OWLNewslt Mar Apr 2018 flip

The Glass House - Noyes House
with Fredrick Noyes

Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 pm

THE OWL NEWS

March  April 2018

Inside…

The Book of Joy with Reverend Bevan Stanley Toni Morrison Series
Fashion as Design  Harriet Beecher Stowe Talk  Women in WWII
Harper Lee: Live!  Sculpting the Poem  Cooking from Europe

How to Train Your Dragon Club  Thomas the Tank Engine Party & More!

Claudia Wood Rahm
Paintings

On Exhibit: March 1 through April 16
Reception: Thursday, March 1

5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

It was only recently that Claudia Wood Rahm resumed painting. For many
years, among other adventures, she taught art and raised two daughters
with her husband, Woody. They have lived in Warren for 43 years. Since
retiring, she has found her way back to her easel and the sheer delight of
mixing colors. To her the sense of freedom that comes with painting is
exhilarating and the process is comfortable, fulfilling and fun. She finds a
pure joy in her creative expression that was held back for many years due to
the pressures of life. Her art opens her in a way that no other form of
communication can.

Claudia’s paintings often grow as she works on them. Occasionally she just
plays with color and an idea comes. She is influenced by children’s art, folk
art, and the beauty of nature. She particularly loves painting organic shapes
and the ocean.

The Bible is also a strong influence. When she paints
dots on a canvas, she considers them joy molecules
that enliven the piece. Intricate or elemental, her
paintings reveal whimsical creatures and landscapes
that celebrate her love of color, design and story.

Raised in Westport, Claudia received a degree in Art
Education in 1967. She never trained formally or under
anyone famous. Maybe that is why her work is so free
of pretension, so full of innocence and sometimes
playful. Picasso said, “Every child is an artist; the
problem is to remain an artist once the child grows up.”

Claudia has shown and sold her work in Litchfield County, along the
Connecticut shoreline, as well as in Massachusetts and Maine.

2

Toni Morrison Book
Discussion
with Melissa Mentzer

March 11 & April 8
Sundays: 1:00 - 2:30 pm

In The Bluest Eye and Beloved, we will explore boundaries: the boundaries of
emotional suffering and how we respond to it, and the boundaries of this
world and the spirit world, between remembering and refusing to
remember. The Bluest Eye is a powerful examination of our obsession with
beauty and conformity, and Beloved is a searing examination of slavery and
its long-lasting effects. Both novels provide us with a lens to review, explore
and discuss questions about race, class and gender.

March 11: The Bluest Eye
This tragic study of a black adolescent girl’s struggle to achieve white ideals
of beauty and her consequent descent into madness was acclaimed as
an eloquent indictment of some of the more subtle forms of racism in
American society.

April 8: Beloved
Beloved examines the destructive legacy of slavery as it chronicles the life of
a black woman from her pre-Civil War life as a slave to her post-war life in
1873. Although she lives there as a free woman, she is held prisoner by
memories of the trauma of her life as a slave.

Melissa Mentzer earned her MA and PhD from the
University of Oregon and has been teaching in the English
Department at Central Connecticut State University for 26
years. Her areas of specialty include women writers and
African American literature. She frequently presents at
conferences, and this April will facilitate a panel on
Neglected Writers of the Nineteenth Century. Her current
research projects include a book on the poetry of Frances
Harper.

Registration is Required
Books are available at the library to borrow four weeks in
advance of the discussion.

3

Monday Scholars:
Fashion as Design

Mondays: 12:30 - 2:00 pm
March 12 through April 16

Monday Scholars is a weekly series that meets in the library’s Jamie Gagarin
Community Room. It’s the best of online learning and classroom discussion.
Each week a new lecture topic is watched and discussed. All you need to do
is come ready to engage your mind and participate in the discussion.

Join librarian Patricia Moore as she facilitates this online course. Each week
we will watch videos of curators and historians’ conversations from the
Museum of Modern Art, and then follow with a discussion.

