Jefferson Market Library Happenings

By Corinne Neary

NEW INSTALLATION IN THE BASEMENT GALLERY: “ARThitecture” by Tom Manco, above. Photo by Corinne Neary.

After Labor Day each year, the city seems to start fresh, as people return to work and school and look for ways to work, connect and get busy with projects. We are forever grateful to be part of a neighborhood full of creative and artistic people! For the month of September, we are working to highlight all of that creativity and expression in our Village.

First of all, if you’re reading this before Friday, September 8—run, don’t walk to our End of Summer Soirée and Art Extravaganza! You can find us at 425 Avenue of the Americas. We’ll have live music from Brazilian duo Benji Kaplan and Rita Figueiredo, a book swap and an art market featuring artists Lily Annabelle Caleakav, Renata Contins, Melody Serra, Julia Van Nutt and Timur York. As usual, your favorite librarians will be serving refreshments. All of this goes on from 5-7 pm. If you’re interested in participating in future art markets, you can reach out to Corinne at corinneneary@nypl.org.

If you’ve got a taste for art but can’t make it on September 8, you must come down the spiral staircase to check out our new installation in the basement gallery. ARThitecture by Tom Manco will be up throughout the month and is unlike anything we’ve shown before. These upcycled pop-cardboard sculptures are mainly of buildings around the East Village and you’ll recognize our NYPL 10th Street sister, Tompkins Square Library, a Carnegie building from 1904. Of course, we were a bit jealous of his lovely depiction of that East Village library, so we’ve convinced Tom to work on a rendition of Jefferson Market! Stay tuned. Viewers may be surprised to know that Manco builds with the most modest of materials. The palate consists of only found cardboard, tape, glue, paint and ornamental waste.

If you’re looking for an avenue of expression yourself, we have an announcement. This winter we are planning to publish an issue of our Zine, which has lain dormant since 2019. With that aim, we are hosting our first Zine committee meeting on Wednesday, September 20 at 3 pm, in the third floor Mae West room. We are hoping to work with visual artists, poets, short fiction writers, humorists, and maybe a few types we haven’t thought of yet. Or, if you have interest or experience in publishing and editing, and are looking for something fun to do, we would love to have you. If you have any questions about how to participate, don’t hesitate to reach out!