Monday, January 4, 2010

Winter 2010 Reading List & Featured Book

Featured Book

To Dance with the White Dog
by Terry Kay

Other Recommended Reading Selections

2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
A Death in the Family by James Agee
A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
Bad Blood by Linda Fairstein
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
Breakneck by Erica Spindler
Brighter Than the Sun by Julia Quinn
End The Fed by Ron Paul
Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
Hardball by Sara Paretsky
Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom
Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews
Hothouse Orchid by Stuart Woods
Light in August by William Faulkner
Love and Summer by William Trevor
Mama Dearest by E. Lynn Harris
Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich 
Southern Storm by Terri Blackstock
Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
Taste of Honey by Eileen Goudge
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans
The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The National Parks by Dayton Duncan
The Professional by Robert B. Parker
The Scout by Harry Combs
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Wizard Under Fire by Jim Butcher
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
You Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs
Zapped by Carol Higgins Clark

Compiled by FOSL Volunteer

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Abstracts & Mixed Media by Ruth Kramedjian Opens in Art Gallery

On display until February 28.

Artist Statement:

Ruth is a graduate of the University of Georgia with degrees in drawing and painting and art history. She has worked with fabric, designing and making original quilts; she has worked in metal, designing jewelry in silver and gold; her photographic work is represented in this show with a series of black and white infrared prints; and in recent years she has returned to abstract painting and the art of collage or mixed media.

Rhythmic cycles chart the course of our days. Both mundane and magnificent, they present themselves in the powerful circle of community life, the changing of the seasons, the movement from dawn to dusk and back again to light. Ethereal, concrete, and universal, they frame our lives and they give direction to my spiritual quest to find meaning in my world through art making. The grid and its counterpart, the circle, often serve as a frame for these cycles, and my emotional response to the inherent rhythms finds expression in my mark making. The short view, the long view, the universal view - from these, I examine my world.

Ruth is an avid gardener and lives with her husband, Armand, on the Chattahoochee River in Vinings. Ruth can be contacted at 770-384-1122 or via e-mail at rrpk2@yahoo.com.

The art galleries at the Smyrna Public Library are sponsored and managed by the Friends of Smyrna Library.




Dolls Extraordinaire by Renée Coleman Opens in Display Gallery

On Display Until February 28

Artist Statement:

Renée Coleman is originally from Rocky Mount N.C., and has resided in the Smyrna/Marietta area for the past 17 years.

She received her Bachelors of Science Degree in Art Education from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, in 1989. She taught Art for a few years and quickly realized that teaching is a calling and "it's NOT calling me".

She has always been a creative person and an admirer of beauty. She loved dolls as a child, but unlike most little girls that loose interest in them around age twelve, she didn't. At age 16, her grandmother would ask "Aren't you too old to play with dolls?"

She started collecting dolls about 15 years ago, and in the past five years more seriously. She would buy dolls and store them under her bed. (closet collector). One Saturday morning while driving past the Cobb County Civic Center, she read the marquee that said "Doll Show". She went in to find hundreds of other collectors that shared the same passion for doll collecting as she did.

Finally she could take herdolls out and display them...it's okay. Since then she has enjoyed learning more about doll collecting. Some of her favorites are the Dolls of the World Series, Treasures of Africa Series, Lucille Ball, and the Coat Collection.

The art galleries at the Smyrna Public Library are sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Friends of Smyrna Library Announce News Blog!

The Friends of Smyrna Library – FOSL – announce their new BLOG. Please check back soon as we implement a new way to communicate with our members and the community at large over the coming weeks. Thank you for your continued support!