About the Course:
Among all objects of design, our clothes are the most universal and intimate.
Like other kinds of design, fashion thrives on productive tensions between
form and function, automation and craftsmanship, standardization and
customization, universality and self-expression, and pragmatism and utopian
vision. It exists in the service of others, and it can have profound
consequences - social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental.

Fashion as Design focuses on a selection of more than 70 garments and
accessories from around the world, ranging from kente cloth to jeans to 3D-
printed dresses. Through these garments, we’re going to look closely at
what we wear, why we wear it, how it’s made, and what it means. You’ll
hear directly from a range of designers, makers, historians, and others
working with clothing every day - and, in some cases, reinventing it for the
future. Studio visits, interviews, and other resources introduce the history
and development of each garment and their changing uses, meanings, and
impact over time.

4

Featuring Videos Presented by:
Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli is a Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture &
Design, as well as the founding Director of Research & Development at
MoMA. She received her Master’s degree in Architecture from the
Polytechnic of Milan and also holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from the
Royal College of Art, Kingston University, the Art Center College of Design,
and Pratt Institute. In 2007 she was named one of the 25 most incisive
design visionaries by Time magazine.

Michelle Millar Fisher
Michelle Millar Fisher is a Curatorial Assistant at MoMA and an architecture
and design historian whose research is centered on architecture in
translation and social histories of the everyday built environment. She is
currently completing her doctorate in art history at the City University of
New York Graduate Center and frequently lectures at conferences and
symposia worldwide.

Stephanie Kramer
Stephanie Kramer, is a Research Assistant in MoMA’s Department of
Architecture and Design. She received her MA in Visual Culture/Costume
Studies from New York University, and combines her previous work
experience in the fashion industry with her current research and academic
endeavors. She also teaches fashion history and theory at the Fashion
Institute of Technology and the Pratt Institute.

Registration is Required

5

Water Conservation and
Wise Use of Water
with Twig Holland

Tuesday, March 13
3:00 - 4:00 pm

In 2016 southwest Connecticut experienced the fifth worst drought since
1895. To ensure an adequate supply of water for human consumption and
fire protection, Aquarion Water Company worked collaboratively with local
and state officials to increase the water supply to the area, and to enact
mandatory irrigation restrictions by customers in the four communities most
impacted by the drought. While these measures and seasonal rainfall
resulted in supply improvements in 2017, “conservation” needs to become
part of the water supply vocabulary to ensure everyone uses water wisely.

Aquarion has prepared an informative presentation on the drought and
supply conditions, both past and current, and the wise use of water going
forward. This program discusses the newly-enacted irrigation restrictions,
and illustrates a number of water efficiencies that are easily and
inexpensively implemented by homeowners, small businesses, and retail
shops.

Twig Holland is the Program Coordinator for the Aquarion
Water Company, the public water supply company in 51
cities and towns throughout Connecticut and areas of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The company is the
largest investor-owned water utility in New England. Based
in Bridgeport, it has been in the public water supply
business since 1857. Across its operations, Aquarion strives
to act as a responsible steward of the environment, and to assist the
communities it serves in promoting sustainable practices. Their website is
aquarionwater.com.

Registration is Required

6

Her Words Changed the World:
Harriet Beecher Stowe
with Chelsea Farrell

Thursday, March 15
7:00 - 8:00 pm

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born June 14, 1811 here in Litchfield. She was a
member of one of the 19th century’s most remarkable families. The
daughter of the prominent Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher and
the sister of Catharine, Henry Ward, and Edward, she grew up in an
atmosphere of learning and moral earnestness that culminated in
her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. With sales of over 300,000 copies in the first
year, the book exerted an influence equaled by few other novels in history,
helping to solidify both pro- and anti-slavery sentiment. It is cited among the
causes of the American Civil War.

