Newton Free Library


JANUARY, 2002 / Archives

Gallery & Main Hall Hours Monday to Thursday 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Friday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm Saturday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Sunday Noon to 5:00 pm Are you interested in exhibiting your artwork at the Library? Please click here for more information.
G A L L E R Y
January, 2 0 0 2
TOM OUELLETTE’S "NATURAL LIGHT" STILL LIFE PAINTINGS Full Spectrum (2201) oil on canvas, 9" x 12" Tom Ouellette’s "Natural Light" paintings will be exhibited in the Newton Free Library Gallery January 3 – 30, 2002 with an opening reception on Thursday, January 3, 6 – 8:30PM. Ouellette’s crystal-clear oil still lifes are part social commentary, part tribute to the ordinary objects in our life, often overlooked. In simple compositions, he carefully places two mugs, a cloth napkin and a butter knife or three donuts, a turquoise bowl and a silver jug, then brings the scene to life, allowing the light to caress and reflect off of each thing, showing off the napkin’s texture or the porcelain mugs’ glaze. A close observer of everything around him, he is particular about the light that illuminates his subjects. "I painted all these pictures using daylight, as I prefer the tones it gives," Ouellette says. "The light is gentler and the color more true than that of artificial lights." One of his favorite subjects is the lightbulb, itself – laying lightly in a group on a table or in a metal photographer’s lamp. "A lightbulb is to us what a candle or oil lamp was to other ages," he explains. Their short life span reminds us of the transience of life, he says, much as a painting of an extinguished candle once did. Capturing their translucence, coloring and delicate shapes, he is aware of their significance beyond their utilitarian beauty: "I like them both for the irony of painting an artificial lighting device under natural lighting conditions and for the iconographic meaning we ascribe to them." Another subject he enjoys painting are life size refrigerators in fine detail, complete with magnets on their white fronts. This theme developed from a commission to paint a trompe l’oeil rendition of a letter rack, when he realized its modern equivalent is the refrigerator front to which we tack all kinds of notes and reminders – his has various magnets of Michelangelo’s David, a self-portrait by Titian and other historical art references. If Ouellette’s purpose is to "make people look at ordinary things as objects of beauty" he has very much succeeded and also inadvertently become a thoughtful and witty commentator on, and chronicler of, life in the 21^st century. Ouellette has exhibited his paintings in galleries in New York, New England and Tokyo. He has won many prizes as a former member of the Copley Society of Boston. His work has been shown in the 66^th Grand National Exhibition of the American Artists Professional League in New York City and regularly at the National Exhibitions of Contemporary Realism in Art of the American Academic Artists Association in Springfield, MA. His portrait commissions include Olympic gold medalist figure skater Dick Button. He teaches at the Boston Center for the Arts. You can visit Mr. Ouellette's website at www.tomeouellette.com
M A I N H A L L
January, 2 0 0 2
ANNE JOHNSTONE’S "SQUARED OFF: AN INSIDE JOB" Grape Jumper (2000) mixed media, 17" 18" Anne Johnstone’s exhibit "Squared Off: An Inside Job" will be displayed at the Newton Free Library Main Hall January 3 – 30. Johnstone’s colorful, mixed-media paintings are filled with "playfully agitated imagery," she says. "My work is about finding my visual tongue through the aide of my unconscious mind." As she paints and layers collaged grids of newspaper photos of fruits and vegetables onto the canvas, she lets "the intrinsic subject matter of the piece direct my thought and my hands." Often what comes up are images of people staring numbly or reflecting inwardly, with small figures of animals, fruits or vegetables floating by. She ponders the solitary state: "Aloneness is an essential human condition. It’s a vulnerable place." The artist feels a connection to all sentient beings and in "Organic Mind" the elongated bust of a woman and a leafy plant grow side by side, the woman drawn into the plant’s orbit, listening intently to its message. In "Paranoia" the person himself is sprouting green growths from the top of his head, while the bottom half of his face is split off and disembodied eyes peer from various places on the canvas. A feeling of being cut off from others is sometimes present in her work as in "We Already Said Goodbye" where two figures face forward, one shadowing the other, while a third hangs upside down in the background, not wanted, not noticed. As in all her paintings which consider the state of the unconscious mind, this painting calls us to question "Which way is right side up – who sees the situation clearly?" while "Paranoia" asks "Who is mad and who is sane?" Johnstone’s art has been influenced by Bosch, Klee and Van Gogh and perhaps Chagall. Her paintings, paper mache animals and finger puppets have been exhibited by the Cambridge Art Association who honored her with the Juror’s Choice Award, Acacia Gallery in Gloucester, Craigin Fife Gallery in Brookline and at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts annual Christmas Exhibits. She has illustrated for many corporate clients, publishing companies, newspapers and magazines.

