The Darwin R. Barker Library is excited to announce we will be hosting local artist Thomas Annear’s solo exhibition, “Transformations,” beginning November 2nd. Please mark your calendar and join us for an opening reception at the library!
See more information about the exhibition below.
The Barker Library Gallery will host an opening for “Transformations: Time, Place, and Light,” a solo exhibit of eighteen oil paintings by Fredonia artist Thomas Annear, on Thursday, November 2nd, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Featuring more than a dozen new and recent works, “Transformations” presents Annear’s yearlong engagement capturing views of and from the Pomfret and Arkwright escarpment. Painted on location in “plein air,” the works catalog the changing light and weather conditions that transform the hills and Lake Erie throughout the course of the year.
Annear, an award-winning plein air painter and twenty-three-year resident of Fredonia, has been completing a broader series of landscapes celebrating Western New York’s natural beauty, history, and unique agricultural features. With “Transformations,” he specifically explores a vital geological feature—the escarpment—that shapes local micro climates and the land but that we often take for grant“My usual views of the escarpment are from Fredonia,” said Annear. “The show is giving me the opportunity to explore and to meditate on what it is to live high up on the hills, to experience weather, the sky, and light in a very different way,” he continues. “It gives you the perspective to see systematic movements of weather and the inter-play of light that is occurring every second of every day.”
“Transformations” will run from November 2nd through December 22nd, at Darwin R. Barker Library, located on 7 Day Street in Fredonia, and will be viewable during normal library hours.
For questions about the opening reception and other special library events, please contact the Darwin R. Barker Library at info@barkerlibrary.org. For more information about the exhibit or the artist, please visit ThomasAnnear.com.
Oral histories are one of the most powerful research artifacts held by historical institutions, as they capture the heart and soul of everyday citizens. But you don’t have to be an oral history professional to help us gather these stories.
The Darwin R. Barker Library and Museum are excited to announce the soft launch of our brand new oral history kit program, “Shared, Spoken and Sung: Fredonia’s Oral Histories.” A collaborative effort between staff and volunteers, kits will be available to all Barker library patrons to check out which contain a book about how to do oral history, as well as a quick start guide, various consent forms required, and a high-quality easy-to-use digital recorder.
For those new to the practice of oral history, come learn about what oral history is and does, as well as how to conduct your own oral history interviews: join us for a FREE workshop at 5:30pm on October 17th in the Steele Room at the Barker. Registration is not required, but space is limited.
This program is funded by a generous grant from the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation.