Chelsea Farrell from the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford comes to
OWL with a dynamic presentation, “Her Words Changed the World,”
exploring the life and impact of anti-slavery novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The talk will cover Stowe’s life - her childhood, family, education, marriage
and motherhood - as well as her inspiration to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin and
the lasting impact of its message. She will also expound upon the current
mission and work of the Stowe Center.

Chelsea has worked at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
since 2016, where she leads interactive, dialogue-based
tours of Stowe’s historic Hartford home and facilitates
public conversations in the award-winning Salons at
Stowe discussion series. Prior to joining the Stowe
Center, she worked for the Simsbury Historical Society,
and for two years taught English-language courses in
South Korea.

Registration is Required

7

Women in the Armed Forces
During WWII
Presentation by John Cilio

Tuesday, March 20
2:00 - 3:00 pm

John Cilio returns with a relevant and engrossing multi-media presentation
about how the bold women that blazed the trail for presence in the
American military changed the way the country’s military operates today.

At the urging of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the idea of women in the U.S.
Military took shape in the early 1940s. In addition to factory work and other
home front jobs, nearly 400,000 women joined the Armed Services, serving
at home and abroad.

By the end of the war, there were few noncombatant jobs in which women
did not serve, including positions that hadn’t even existed when the war
began. General Eisenhower told Congress after the war, that when the
formation of women’s units was first proposed, “I was violently against it.”
Then he added, “Every phase of the record they compiled during the war
convinced me of the error of my first reaction.” Eisenhower went on to fight
for a permanent place for women in the US Armed Forces.

John Cilio is an historian who thrives on researching the
ghosts of our past; uncovering the underlying forces and
historical trends that one single event rarely impacts. He
believes that often the consequences of a historical
incident are hidden from those that experienced it. Only
by looking back can one sense the full impact of those
moments in time.

Registration is Required

8

Secrets of the Mockingbird:
Live Theatrical Performance
about Harper Lee
with Prudence Wright Holmes

Thursday, March 22
7:00 - 8:00 pm

Harper Lee, the beloved but reclusive author of To Kill a Mockingbird had
close relationships with her father and her best friend, Truman Capote...but
then they both broke her heart. Actress Prudence Wright Holmes, a veteran
of four Broadway shows and ten movies, is back to perform her latest work,
Secrets of the Mockingbird.

In it she plays Harper Lee and many other characters in Lee’s life. We meet
her father, lawyer A.C. Lee who was the role model for Atticus Finch; her
mother, Frances Lee; her neighbor, Son Boleware, whose strange ways gave
Harper the idea for the character of Boo Radley; and her housekeeper,
Hattie Belle, who mothered Harper and told her stories of her ancestors’
lives on the plantation. We also learn the secrets revealed in her new book,
Go Set A Watchman which devastated Harper and made her retreat from
public life for over fifty years.

Prudence Wright Holmes has appeared in many films
including Sister Act I and II with Whoopi
Goldberg, Kingpin with Woody Harrelson, God’s Pocket
with Philip Seymour Hoffman and the upcoming Coen
Brothers film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. On
Broadway, she has shared the stage with Meryl Streep,
Maggie, and George C. Scott. She wrote and performed
her critically-acclaimed solo show Bexley, OH! at New York Theatre
Workshop. Her website is prudencewrightholmes.com.

Registration is Required

9

The Cookbook Club
Cooking from Europe
Wednesday, April 4
6:30 - 7:30 pm

This year the OWL Cookbook Club is going global! At each of our meetings
we will focus on the cuisine of one continent. Our next culinary exploration
is Europe! France, Spain, England, Germany and more - you name it - the
sky’s the limit! We will order a variety of books and then it’s up to you. Let
your imagination and taste buds transport you.
Beginning a month before the event, we invite you to come to the OWL to
check out the European cookbooks we have on display. When you register
for the program we will assign you an appetizer, entrée, side dish, salad, or
dessert. On the night of the event we will share in lively conversation around
a potluck dinner made up of all the dishes we prepared.
Join librarians Audra MacLaren and Patricia Moore for this fun event. Come
for the delectable dishes and the fun conversation. Don’t worry - we are all
amateur cooks who love books! If you’re running short on time, don’t worry;
just bring yourself - there is always a surplus of delicious food to enjoy.

