Greenwich Library is using its deep programming resources to explore a single topic in-depth – leveraging traditional Library books and materials with events, lectures, and hands-on workshops to enrich patrons’ understanding of subjects like architecture, music, and more.
The Library’s first FocusOn series will explore architecture from a historical, artistic, technological, and mechanical perspective. Tying into the 2017 Children’s Summer Reading theme, Build a Better World; FocusOn: Architecture will engage patrons of all ages. MoMA-led lectures will stimulate intellectually curious adults and interactive, hands-on programs will charm younger patrons with architecture’s capacity for creativity and innovation.
Patrons will learn more about legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and about architecture on a broader scale. Patrons can use free Library MoMA museum passes (up to five people per visit) to explore the topic further by visiting the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit in New York. Passes are available at the Lending Desk.
FocusOn: Architecture includes the following events:
MoMA Lecture: Usonian Homes from Frank Lloyd Wright at 150
Thursday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m.
Cole Auditorium
MoMA’s exhibition “Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive,” curated by Barry Bergdoll, offers an unprecedented opportunity to explore the work and practice of one of the most prolific and renowned architects of the twentieth century. We will consider specific buildings in the context of Wright’s approaches to nature, urbanism, material, technology, politics, society, and experimentation as well as his reception and legacy. This lecture will focus on Usonian homes, a series of affordable houses developed by Wright, beginning in 1936. Free MoMA passes are available at the Library. Register on the Library’s online calendar at greenwichlibrary.org.
Molleen Theodore is the Associate Curator of Programs at the Yale University Art Gallery and a lecturer in the Education Department at the Museum of Modern Art.
ArchforKids Workshop: Fun with Facades Workshop
Thursday, Aug. 10 at 4 p.m.
Meeting Room
ArchForKids presents a fun, fast-paced introduction to the tools, strategies and work of architects for children ages 6 and up. Recreate the local facades of buildings in our Greenwich community. All materials will be provided. Space is limited to 30 children. Use the Library’s online calendar to register beginning Aug. 1. This event is part of Greenwich Library’s Build a Better World Summer Reading Program.
Flinn Art Exhibit: Memory of Place – Artists Thomas Doyle & Frank Poor
Opening Thursday, Sept. 7, 6 to 8 p.m.
Flinn Gallery
The interdependence of memory and place has been a consistent subject matter of both Thomas Doyle and Frank Poor’s work as artists. In singular ways both reference notions of landscape, geography, and architecture. Thomas Doyle and Frank Poor look at remnants of things past, whether quiet moments or transformational experiences. For Doyle, the intimately scaled works in miniature (often displayed under glass) distort reality through a warped and dreamlike lens. Suburban New England homes and families’ interaction around them are frozen in time. Ready to topple into sinkholes or pushed to the brink, these environments and those who dwell in them are uncanny. The narrative remains ambiguous and the viewer must tease out their own story. Visit flinngallery.com for hours and details. This Flinn Gallery is sponsored by the Friends of Greenwich Library.
The FocusOn Series is made possible through the support of the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees and contributions by generous donors. Summer Reading is made possible through the support of the Friends of Greenwich Library, Crane Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of Greenwich Library. For more information about the Summer Reading Program visit greenwichlibrary.org/children.
For more information about the series, please contact Kate Petrov at kpetrov@greenwichlibrary.org or visit greenwichlibrary.org/focuson