Library groups meet at the Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton Centre, unless otherwise noted.
All meetings are free and open to the public.

January, 2 0 0 2

African Literatures Group
Led by Anne Serafin, this group explores the rich variety of writings from Africa. The group meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM, in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: January 16: God’s Bits of Wood, a novel by Sembene Ousmane from Senegal. For further information, call 552-7145.

Children's Book Writers Group
Meetings are held on the first Monday or the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:00PM, in Meeting Room A. This group is for writers who have work in progress. Pre-registration required. Please call Ruth Glass at 332-0835 or Karen Day at 244-4830 for more information. Meeting Dates: Monday, January 7 or Wednesday, January 23.

Current Fiction Discussion Group
Meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month, 7:30PM in Meeting Room A. Participants should read works in advance. Group coordinator: Alice Simons. For information, call the Library at 552-7159. Meeting Dates: January 2: Alice Hoffman, River King and February 6: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin.

Great Books Discussion Group
Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:15PM in Meeting Room A. Members read books from the Great Books Foundation (available at the Library). Meeting Date: January 8: Don Quixote (Part I) by Cervantes. For further information, call the Library at 552-7145.

Landscape of Aging
This group focuses on reading autobiographies and writing/ discussing 1 – 3 page memoirs.
Led by Marilyn Bentov, meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month, 2 – 3:30PM in Meeting Room A. Limited to 15 people. Pre-registration required; call 617-969-8022. Meeting Date: January 10.

Newton Camera Club
Meetings are held at 7:30PM on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Nonantum Branch Library. Group coordinator: Elisif Brandon: (617) 243-0557. Meeting Date: January 14: Minishows by Members and Techtips. January 28: Competition in Nature and Open categories, judged by Ken Weidemann.

Playreading
Meetings are usually held at Newton Corner on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00PM. Preparation is not necessary. Meeting Date: January 8. For further information, please call the Library at 552-7145 or the branch at 552-7157.

Sequences: Women Tell Our Stories
In this women's workshop, participants read, discuss and write about literature by women. The group meets the second Wednesday of each month from 10 - 11:30AM in Meeting Room A. Leader: Robin Mayer Stein. Meeting Date: January 9. For further information, call 552-7145.

Short Fiction Writing Group
This workshop provides an atmosphere of expert support to polish short fiction. It is geared for published writers as well as those who are actively pursuing publication. Preregistration is required: 617-965-8835. The group usually meets the first Tuesday of each month, this month in Meeting Room B, 7:00PM. Meeting Date: January 8. Please bring 5 copies of work to the meeting. Coordinator is Halcyon Mancuso.

Short Story Discussion Group
Meetings are held on the second Monday of the month at 7:30PM in Meeting Room A. Group leader is Mary Lanigan. For further information, call 552-7145. Meeting Date: January 14: Melissa Pritchard, "Salve Regina" and Percival Everett "The Fix".

All concerts are free and open to the public. For directions to the Library, click here.

January, 2 0 0 2

CONCERT OF MUSIC FROM MARK TWAIN’S TIME
BY ACCLAIMED IMPROVISATIONAL PIANIST JACQUELINE SCHWAB

PBS pianist Jacqueline Schwab, known for her lyrical improvisations on traditional American music featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series "The Civil War," "Baseball" and other films, will present a concert at the Newton Free Library, Sunday, January 6, 2:00PM. "Mark Twain’s America: A Portrait in Music" will feature popular and traditional music from his era, including parlor songs, Stephen Foster and Civil War songs, hymns and spirituals, hornpipes, vintage ballroom dances, waltzes and a ragtime piece. Seating is limited.

Schwab’s playing will be heard on Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on Twain scheduled to air later in January. Her own reflections on the music of Twain’s era (1835 – 1910) was recently released on the Dorian label.

