Just in Time for Women's History Month:  March Art Exhibits

 

The Howland Public Library presents "CoMFY 15," a group exhibition from the women's collective CoMFY. The exhibit will be on view in the Community Room Exhibit Space and from March 14th- April 25th 2015.  In addition, the Howland Public Library is pleased to present "The Beacon Portrait Project," an exhibition of photographs by Meredith Heuer. The exhibit will be on view in the main library from March 14th - June 14th 2015.  Artists' Reception and special digital exhibition will be held on Saturday, March 14th from 5pm -8pm.

 

CoMFY, which stands for Creatives, Mamas, Friends and Yahoos is a collective of women artists from the Beacon area. The group began when a few women met for coffee on a Friday morning in October of 2011. A lively conversation developed about the challenges of juggling family, work and their creative endeavors. CoMFY founder, Kat Stoutenborough, was Inspired by the collective energy of the group and wanted to keep the momentum going. Kat began organizing weekly gatherings. The goal of the group being to create a sense of community and mutual support. The meetings took place nearly every week for over a year and a half at local coffee shops, artists' homes, studios and galleries. Members of CoMFY come from many creative disciplines; visual artists, writers, actors, designers, dancers, musicians, as well as culinary artists. Today, the group has grown to almost 100 members in their Facebook group and meets in person on an ad hoc basis. The CoMFY 15 exhibit features the work of more than 20 of the visual artist members of the group.

 

Also, the Howland Public Library is pleased to present "The Beacon Portrait
Project," an exhibition of photographs by Meredith Heuer. The exhibit will be on view in the main library from March 14th - June 14th 2015. An Artist Reception and special digital exhibition will be held on Saturday, March 14th from 5pm -8pm.

When photographer Meredith Heuer moved to Beacon from the West coast, she embarked on a mission to photograph every resident of Beacon. She has made 100 portraits so far; 20 are on display at the Howland Public Library.

Heuer's method for finding her subjects is "a referral system" where each subject recommends the next person to photograph. By doing so, Heuer says, "I keep out of my own social circle and create a family tree with different lineages for each branch." Heuer goes on to say, "My portraits record a wide cross-section of the citizens of Beacon. From artist to stockbroker to dog walker and the occasional self-proclaimed pirate, these photos give visual expression to this community and in doing so create a catalog of Beacon's unique moment in history." To learn more about Meredith Heuer visit 

www.meredithheuer.com. 

 

The Howland Public Library is located at 313 Main Street, Beacon NY 12508. The photo exhibition is open during regular library hours. Please note the Community Room Exhibit Space may not be accessible during some library programs. Please consult the library calendar at beaconlibrary.org. For information about exhibiting at the Howland Public Library, contact Michelle Rivas, Exhibit Manager, at communityart@beaconlibrary.org.

 

From the Friends' President

Friends President 

Ai-Ping Ma Retiring from HPL

Ai-Ping Ma, Technical Services Manager, is retiring from the Howland Public Library this month after 17 years of service. Ai-Ping and her staff are responsible for the flow of materials inside the library, getting new materials into the online catalog and onto the shelves, repairing older items still of use, checking in boxes of items returned from other libraries, and much more. It's a huge job that often goes unrecognized, because it takes place behind the scenes. Library users would quickly notice if the department stopped working! 

Many people remember Ai-Ping from when she helped our users as a Reference Assistant.  Many know her as the talent behind our popular monthly International Film Series; Ai-Ping prepared tastings of food specific to the country from which each film originated. Ai-Ping was assisted by her husband, Bill Ma. Many know her from her wonderful Chinese cooking classes. Library staff lucky enough to work with Ai-Ping will always remember her for her spectacular annual Chinese New Year lunches prepared with the help of Bill and Ethel Lee. The lunch, prepared as a thank you to library staff, is just one example of Ai-Ping's generous spirit.

Everyone at HPL wishes Ai-Ping and Bill Ma many happy, healthy years ahead!!!