News and Announcements

As mentioned in last week’s blog post, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library will be open this Friday, January 6, from 6PM to 9PM as part of the Indianapolis Downtown Artists & Dealers Association First Friday Gallery Tour.

Jason Turner of La Porte, Indiana, will be the featured artist. His main area of interest is portraits done in both medias of paint and oil pastel.  Says Jason, “A painted portrait is not that dissimilar from a snapshot, but it is also an interpretation by the artist of the person portrayed.  Artists are in complete control of how they choose to depict a person visually.  They choose the color, style, and tone of the painting in essence with their perception the subject.  As opposed to just a photograph, a painted portrait enraptures the person and displays how others perceive them.  In my work, I show my interpretations and try to capture the complexities of people I have chosen to portray.”

Stop by the library at 340 N. Senate Avenue on Friday evening to meet Jason and see some of his works. 

–Shannon

The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library will host three noted poets, including two past Poet Laureates of Indiana and the current Poet Laureate of Wisconsin, on November 4^th, 2011, as part of Brick Street Poetry. The program will consist of Joyce Brinkman, Norbert Krapf, and Bruce Dethlefsen presenting poems on the theme of “Community” and will begin at 5:30 pm as part of IDADA’s First Friday Art Tour.

Joyce Brinkman, Indiana’s poet laureate from 2002 to 2008, believes in poetry as public art. Like her fellow Airpoets, Joyce has poetry in artist Martin Donlin’s stained glass windows at the Indianapolis International Airport. She also collaborated with Arlon Bayliss for his lighted glass art containing her poetry in the new addition of the Central Library, Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library. Joyce is a founding board member and program chair of Brick Street Poetry. A Hanover College graduate, Joyce received a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis in 2009.

Norbert Krapf, Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, taught for 34 years at Long Island University. His recent publications include Invisible Presence (2006); Bloodroot: Indiana Poems (2008); The Ripest Moments (2008), a childhood memoir; Sweet Sister Moon (2009); and the forthcoming Songs in Sepia and Black and White (2012). Winner of the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, he received his B.A. from St. Joseph’s College (Ind.) and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. As IPL, he had a special mission to reunite poetry and music (song) and promote collaborations.

Bruce Dethlefsen has been appointed as the Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2011 and 2012. He has published two poetry chapbooks, A Decent Reed (Tamafyhr Mountain Press, 1998) and Something Near the Dance Floor (Marsh River Editions, 2003) for which he won the Posner Book-length Poetry Award Honorable Mention from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Breather (Fireweed Press, 2009), his full-length poetry book, received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association. He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2003 and 2009.

On Saturday, November 5^th, Joyce Brinkman will be back at the KVML to lead a conversation entitled Creating Community Through Words.

These events are made possible through partnership with Indiana Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Both events will be held at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, located at 340 North Senate, Indianapolis, IN 46204.