Registration is Required

10

The Glass House - Noyes House:
A Comparison
with Frederick Noyes

Thursday, April 5
7:00 - 8:00 pm

Eliot Noyes (architect of the Oliver Wolcott Library) and Philp Johnson were
two major architectural figures of the last generation with worldwide
reputations. Similar in age and Harvard trained, both settled in New Canaan,
each building an iconic personal house with widespread influence. Frederick
Noyes, Eliot Noyes’ son, will discuss these two houses in a close comparison,
along with the men behind them.

Frederick Noyes, FAIA, is immersed in his twined passions of architecture,
biology, and education. He trained at Harvard: an AB in biology (1966), and a
M.Arch from the Graduate School of Design (1972). He was elected to the
AIA College of Fellows (2001) and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of
Education from the Boston Architectural College (BAC) in 2007.

Mr. Noyes was raised in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he was weaned on
the influences of the first generation of great modern architects Marcel
Breuer, Philip Johnson, and his father, Eliot Noyes. He has run his own
architectural firm for over 30 years designing everything from houses to
hospitals.

Mr. Noyes has remained close to academia - both as a
student (a decade of graduate studies in biology) and
teacher (visual studies and Harvard; lecturer in
biochemistry at Harvard Extension; biology at Miles and
Wheelock Colleges). Associated with the Boston
Architectural College since 1974, Mr. Noyes has taught at
all levels and chaired the Board of Directors from 1995-
1999. He is currently an Overseer there.

Registration is Required

11

Sculpting the Poem
with Sandra Bishop Ebner

Tuesday, April 10
7:00 - 8:30 pm

A professor once said that the most difficult thing to write is advertising. The
second is poetry. Sandra Bishop Ebner invites you to join her at OWL, and
delve into writing the second most difficult thing: Poetry.

She will provide a prompt that will facilitate that first step for the beginning
writer, who may be intimidated by that blank piece of paper, which most
writers are, but who will be able to chip away at that “block of marble” and
create a finished poem. Life experience is the only requirement. If
prompted to do so, she will also read a few poems from her book, The Space
Between, and from the Anthology, The Poetry of Nursing.

Sandra Bishop Ebner worked as a Psychiatric Case Manager for the Visiting
Nurse Services. She taught poetry to 7th graders under the LPA grant
funded program, and has done workshops at Wisdom House, The SBA
Foundation for high risk teens, talented and gifted programs, and more.

She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has been
published in various literary journals and anthologies.
Her first book, The Space Between, was published by
Hanover Press in 2000. She has also had the dubious
distinction of being on the 1994 Connecticut Slam
Team.

Registration is Required

The Book of Joy
A Community Book Discussion with
Dr. Reverend Bevan Stanley &
Pastor Kathleen Reynolds

Thursday, April 12
7:00 - 8:00 pm

Do you want to be more joyful? Do you want to live in a community filled
with joy?

This discussion is co-sponsored with St. Michael’s Church to support their
Community Wide Read of The Book of Joy: lasting happiness in a changing
world by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“Each day and each moment, we are able to create and re-create our lives
and the very quality of human life on our planet. This is the power we
wield.” In The Book of Joy His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu reveal their formula for living a joyful life, even when health,
aging, exile and oppression are part of that life.

Join the Reverend Dr. E. Bevan Stanley, priest at St. Michael’s, Litchfield, and
Pastor Kathleen Reynolds of the United Methodist Church in Litchfield, in a
community book discussion and leave prepared to lead a joyful life.

