Art Exhibit at Saint John Arts Centre May16 - June 27

Between now and the end of June you can see 44 of my paintings on display in the library, and in another adjoining room at the Saint John Arts Centre formerly known as the 'ABEC'. The centre is currently undergoing brick and mortar maintenance.

Above is a 12" x 12" (top), and a 16" x 16" (below). Both are included in the exhibit.


I'm back to jewelry making for now, but will have to post some interior pics of the gallery and exhibit as soon as I get back there to take shots.

By the way, the building was built 'round the turn of the 20th century, and was funded by Carnegie as one of his famous 400 library gifts to the whole of the continent.

Carnegie libraries are libraries which were built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Over 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built, including those belonging to public and university library systems. Carnegie earned the nickname Patron Saint of Libraries.

Of the 2,509 libraries funded between 1883 and 1929, 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 156 in Canada, and others in Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, the Caribbean, and Fiji. Very few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. When the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them paid for by Carnegie.

In the early 20th century, a Carnegie library was the most imposing structure in hundreds of small American communities from Maine to California. Most of the library buildings were unique, displaying a number of different Beaux-Arts and other architectural styles, including Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Classical Revival and Spanish Colonial. Each style was chosen by the community and was typically simple and formal, welcoming patrons to enter through a prominent doorway, nearly always accessed via a staircase. The entry staircase symbolized a person's elevation by learning. Similarly, outside virtually every library was a lamppost or lantern to symbolize enlightenment.