Schwab has been described by the Boston Globe as "a brilliant pianist," with a "gorgeously spare piano." Among her accomplishments, she has recorded many soundtracks for television, appeared on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, entertained at a White House reception with the other musicians from the Ken Burns’ Lewis and Clark soundtrack and performed in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian celebrating the American Presidency exhibit. Most recently her music was heard on Ric Burns’ PBS documentary series, New York. She has performed and recorded with Scottish singer Jean Redpath, fiddler Alasdair Fraser, glass armonica player Dean Shostak and with the Renaissonics ensemble. She also performs for concerts and dances around the country with the improvisatory English country dance quartet Bare Necessities. Previous recordings include Down Came an Angel, Mad Robin, featuring her untraditional arrangements of airs from the British Isles and Celtic Dialogue with Scottish fiddler Laura Risk. She has been warmly received at the Library at her previous concerts.

PIANIST SYLVIA CHAMBLESS

Pianist Sylvia Chambless will present a concert of Haydn’s Sonata No. 62 and Schumann’s Davidsbundlertanze interspersed with her introductory remarks on Sunday, January 20, 2:00PM at the Newton Free Library. Seating is limited.

Chambless has given recitals throughout New England, performed with the New Orleans Symphony and the Dallas Symphony and toured Switzerland and Italy with the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra. Last year she was Artistic Director of the Bach Festival at Jordan Hall and performed the dance premiere of a partita with the Boston Ballet as part of the program. This spring she will give a recital at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

Of her Carnegie Recital Hall performance of the Schumann piece, the New York Times wrote, "Outstanding… stylistically ideal."

Chambless is Co-chair of the Piano Department at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and serves on the faculty of the Walnut Hill Performing Arts School. She is known internationally for teaching exceptional students who have excelled in prestigious competitions. She lectures and gives master classes on the music of Schumann and Debussy.

Chambless lived for many years in Newton.

JAZZ DUO OF PAUL SPEIDEL AND STEVE SKOP RETURNS

The jazz duo of guitarist Paul Speidel and bassist Steve Skop will return to the Newton Free Library for a concert of jazz standards from the Great American Songbook on Sunday, January 13, 2:00PM. Seating is limited.

A native of Chicago, Speidel now lives in Newton and teaches blues and jazz at Newton Community Education as well as privately. He has appeared with Patti Page, Jay Geils, Duke Robillard, James Montgomery, Shirley Lewis, Les Arbuckle and other musicians at local and national venues. For several years he hosted a highly regarded Blues Showcase Series at Yerardi’s Restaurant.

Skop’s jazz performing is a culmination of his experiences in mainstream jazz, fusion, experimental jazz, classical, Haitian, African, Afro-Cuban, reggae, blues and rock styles. His recordings include: "No, What" with Michael Kelley & the Hot Blue Q and "Live on Cape Cod" with jazz/gospel vocalist Ptah Brown. He teaches jazz clinics, ensembles and individuals in addition to performing.

Coming up in February: Soprano Carla Chrisfield and Pianist William Merrill

Soprano Carla Chrisfield and Pianist William Merrill will return to the Library on Sunday, February 3, 3:00PM for a concert of works by Mozart, Britten, Stravinsky and others. Mark your calendar now!

January, 2 0 0 2

GLOBE COLUMNIST ALEX BEAM TO SPEAK
ON NEW BOOK ON MCLEANS HOSPITAL

Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam will speak at the Newton Free Library on his new book on McLeans Hospital: Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America’s Premier Mental Hospital on Thursday, January 17, 7:30PM. A booksigning will follow the talk with books provided by New England Mobile Book Fair.

With its carefully landscaped grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Tudor mansions and lack of guards or gates, McLeans Hospital looks more like a New England prep school than a mental institution. This elite hospital was once one of the most luxurious in America with alumni which include Olmsted himself, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, James Taylor and Ray Charles as well as many other renowned artists and famous individuals. In its heyday, McLean provided a gracious environment for the treatment of mental illness but now the hospital is struggling to find its place in the system of psycho-pharmacologically–oriented mental health care.

Based on original research, McLean’s records and interviews with former and current patients and staff, Gracefully Insane is a biography of this idiosyncratic institution from its founding in 1817 till today. It is filled with stories about patients and doctors, Anne Sexton’s poetry seminar and many more. But the story of McLean is also the story of the hopes and failures of psychology and psychotherapy, of the evolution of attitudes about mental illness and of current economic pressures. This is poignant reading for those who have been moved by Plath’s The Bell Jar and Susanna Kaysen’s Girl Interrupted (both inspired by their authors’ stays at McLean) and for anyone interested in mental health care, in the history of medicine or in the social history of New England.