Bevan has been an Episcopal priest since 1984 and has spent
most of his ministry in leading parishes in Connecticut. While
focused on his parish ministry, he also serves as a spiritual
director, leads retreats, consults in parishes, and trains
parish leaders.

Registration is Required
A reception with light refreshments will follow.

13

Early Bird Café
March 6 through April 12
10:30 am before bouncing babies & storytimes

Join us for the Early Bird Café which will be open before every Bouncing Baby
and Preschool Storytime session! Drop in and meet us before the session to
socialize with new friends and neighbors and have a chance to talk to Mrs.
Shaia. Light refreshments will be served.
Don’t forget to check out some books either before or after storytime. Mrs.
Shaia is always happy to help with suggestions of her latest favorites.

Bouncing Babies: Birth - 24 months
March 6 through April 10
Tuesdays at 11:00 am

Enjoy concept and rhyming books, learn finger plays, and meet other families
in this interactive program with Mrs. Shaia. Your child will form a bond with
you, develop listening skills and begin vocabulary development. Playtime will
follow to foster your children’s imagination, development and social skills.

Preschool Storytime: 2 - 5 year olds
March 1 through April 12
Wednesdays & Thursdays at 11:00 am

Experience new and classic picture books, learn movement activities, and
build pre-literacy skills such as phonological awareness and comprehension.
Mrs. Shaia will read stories that encourage participation and comment.
Playtime at one of our new play centers will follow to stimulate your child’s
imagination and creativity!

14

Thomas the Tank Engine Party
Saturday, March 17
10:30 - 11:30 am

For ages 3 - 8

Listen to Thomas’ Milkshake Muddle and then watch the short film. Color your
own Conductor Hat, create a Thomas, James and Percy playset, and make a
masterpiece with track stampers. Children are encouraged to wear their
favorite Thomas t-shirt, or bring their favorite toy to show their new train
friends.

Registration is Required

Goat Avenger & Princess
in Black Party
Saturday, April 14
10:30 - 11:30 am

For ages 3 - 8

Listen to an excerpt of Princess in Black Takes a Vacation. Make your own
superhero mask and persona, collect a monster alarm ring, decorate a
scepter, and create a changing playset with Princess in Black/Princess
Magnolia, Blacky/Frimplepants, Duff/Goat Avenger and Monster Land
monsters.

Registration is Required

15

How to Train Your Dragon Club

March 2 - April 13*
Fridays: 3:30 - 4:30 pm
For children in grades K - 6
*No meeting March 30 ~ Good Friday

Registration is Required

Listen to excerpts from the first six books in the How to Train Your Dragon
series over the course of the program. Activities will tie-in to each book. We’ll
color a dragon mask, design our own armor, have a Viking boat race,
assemble and battle with catapults, go on a dragon egg hunt, and begin a
journal just like dragon-whisperer Hiccup.

Litchfield Spelling Bee

Tuesday, March 6
6:00 - 8:00 pm
For LIS & LMS Students in grades 4 - 8

Registration is Required

Compete in the local round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Students in
Litchfield Intermediate and Middle Schools will have an opportunity to
showcase their spelling talents for a chance to represent their school at the
Connecticut State Bee on Saturday, March 10 at the University of Saint
Joseph in West Hartford. Litchfield Education Foundation will host the
Spelling Bee this evening at the Oliver Wolcott Library.

Based on contest rules, this spelling bee is open to LIS and LMS students.

1/2 Day Special: Lego Club

Wednesday, March 7
1:30 - 2:30 pm
For children in grades K - 6

Registration is Required

Calling all engineers and architects! Listen to a short story to inspire your
creativity, and then build a Lego Challenge. Team up with a friend, or build
solo. All supplies will be provided - please leave your personal Legos at home.

