From the Community

New Exhibition: Shao Yuan Zhang’s ‘Silent Canyons’ at Jamaica Plain Branch Library

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The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library in partnership with Uforge are pleased to announce a new exhibition held in the renovated library space. After soliciting proposals from over 50 local artists and groups, a selection committee comprised of community members and BPL staff chose four exceptional artists to fill its gallery for the rest of 2017, with printmaker Shao Yuan Zhang exhibiting for the third spot. Born and raised in China, Zhang was sent to the countryside as a teenager, where he worked in the rice fields and created propaganda art for the Communist Party’s Cultural Revolution movement. In the late 1980s, he immigrated to the US to pursue his MFA at the University of Utah, developing his prowess in various printmaking techniques. Currently based in Boston, today Zhang depicts vast forest landscapes and red rock canyons with a surreal, otherworldly vision.

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Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library

Book Sale

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A great way to start off your holiday shopping while also supporting the Jamaica Plain Branch Library.  We will offer gently used books and DVDs all with bargain rates (all items just $1 or $2).  Books for all ages and in every genre. Book dealers please note - we ask that you do not use scanners at this December book sale and we will restrict purchases to no more than 20 items at a time.

Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library

Annual Holiday Party

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The Friends of the JP Branch Library invite everyone in the community to kick off the holiday season with a little food and some great entertainment.  We'll have a potluck - please bring an item to share - followed by a return performance by the Boston Typewriter Orchestra.  Back by popular demand! All are welcome!

Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library

Annual Meeting – Friends of the JP Branch Library

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All members of the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library are invited to our annual meeting.  In 2017, the Friends turn 65!  Help us celebrate this milestone (and relish it in our new renovated Branch building). The meeting will include a small business section and then we will have refreshments.  All this will be topped off by a wonderful musical performance by Reynaliz Herrera 'Ideas, not Theories"

IDEAS, NOT THEORIES Is a theatrical percussion show.

City Services
Mayor Marty Walsh and neighborhood kids get ready to cut the ribbon at the reopening of the JP Branch Library on Saturday, May 20, 2017.

Video: Kids, Mayor Cut Ribbon on Revamped JP Branch Library

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Mayor Marty Walsh, whose administration finally fulfilled a decade-plus of city promises to renovate the JP Branch Library, cut the ribbon on the $10 million makeover of the popular facility on Saturday. He enlisted a scrum of neighborhood kids to make the ceremonial snip as hundreds of residents looked on and media cameras clicked and whirred. More Jamaica Plain News coverage of the renovations:

Photos: JP Branch Library Reopens
Call to Artists for Public Art Project at Renovated JP Branch Library
Photo: Books on Shelves at Renovated JP Branch Library! Shovels Up! JP Branch Library Breaks Ground

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From the Community

Artist Exhibitions for Jamaica Plain Branch Library Announced + Friends Fundraiser

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As the grand reopening of the renovated Jamaica Plain Branch Library nears, the space is being activated in numerous ways, including a Friends of the JP Branch Library fundraiser on Friday night. Plus the Friends announced the artists who will have their art exhibited this year at the library. The artist gallery is being produced presented by the Friends group in partnership with Uforge Gallery. Four artists were selected from more than 50 proposals, which were reviewed by the 5-member selection committee comprised of both library staff and members of the community. Fine art photographer Steven Edson, of Belmont, will be the first artist to have his work exhibited. His exhibition Road Paint will be on display from May 5 through June 30, with a public reception on June 8 at 6 pm.

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City Services

Photo: Books on Shelves at Renovated JP Branch Library!

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The renovated Jamaica Plain Branch Library had books on its shelves as of April 28th, 2017. It will be opening very soon. The renovated Jamaica Plain Branch Library is so close to opening you can almost feel the touch of your library card being used to take out books! On Friday, April 28th, Jamaica Plain News took this photo showing the reflection of the adjacent Curtis Hall Community Center in the window panes of the beautifully renovated library. The renovations are pretty much complete and it will be opening in May (a public date has not been provided yet).

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Arts

Call to Artists for Gallery at Renovated JP Branch Library

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Attention all artists! The UForge Gallery is going to manage the new art gallery space in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library and they want artists to submit their work for the gallery. The JP Branch Library on South Street is expected to reopen in May and the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library will be presenting bi-monthly shows of two-dimensional works by New England area artists in the library’s new public exhibiting space.  The Friends group is also funding the public gallery space. There is no specific theme, but artists are encouraged to include work that can be enjoyed "by the diverse visitorship of the JP Branch Library, including children, teens, and other community members." The exhibits will be proposal-based, selected by a group of JP area artists and library affiliates, including Ginny Zanger of the JP Art Association and Eve Griffin of the Boston Public Library.

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