Category: News

Crowell To Share Healing Through Surimono at Stonington Library

Deer Isle resident Marnie Reed Crowell will explore the partnership between verbal and visual images at the Stonington Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 15, from Noon to 1 PM.

Crowell will share her fusion surimono collections in her presentation, “Verbal & Visual Images: 19th Century Japan and Today’s Internet.”

“Just as the body develops in response to increasing physical activity, the mind can redevelop in response to words and images of increasing complexity,” Crowell said.

Crowell is a naturalist, author and artist who suffered a traumatic brain injury while ice skating in 1999. She emerged from a coma unable to write, draw, or even make sense of printed words. But she managed to find her way back to art and poetry, starting with very simple images and words, gradually increasing their length, intricacy and subtlety.

“I believe that others who suffer from traumatic brain injury, chemo brain, PTSD, Post Lyme fog and the like can perhaps find their way back with pictured poems in stages from the very simple in the first collection to the sixth, completed at their own pace,” she said.

Crowell has a master’s degree in Biology, and she has taught in many kinds of classrooms including a one-room schoolhouse and Ogdensburg Correctional Facility. She has written books about farming, migratory birds, flycasting and poetry. Her poems have been commissioned to celebrate the opening of a church and the Penobscot Narrows bridge as well as appearing in Take Heart, an anthology of Maine poets and Poems From Here, Stuart Kestenbaum’s Maine Public Radio show.

All are welcome to attend this free event sponsored by the Stonington Public Library.

The Library is excited to host Paul Miller, Island Heritage Trust’s Executive Director and lifelong birder, he will discuss the local birds we can see during the winter. The event is planned for Tuesday, February 11th at 4:30 p.m. Many birds remain here through the winter. Some even migrate here from more northerly areas making Deer Isle their ‘south for the winter’. We’ll talk about the birds that we can see and enjoy during this challenging time of year. From backyard feeders to interesting ducks in coves, there are plenty of birds in and around Deer Isle during winter.

Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum will read his poetry at the Stonington Public Library. The public is invited to the free event on February 4th at 6:00 pm.

Kestenbaum is the author of five collections of poems, most recently How to Start Over and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines.

Stuart Kestenbaum was the director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine for 27 years, where he established innovative programs combining craft and writing and craft and new technologies. He is an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council and a recipient of the Distinguished Educator’s Award from the James Renwick Alliance. He was appointed poet laureate of Maine in 2016.

The Opera House and Stonington Public Library are joining forces once again for a tea party. From 12:30 to 1:30 on Sunday, January 26, the Opera House will open their doors for an afternoon tea party before the 2:00 pm showing of the film Little Women. The tea party will feature mini sandwiches, sweets, and local tea. Along with a brief reading from the Louisa May Alcott Classic The event is by donation with the proceeds benefiting the update of the children’s area in the library.

The Library is closing at 2:30 today because of the snowy weather.

Stay safe everyone.

 We are starting a series in conjunction with Island Heritage Trust, the second Tuesday of every month for the next 4 months there will be presentations on subjects ranging from local wildlife, winter birds, and vernal pools. These library talks will proceed nature trips organized by IHT. The first talk with Martha Bell will be held January 14th at 4:30 p.m. and feature a hands on discovery of local mammals. After a general overview, we will feel the fur of a local mammals, think beavers, bobcats, and foxes! Multiple skulls and teeth will be viewed and handled as we wonder which animals are carnivores, omnivores or herbivores. The Second talk hosted by Paul Miller, Island Heritage Trust’s Executive Director and lifelong birder, we will discuss the local birds we can see during the winter and is planned for Tuesday, February 11th at 4:30 p.m. Many birds remain here through the winter. Some even migrate here from more northerly areas making Deer Isle their ‘south for the winter’. We’ll talk about the birds that we can see and enjoy during this challenging time of year. From backyard feeders to interesting ducks in coves, there are plenty of birds in and around Deer Isle during winter.

The Library is making a change to the regularly scheduled children’s programs. Starting this month we will be moving the Baby Rhyme Time program to the third Saturday of every month at 9:30 a.m. Baby Rhyme Time is a chance for parents or grandparents and babies to learn new rhymes, songs, listen to stories , and meet other families in a relaxed surrounding. The Library’s regular Story Hour will still be held the first Saturday of every month but we will be adding special “pop-up” story times throughout the year  to celebrate fun holidays or themes. The first Pop-Up Story Hour will be January 25th at 9:30 a.m. celebrating Chinese New Year. 

Join us for the first Story Hour of the year Saturday, January 4th at 9:30 am. We are reading  Pokemon stories. Pokemon is a popular past time for kids of all ages and a great way to encourage reluctant readers through a subject that’s part of their play!

The Library will be closed on Christmas Eve this year. Christmas can be stressful. We are all checking things off are lists and hurrying to the next celebration or event. It was brought up to me that Christmas Eve is family time. I thought for a minute….. that’s right. It is when we bake cookies, maybe go to church, and hopefully curl up with a great book. I needed to be reminded of that and maybe you do too! Come to the Library this week for your reading essentials, we are open our regular hours.We re-open Thursday December 26th. Happy Holidays!

We are having a by donation book sale of gently used books. Friday December 20th from 4:00 to 6:00! Stock up for the winter with some great reads!!!

 

You are invited to our annual Candy Cane Social December 7th at 4:30 pm. The Stonington Library is honored to participate in the town wide celebration known as the Holiday Hoopla! Join us directly after the tree lighting ceremony at Hagen Dock for hot cocoa, cookies, and some holiday stories for the kids. The tree ceremony is from 4:00 to 4:30.