LIBRARY HOURS:

Mondays: 12:00 - 5:00
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays: 10:00 - 9:00

Fridays: 10:00 - 5:00
Saturdays: 10:00 - 2:00

Sundays: 11:00 - 3:00

Closings:

Friday, March 30 - Good Friday
Sunday, April 1 - Easter

Carpet Project - See pages 17 & 18

All exhibits and programs are held in the
Jamie Gagarin Community Room & Gallery

unless otherwise noted.

Oliver Wolcott Library
Monthly Book Groups

Non-Fiction Book Group: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Mar. 8: Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau,
Woolf, & Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World
by David Denby
Apr. 12: Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild

Fiction Book Group: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Mar. 8: The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy
by Evelyn Waugh
Apr. 12: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

All discussion groups are free and open to the public.
Books are available at the front desk.

17

We’re Moving - Temporarily - to Bantam!

From April 20 to May 21, we will operate at
80 Doyle Road in Bantam

After serving us for more than 25 years, our carpets are going to be
replaced! We are delighted to announce that the Oliver Wolcott Library
was awarded a grant from the Seherr-Thoss Charitable Foundation to
replace the carpeting in the main library. Installation will begin in late April
and will require us to temporarily move to Bantam while the carpet is
installed.

We are honored that our beautiful library was designed by the esteemed
Modern Architect Eliot Noyes. For our new carpet, our selection of the
carpet colors will honor both his vision and the vision of the original library
design team.

Our new carpet uses no glues but a revolutionary carpet tile installation
system called TacTiles. TacTiles are small adhesive backed squares that
adhere carpet tiles securely together to form a floor that “floats” for
greater flexibility, easier replacement and long-term performance without
permanent adhesion to the subfloor. The result is less waste, low VOCs and
greater savings, not to mention an environmental footprint that is over
90% lighter than that of traditional glue adhesives.

The library will be completely closed Tuesday, April 17 through April 19 as
we prepare for our move to Bantam. We will re-open on Friday, April 20 in
our new, temporary home in the Breuer Building, often called the
Bantam Annex, located on 80 Doyle Road in Bantam. We will be open in
Bantam offering all of our core services from April 20 through May 17.

New location but same phone number! Our phone number 860-567-8030
and our website owlibrary.org will remain the same!

Core services: We will continue to offer core services during our move.
Borrow materials, use our public computers, connect to our wifi, find a
place to study, attend our story hour or our regular book clubs.

Returning Materials After Hours: During our closure, you can continue to
return materials in the drop box outside the Bantam Market in Bantam.
Beginning April 19 and through May 17, you may return materials to a drop
box outside our new home on Doyle Road. The drop box outside our main
library on South Street will be closed and unavailable until we return
“home.”

Limited Collection: Our collection will be limited during our move. We will
carefully curate a collection to try to meet the community’s needs while we
are in Bantam. We will have a selection of new materials as well as
favorites. We will continue to receive deliveries through DeliverIt
Connecticut so that books and films you have ordered from another library
will continue to be delivered to you.

Directions: The Breuer Building, also known as the Bantam Annex, is
located on 80 Doyle Road in Bantam. From South Street, take a left onto
Route 202 West. Travel on 202 W for about 3.5 miles, then turn Right onto
Doyle Road in Bantam. The building will be on your right (it is in the same
building as the Bantam Post Office).

Handicap Accessible: Yes our temporary home is handicap
accessible. Parking: Enjoy the easy, ample parking at our temporary
location that also includes handicap parking spaces.

From May 18 through May 21, the library will again be completely closed as
we move back to Litchfield. We will reopen on Tuesday, May 22 in our
library on 160 South Street in Litchfield.

For regular updates and news on the project, sign up for our e-newsletter
and follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

OLIVER WOLCOTT LIBRARY Nonprofit Org
US Postage
160 South Street, Box 187 Litchfield, CT 06759 Paid
(860) 567-8030 www.owlibrary.org
Torrington, CT
Our Home Away from Home Permit No. 308
~ April 20 through May 17 ~

For details see pages 17 & 18