Beam has also authored two novels about Russia: Fellow Travelers and The Russians are Coming! His journalistic work has garnered several awards. He was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University in 1996-97 and previously was Moscow and Boston bureau chief for Business Week. He has also written for the Atlantic Monthly, Slate and Forbes/FYI. He lives in Newton.

"OIL AND TURMOIL IN CENTRAL ASIA" –
A TALK BY AUTHOR GUIVE MIRFENDERESKI

Noted writer and international attorney Guive Mirfendereski will speak on "Oil and Turmoil in Central Asia," based on his new book, on Thursday, January 10, 7:30PM at the Newton Free Library.

Mirfendereski’s book A Diplomatic History of the Caspian Sea: Treaties, Diaries and Other Stories transports the reader to the windswept shores of the Caspian Sea and provides a provocative glimpse of the wars, reconciliations, intrigues and betrayals that have shaped the political geography of this region from the 1720s to the present. With the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the dismantling of the Soviet-Iranian regime of the sea, the Caspian shore is facing new challenges as the regional actors and outside players seek to exploit the area’s enormous oil and gas resources. This book explores the historical backdrop to discussions of pipelines, security issues and ethnic conflicts in the region.

This "masterful storyteller…weave[s] history, politics, geography and international law into a series of highly charged and exciting narratives." (Hooshang Amirahmadi, editor of The Caspian Region at a Crossroad)

Mirfendereski is a professorial lecturer in international relations and practices law in Newton. His appointments have included Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Brandeis University’s Graduate School of International Economics and Finance. He has served as legal consultant on World Bank private sector development projects in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Among his many writings is "The Ownership of the Tonb Islands: A Legal Analysis," in Small Islands, Big Politics.

GILBERT & SULLIVAN SOCIETY TO SCREEN
"PIRATES OF PENZANCE"

The New England Gilbert & Sullivan Society (NEGASS) will present a video screening of the Gilbert & Sullivan play "Pirates of Penzance" on Sunday, January 27, at 2:00PM, at the Newton Free Library. The screening is free and open to the public.

"Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty" concerns the fortunes of Frederick who as a boy was meant to be apprenticed to a pilot, but due to a hard of hearing nursemaid, was instead apprenticed to a band of pirates. The merry mayhem begins as he comes of age and falls in love with the beautiful Mabel whose father, the Major-General Stanley, objects to their union. Kind-hearted pirates, bumbling policemen and ill-natured fairies contribute to the comic story which boasts such famous songs as "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General," "Poor Wandering One" and "I am a Pirate King."

This production was staged at the international Gilbert & Sullivan Festival this past summer in Buxton, England. Among the performers are two stars of the original D’Oyly Carte Opera Company as the Sergeant of Police and Major-General Stanley.

Affiliated with the original Gilbert and Sullivan Society founded a century ago in England, NEGASS is an organization dedicated to fostering the appreciation of the works of Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. They meet several times during the year for lectures, performances, sing-alongs and for other purposes. The group was founded in the late 1970s by the late Warren Colson, the author of the Gilbert and Sullivan Concordance. The Library’s Gilbert & Sullivan collection was enhanced by their donation of books, scores, videos and cds, in his memory.

LIBRARY HOSTS CULTURAL BRIDGES READING OF
SHORT STORIES ABOUT RUSSIA AND AMERICA

The Newton Free Library will host its annual Cultural Bridges program: Russians in America: Short Stories in English on Thursday, January 31, 7:00PM. Writers Ludmila Shtern and Anatol Zukerman will read their original humorous stories in English with an explanation of Russian expressions.

Shtern has published five books, numerous articles in Russian language newspapers and in collections and many short stories in the Boston Globe Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, Connecticut Review and others. Recent public readings include Brandeis University, Boston University and Boston College. Booklist praises her: "An exceptional storyteller…Readers will delight in Shtern’s outrageous, intelligent wit in stories that illuminate, through her specific Soviet history, the increasingly common experience of resettling across borders."

Newton resident Zukerman is the organizer and host of the Library’s annual Cultural Bridges program. He has had several articles and stories published in the local magazines Cosmopolite and Contact and his poetry translations were published in Slovo/Word magazine. He has read his poetry and translations at Janus Russian-American Cultural Center, the New England Poetry Club, Agape and others. His poems and stories have received awards from the Candlelight Poetry Journal and the Newburyport Art Association Poetry Contest. An architect and artist as well, he exhibits his work locally.

