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Events
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Artspace & the Institute Library Present At the Institute Library Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Free and open to the public. |
Artspace and the Institute Library present comics writer Mat Johnson for a reading, book signing, and conversation Tuesday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m. The talk will be held at the Institute Library in conjunction with Artspace's current exhibition exploring Blackness in sequential art, 'Toonskin (May 11 - June 30). Free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30, and the talk begins at 6:00. Books will be available for sale, and complimentary light refreshments will be provided by Atticus Bookstore Café. |
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Strange Natures: Curated by Clint Jukkala. May 18 - June 15 Opening reception, Saturday,May 18 |
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The Gallery at the Institute Library is pleased to present Strange Natures, a new exhibition in various media curated by Clint Jukkala. Taking landscape imagery and natural forms as their subjects, these artists present images that are far from everyday and familiar. Instead, they reveal strange worlds filled with aberrant forms, odd behaviors and unusual occurrences. Please join us for the opening reception Saturday, May 18, between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. IMAGE: Johannes DeYoung and Natalie Westbrook, Diamond Head, 2013. Video still. |
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The Nitty Gritty Cosmic Secrets: Play & Create Melodies with Chords Beginner's Piano Keyboard Workshop Saturday, May 11, 2:00 p.m. Free and open to members and their guests. |
It's never too late to learn the basics of the playing the piano! Please join us this Saturday for a fun, hands-on keyboard workshop with library member and New Haven musical treasure Pat Bissell, who looks forward to sharing her unique approach to piano keyboard technique with you. Pat is an instructor of piano and music history at Gateway Community College. She received music degrees in piano and composition from the Peabody Conservatory and Yale School of Music and was a Fulbright Scholar in Paris. She has published a number of articles on music education and was recently featured in the New Haven Register in a story about her role as music arranger and pianist in the 1968 Olympics (read that article HERE). We speak a lot at the Institute Library about the idea of "library as place," reminding ourselves that a community library is not merely—or even primarily —a repository of books and information. A community library is both a custodian and crucible of living ideas, conversations, and human connections. In that spirit, library member Arthur Kover is now organizing the "Library as People" Forum, in which Institute Library members are invited to share their particular skills, knowledge, and interests with the wider library community. The series is launching with Pat's workshop this week. If you are interested in sharing some of your own experiences as a Forum speaker or have any ideas for a library member who might be, please email Arthur HERE. Photo courtesy New Haven Register. |
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"Two Arts" : A Poetry Reading and Painting Exhibition by Gray Jacobik and Charles Douthat Friday, May 3, 2013 7:00 p.m. Recommended donation $10 Reservations available at twoarts.eventbrite.com |
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Please join us May 3 for an Institute Library benefit reading by award-winning Connecticut poets - and artists - Charles Douthat and Gray Jacobik. Surrounded by an exhibition of their painted works, Gray and Charles will read in tandem on coordinated themes, creating an exciting four-part synergy of poetry and painting. Gray Jacobik's books include The Double Task (The Juniper Prize), The Surface of Last Scattering, Brave Disguises (AWP Poetry Prize), and Little Boy Blue (CavanKerry). She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. To learn more about Gray's work as a poet visit grayjacobik.com; to view her abstract and non-objective paintings, visit grayjacobikartist.com. Charles Douthat's Blue for Oceans won the L.L.Winship-Pen New England Award as the best book of poetry published by a New England writer in 2010. His poems have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac. Charles paints in acrylics, sometimes on recycled surfaces. Read more and see images of his paintings at charlesdouthat.com. |
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Amateur Hour No. 8: Featuring "Wildman" Steve Brill Why search for food in the supermarket, when it's all around us in East Rock Park? "Wildman" Steve Brill has been foraging for nutritious meals in parks and forests for over 30 years, while educating thousands about urban ecology. Join us for a special off-campus Amateur Hour foraging tour in East Rock Park, led by "Wildman" Brill. You'll leave with a salad, and a new way way of looking at our city. Tuesday, April 30, 2013, 5:30 p.m. Library Members $15 Admission, Tickets available at amateurhoureight.eventbrite.com. |
