves in the Life and Art of Frida Kahlo.
The program is inspired by the upcoming exhibition, Frida Kahlo Art.Garden.Life, opening May 16 at the New York Botanical Gardens. Using samples of the artist’s work, such as Still Life with Parrot (1951), children will be able to “examine Kahlo’s keen appreciation for the beauty and variety of the natural world, as evidenced by her home and garden as well as the complex use of plant imagery in her artwork.”
Kahlo was born July 6, 1907, at La Casa Azul (The Blue House), in Coyoacán, Mexico. As a child, and throughout her adult life, she endured a series of physical sufferings. At the age of 6, she contracted polio, which rendered her bedridden for nine months and left her with a limp. On Sept. 17, 1925, she was involved in a bus collision, resulting in serious injury and a lifetime of pain and disablement.
It was during this time of recovery and immobility that Kahlo turned to painting as a source of entertainment and a vehicle for self-expression. Her mother had a special easel made to allow Kahlo to paint in bed, and her father lent her his oil paints and brushes. Her natural surroundings and pets—a menagerie of monkeys, parrots, songbirds, cats, dogs, an eagle, and a deer—served as the subjects of many of her works.
Kahlo died July 13, 1954, at the age of 47. Her body was displayed in the foyer of the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico with thousands of friends, family, and Mexican citizens paying their respects to the beloved and successful woman.
Kahlo had risen to prominence as a result of her deeply personal body of artwork as well as her political activity, association with world famous painters, and her tumultuous marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Her powerful artwork and story of human perseverance are increasingly recognized and admired, and she continues to serve as a feminist icon and role model for women artists.
After studying several examples of Kahlo’s work, participants will use the mediums of pencil, tempura paint, and water colors to create their own works of art. All necessary materials will be provided.
Also at the program, a ticket winner will be drawn to receive a 178-piece art kit donated by a dear friend of the Cazenovia Public Library.
Don’t miss the chance to join in this fun and informative program on March 20. But to ensure program quality, class size is limited. Stop by or call the library at 655- 9322 to reserve a spot
For more information on Art For Kids” or other events at the Cazenovia Public Library, call 655-9322 or visit www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.
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