GREEN DECADE TALK AT LIBRARY ON IMPACT OF
SEPTEMBER 11 EVENTS ON NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

The Green Decade Coalition/Newton will present a panel discussion on "Getting from Ground Zero: Conserving the Planet After September 11" at the Newton Free Library on Monday, January 28, 7:00PM.

A diverse panel will examine the impact of the events of September 11 on national policy.

The panel will look at the relationship between environmental issues and national security and will discuss several questions including: "Will urban and environmental issues get lost in the financial and political focus on funding the war against terrorism and promoting national security?"

Panelists include: Jane Holtz Kay, journalist and author of Lost Boston and Asphalt Nation, Paul R. Epstein, MD, MPH, Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School and a well-known expert on climate change, and Dianne Dumanoski, award-winning environmental journalist and co-author of the groundbreaking Our Stolen Future. Dumanoski is a Newton resident and Green Decade Coalition member and is working on a new book exploring how the current environmental crisis challenges humanity to rethink its relationship to the biosphere and to redraw its roadmap for the new century.

Light refreshments will be served; please bring your own mug.

LIBRARY HOSTS CAREER WORKSHOP

The Newton Free Library will host an Ask the Experts Career Workshop on Tuesday, January 29, 7:00PM. If you’ve been running into problems with your job search, come to the Library and pick the brains of four Career Moves counselors from Jewish Vocational Services. Following a short overview of the job search process, these experts will open the floor to questions and concerns from the audience.

Morning Programs at the Library!

Both groups are open to new members at any time - just drop in!

At WABAN Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague on Wednesday, January 30, 10:30AM.

NEWTON CORNER'S book group will discuss J.L. Carr's A Month in the Country on Friday, January 25, 10:30AM at Heritage at Vernon Court in Newton Corner.

Japanese Tea Ceremony Demonstration

The Japanese tea ceremony is an elaborate and philosophical art form that originated in China. Mastery of the tea tools and the ritual requires long-term study.

Rosa Sterk, a computer specialist at Oak Hill Middle School in Newton, traveled to Japan this past summer as part of a Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher program. There she learned the art of the age-old tea ceremony which she will demonstrate with a few 6th and 7th grade Oak Hill students dressed in kimonos on Tuesday, January 8, 7:30PM at the Library.

Sterk will also give a slide presentation that describes the history and culture of the ceremony and shows a variety of kimonos and tea tools. Afterward, the audience may view the tea bowls and implements and ask questions

Design and Construction of a Master House

The Library will host a panel discussion on "Design and Construction of a Master House," following up on this past September's talk on oversized houses and their alternatives.

On Tuesday, January 22, 7:00PM, architects Anatol Zukerman and Jeremiah Eck will speak about theory and practice of good home design and construction, moderated by planning consultant Philip Herr. They will show slides of floor plans and elevations of existing and proposed houses and discuss what works best, both functionally and aesthetically for building large houses. Examples of architectural transformations for large houses that lack stylistic appeal will also be shown. The architects will also address comparative costs of construction, building codes and zoning ordinances.

Cinema Discussion Group

Silver screen devotees are welcome to come to the new Cinema Discussion Group to engage in discussion and critique of significant films. Led by Paulette J. Idelson, the group will meet on Tuesday, January 15, 7:00PM in Meeting Room A to discuss Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane, made in 1941. Those who have not seen the film are encouraged to view it before the meeting.

This new group will discuss films that are recorded on videotape and are readily available at libraries and video rental stores.

Button Battery Contest

Come to the Library and take a guess as to how many used button batteries are in the big fishbowl on the give-away table in the lobby. That's how many button batteries were collected in Newton last year! We collect them separately so that the parts are disposed of properly.

If you guess the correct number, you'll win a prize!

New Assisted Hearing Device for Druker Auditorium Programs

The Library now has available assisted hearing devices to be used for amplified programs in Druker Auditorium. If you would like to use one during a lecture in the auditorium, stop by the Circulation Desk with your Library card and check one out. Then turn the unit on, place the headset on your head and adjust the volume to your preference. Directly after the program, please turn off the headset to save the battery and return it to the Circulation Desk (before closing) so that someone else may borrow it. And please let us know how you like them.