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During the tour, join hosts Joshua Foer and Jack Hitt in a conversation with Wildman about his life and work, and stick around after the tour to sample the results of Wildman's first "East Rock Salad Challenge"! Meet in East Rock Park at the corner of Orange Street and Cold Spring Street between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. Please wear clothes and footwear comfortable for light hiking, and bring along a sweater or jacket appropriate for early evening temperatures. Tickets are $15 for Institute Library members and $20 for non-members. Purchase tickets online at . Amateur Hour, the Institute Library's new monthly series curated by Joshua Foer and Jack Hitt, explores the passions and pursuits of America's most inspiring fanatics, obsessives, tinkerers, and collectors. Poster by Design Monsters. |
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The Lucretia Society : A Staged Reading Saturday, April 27, 2013 Co-operative High School for the Arts Auditorium 4:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. |
Over the last year, the Institute Library has served as the artistic home for the The Lucretia Society, an organization that seeks to use the arts to raise awareness about sexual violence toward women. Institute member Sally Kazcynski invites you to attend the Society's first event, a staged reading of a play that features high school students along with professional actors. The event is free and open to the public, and the audience is invited to a talk-back with the director and cast after the show. Please join us Saturday and be part of a new moment in this important conversation. |
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A Way in Everyday Life: An Introduction to the Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff Thursday, April 25, 2013 6:00 p.m. Free and open to the public |
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Everyday life hides the "fact" of our existence. It covers over the mystery that we are here, alive, and replaces it with a commonplace dress. An unremarkable tedium then masks the creative unfolding of a day, and deletes its incongruities, anomalies, and unexpected visitors. By contrast, the encounter with reality, in its shockingly unadorned guise, leads to a profound affirmation of self. With the gesture, we find ourselves in an essential harmony, and the everyday serves the greater good of humankind. This thought lies at the heart of the teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff. Please join members of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York for an introductory presentation on this important thinker and his understanding of wakefulness at the Institute Library on Thursday, April 25, at 6:00 p.m. Free and open to the public, with donations accepted to benefit the Institute Library. |
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THE WORD: A Youth Poetry Jam! Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Co-operative High School for the Arts Auditorium 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30. Free and open to the public. |
The Institute Library and the New Haven Public Schools Cooperative Arts Program proudly present THE WORD: A Youth Poetry Jam, featuring the poets of Fair Haven School, Columbus Family Academy, and Co-op High School, hosted by Aaron Jafferis, and including a special guest performance by the CT Youth Poetry Slam Team. The Institute Library launched The Word in January 2013 to enhance poetry education in selected New Haven public school classrooms. Led by award-winning New Haven hip-hop artist, playwright, and educator Aaron Jafferis, the program is intended to help close Connecticut's achievement gap in education, combat violence in our neighborhoods, and otherwise energize our city's youth through the power of poetic expression. The April performance will feature middle school and high school students reciting original poems they have composed during the course of this year's program. Please support poetry in the city, and join us April 24! To learn more, please contact the Institute Library HERE or visit the Facebook event page HERE. Free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30. At Co-op High School Auditorium, 177 College Street, downtown New Haven. THE WORD is generously sponsored by CT Humanities, NewAlliance Foundation, and Seedlings Foundation. |
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The Institute Library is pleased to announce the opening of Little Ghosts: The 19th Cenutry Portrait Studios of Chapel Street, an exhibition of historical photographs curated by Lisa Kereszi, on Saturday, April 6. The exhibition features an installation of late 19th century cabinet card and carte de visite formal studio portraits collected over the last several years by photographer, art critic, and Acting Director of Undergraduate Studies in Photography at the Yale University School of Art. All of the phorographs in the exhibition were taken by professional photographers whose studios once lined Chapel Street, and which were clustered around the block between Orange and Church, near the current address of the Institute Library. These are images of a world before Kodak's hand-held Brownie cameras put such portraitists out of business, and well before almost every person had a tiny, high-resolution camera in his or her pocket, complete with the ability to post a digital "calling card" everywhere. The exhibition is augmented by pieces from the collections of the New Haven Museum and Joseph Taylor. Please join us for the opening reception Saturday, April 13, between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. |
