‘Local Scenes’ is JP Library’s First Art Exhibition for ’19

Maybe you'll recognize some of the watercolors in the Jamaica Plain Branch Library's first art exhibition for the year because it's "Local Scenes" by Kevin Gillespie. The Jamaica Plain resident's work is often done en plein air, as he illustrates his neighborhood's natural scenes like the shadows of tree branches, water ripples, the four seasons of New England and more. This is the first of six art exhibitions at the library branch due to a partnership between the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library and the Uforge Gallery. The exhibition will be on view from Jan. 4 through Feb.

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New Art Exhibition ‘Kristen Gossler: Confluence’ at Jamaica Plain Branch Library

In Kristen Gossler's art exhibition at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library, "Confluence," the expressive abstract paintings pose a question, wanting to provide an interactive experience to the viewer. Gossler uses a variety of materials, including water-based pigment, screen painting ink, sumi ink and acrylic paint. The RISD graduate utilizes "a mental inventory of repeated forms found in both the natural and manmade worlds, provoking a familiarity and comfort in the viewer through subliminal means." “The unconscious use of these symbols is not art – it is the cognitive filter of the artist that gives these paintings relevance and meaning as a body of work,” said Gossler. Her new exhibit uses earthy browns, warm yellows, soft greens, burnt oranges, while centering bold shapes and natural textures.

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Art Exhibit: ‘Joni Lohr: Unfinished Stories – A Social Documentary’ at JP Branch Library

Photographer Joni Lohr's exhibit, "Unfinished Stories -- A Social Documentary," is the newest art show at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. Lohr has been a professional photographer for 50 years and her exhibit captures her view of the world around her while utilizing black and white tones. For half a century Lohr has captured, "...the energy of live musical performances, the camaraderie between friends, the ghosts of abandoned buildings, and the spontaneity of urban life." Lohr's exhibit includes photos of some familiar Boston area locations, as well as ones you may not recognize. "The subjects in her photographs laugh, play, wait, walk, talk, teach, and observe, some engaging with one another and others seemingly isolated from the world around them.

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

JP Branch Library Wins Boston Preservation Alliance Achievement Award

Adding something new to something old to the Jamaica Plain Branch Library has been a wild success, aside from the Copley Square main branch, it is most used library in Boston. And recently the Boston Preservation Alliance honored the South Street branch for its renovations. "On this, the 40th Anniversary of the Alliance and the 30th year we've awarded projects, an emphasis on neighborhoods which percolated up from our nominees collectively exemplify what is central to Boston's success: historic places working in harmony with new construction throughout the city's neighborhoods," says Boston Preservation Alliance's website about the awards. Renovations of the library originally built in 1911 starting in 2015 and the library reopened May 2017. The Boston Preservation Alliance described how the renovations successfully mixed the new with the old:
The new addition reinstated a prominent entry sequence to the library, but the rest of the building needed a major update as well and this was completed with the utmost sympathy to its history.

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Cardamom Quartet Performing at JP Library This Saturday

The Cardamom Quartet will perform a family-friendly concert at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library this Saturday. The concert starts at 11 am and the quartet is actually performing a second concert later in the night at 8 pm at the Cambridge Friends Meeting House. These programs will feature music by Ethel Smyth, Florence Price, Julia Wolfe, and the quartet’s own Ariel Friedman. Cardamom Quartet is a Jamaica Plain-based ensemble with a focus on music by women and non-binary composers. Committed to bringing music to a wide variety of audiences in the greater Boston area, Cardamom Quartet has performed in libraries, art galleries, houses of worship, senior centers, school programs, farmers’ markets, and living rooms throughout New England.

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A happy crowd at the reopening of the JP Branch Library on Saturday, May 20, 2017.

Summer Solstice Potluck to Celebrate 1st Anniversary of JP Branch Library Renovations

Celebrate the one-year anniversary of the renovated Jamaica Plain Branch Library with Mayor Marty Walsh with a potluck on Saturday. The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library (30 South St.) are hosting the potluck on Saturday, June 16 from 12:30 to 2 pm. But come early at 11 am to hear a musical performance by Cardamom Quartet in the library's community room. Please bring a food item to share with your fellow library lovers. No word on what Mayor Walsh plans on bringing to the potluck.

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