We Make A Library

June 13 – September 19, 2026

Opening Reception June 13, 2026 | 4 – 7 pm

Dress Code: Bibliolatrous Finery, Glamour Librarian, Dark Academia….

Gifts of Food and Drink always appreciated, but most importantly we would like your presence!

We Make a Library features work by many artists; we wish to encourage focus on the Wabi Arts FOCUS fellowship students, fostered by artists Kim Weston and Jonathan Peterson. Their group effort, Through Their Lens: a Bicentennial View, represents the culmination of months of research, discussion, and creative residency within the library walls, distilled into a remarkable whole by these skilled young artists. This is a special glimpse of the library as a very human institution made manifest by up-and-coming talent, showing us the bright future of art in CT.

FOCUS Fellowship students featured in this exhibit: Brock Bowen, Dejanay Cammock, Nya Drake, Cristel Mishel Martinez Gomez, Tywan Harris, Allesson Vanessa Cosetl Muñoz, Asia Murphy, Jonathan Peterson, Nickolas E. Santaell.

Also featured: A surprising and delightful collection of materials from our very own Historic Archive, including never-seen-before rarities gathered by our Archivist Peri Pignetti and our intrepid Operations Manager Eva Geertz.

AND — An eclectic and marvelous group of Books, Zines and other published treasures lovingly made by our local community, including works by: Marsha Borden, Alexis Brown, Akinei Burruss Jr., George Corsillo, Matthew Feiner, Eden Fisher, Allan Greenier, Fritz Horstman, Martha W. Lewis, Linda Lindroth & Craig Newick, Courtney L. Malanga, Mary Tyrrell, Susan Yolen, George Zdru, & Robert Zott

This exhibit will include related tours, readings, presentations performances and a special closing event.

As we like to say: ” The Institute Library: Where Mystery is More Than Just a Genre”

This event is free and open to the public; we do want to remind people who’ve never been here before that the Institute Library can only be reached by walking up a flight of stairs, and the Library is not ADA-compliant.