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Haven String Quartet and Sambeleza Perform "Beautiful Brazilian Dances" Thursday, April 11, 2013 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30. $10 Admission |
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Please join the Institute Library for an evening of Brazilian Bossa Nova performed by the Haven String Quartet and Sambleza. Enjoy a wide variety of Brazilian songs with a jazz twist! The string quartet arrangements by Sambeleza bassist Jeff Fuller include several well-known songs by Tom Jobim (including "Desafinado," "Girl From Ipanema," "One Note Samba," and "Corcovado"), as well as works by composers Ivan Lins, Janet de Almeida, and Haroldo Barbosa. Admission, $10. All proceeds to benefit Music Haven and the Institute Library. |
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War's Books : Collages by Qasim Sabti The morning after that first sleepless night I went to check on a place most dear to me, the Academy of Fine Arts. It was here that I had studied and enhanced my artistic skills. To my dismay, the Academy's street was littered with books, and pages torn from them blew in the dry wind. As I entered the Academy's library, my senses were abruptly confronted by an acrid smoke that silently drifted above irregular mounds of charred books. In that instant discovery combined with pain, I saw that my beloved Academy had become another victim of a mob out of control. They had emptied the library shelves and set the books afire. The destruction was total. As I walked about, the pressure of my feet on damp and partially burned pages seemed to gently squeeze more pungent odors into the silence around me. I realized that a new bitterness in the air was the source of my tears.... I felt like a fireman desperately in need of finding survivors. As I pushed through the piles, I noticed a few books that, although covered with soot, appeared to have survived.... March 9-23, 2013 Reception Saturday, March 16, 12:00-2:00 p.m. Curated by Stephen Vincent Kobasa |
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The Institute Library is honored to present works by Iraqi artist Qasim Sabti fashioned from the war-damaged remains of a Baghdad library. To learn more about Qasim Sabti and the works on exhibition, please visit his web site at www.qasimsabti.com. Please join us for a reception Saturday, March 16, between noon and 2:00 p.m. in the Institute Library's upstairs gallery. IMAGE: Qasim Sabti, Untitled, 2003-2005. Cloth book binding and paper fragments. |
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Amateur Hour No. 7: Featuring Gabriel Mesa Gabriel Mesa is a Connecticut inventor and last fall was a finalist in the 3M and Discovery Education and CT Invention Convention. All of his inventions—from an ingenious alternative to the sleep apnea mask to a new IV system for hospitals to a kind of Dick Tracy watch for schizophrenics—come from his own experience. He just recently turned thirteen. When Gabriel was two years old, he started inventing imaginary worlds and then, not long afterward, turned his attention to ours. Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Library Members $5 Admission, Tickets available at amateurhourseven.eventbrite.com |
Please join fellow Institute Library members and host Jack Hitt for a conversation with Gabriel Mesa Wednesday, February 27. Complimentary coffee and light refreshments will be provided by Atticus Bookstore and Café, and collectible limited editions of posters signed by Gabriel Mesa, Jack Hitt, and Joshua Foer will be available for sale following the event. |
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Bittersweet: Dying in the Nicaraguan Sugar Fields Photographs by Brad Horrigan Curated by Stephen Vincent Kobasa February 9-23, 2013 Reception Saturday, February 16, 5:00-7:00 p.m. |
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The Institute Library is pleased to present a new exhibition of photographs by Brad Horrigan. Mr. Horrigan writes: "For Nicaragua, the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, sugarcane is one of the few industries that provides some semblance of security to the economy. But associated with this critical resource, we see an extremely high incidence of kidney failure (either in the form of chronic kidney disease or chronic renal insufficiency) among those Nicaraguans who work in or live near the lush sugarcane fields. "The Nicaraguans in these photographs are from the northwestern communities of Goyena, Chichigalpa and León. They have all been affected, directly or indirectly, by chronic kidney disease. Many exhibit the symptoms themselves. Others have an ill family member or have lost loved ones. "What is perhaps most alarming about this devastating problem is that the prevalence of these symptoms is not specific to those working in the sugarcane industry. Residents of communities near the cane fields are also demonstrating similar symptoms. Thousands in this region die annually from kidney failure. Many physicians, residents and activists believe that pesticide exposure and work-related dehydration may be the culprits in this epidemic." Please join us in welcoming Brad Horrigan with conversation and light refreshments February 16 at 5:00 p.m. IMAGE: Brad Horrigan, Sugarcane Worker's Tools, 2012. |
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