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| The Birmingham Public Library holds Alabama Bound 2010, featuring The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Thursday, 11 March 2010 11:08 |
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The community is invited to join the discussion on what makes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain an enduring American classic, at The Birmingham Public Library’s Alabama Bound 2010 on Saturday, March 20, from 10 a.m. - 3p.m. Alabama Bound 2010 will feature programming aimed to enhance understanding and appreciation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain as a person and a writer. Performances by Will Stutts, Dolores Hydock and a book discussion by a panel of scholars and authors will be taking place throughout the day. The popular band, Flying Jenny, will entertain audiences with music of Twain’s era. The event is in collaboration with the statewide literacy campaign, The Big Read: Alabama Reads. Alabama Reads is designed to increase library usage and literacy rates in the state by encouraging citizens to read the Mark Twain classic. The book was chosen to correspond with the Alabama Department of Tourism’s Year of Small Towns and Twain’s 175th birthday. The statewide literacy campaign will launch in February and conclude in April. Alabama Reads is an initiative inspired by the national reading campaign, The Big Read. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Big Read supports states across the country in reading a book of the NEA’s choice. Once this year’s Big Read concludes, Alabama Reads hopes to continue its efforts in almost 200 participating libraries in Alabama. Alabama Reads is a statewide program addressing literacy in Alabama and encouraging the use of public libraries in local communities. This year, Alabama Reads is partnering with The Big Read through the National Endowment for the Arts, reading Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and bring the transformative power of literature into the lives of its citizens. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. Contact your local public library for more information, and visit www.alabamareads.org. BPL@Night to Feature a Performance by Peter Fletcher, Classical Guitarist, in the Central Library’s Auditorium Hailed from New York City as one of the best practitioners of the art, classical guitarist Peter Fletcher will grace the BPL@Night Stage for a fine performance on March 18th at 6:30 p.m. The library is very excited to have such a unique talent to showcase. Mr. Fletcher has released several albums, the most recent of which is 2008’s Peter Fletcher Plays Baroque Music for Guitar. Peter Fletcher began guitar study at the age of seven under classical guitar instructor, John Sutherland. In December, 1983, he made his formal debut at the age of fifteen under the auspices of The Brasstown Concert Association in North Carolina. The critic of The Cherokee Scout wrote, “He has technical facility but what one remembers about his playing is the nuances, the poetical phrasing, dynamic and tonal changes, his harmonics, his cadences.” Fletcher has recorded more than a half dozen albums and his works have been applauded throughout the country. He believes in carrying on the Segovia tradition of expanding the comparatively small classical guitar repertoire. He plans to do this by transcribing from other instruments (mainly the piano) and also by commissioning new music. This is a free performance. For more information about Peter Fletcher and his music, visit www.peterfletcher.com. For information on music, or more broadly, the arts, entertainment, and recreation, please check out BPL’s subject guides dedicated to these topics at http://www.bplonline.org/virtual/subjects/. BPL@Night presents Brats and Bullies: Mischievous Children in 19th Century American Art Mark Twain's characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn epitomize the idea of childhood mischief, with their roguish antics and penchant for troublemaking. Images of naughty children abound in nineteenth-century American visual culture, from the fine arts to the popular press. Dr. Graham C. Boettcher, The William Cary Hulsey Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, will explore the subject of mischievous children in American art and examine how such images played a role in cultivating and promoting new attitudes in child rearing. The program is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23, at 6:30 p.m. in the downtown Birmingham Public Library’s Arrington Auditorium. This program is free and open to the public. Dr. Boettcher holds a doctorate in the History of Art from Yale University, where his dissertation focused on domestic violence in antebellum American art. He has served as the curator for many exhibitions, including “Framing a Nation: Portraits of the Founding Fathers from the Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art” (2006), Pražské noci / Prague Nights: Czech Modern Art from the Hascoe Collection (2007), and Sea Fever: American Art and the Aquatic Imagination (2007). He has contributed to the exhibition catalogues American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820-1880 (Tate Britain, 2002); Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds (Yale Center for British Art, 2007); and Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Art and the American Experience (Yale University Art Gallery, 2008). The library will provide light refreshments. For more information on Dr. Boettcher, please visit: http://www.artsbma.org/about-the-museum/staff-biographies/2-graham-c-boettcher-phd. For information on art, history, or any related topic, please check out BPL’s subject guides dedicated to these topics at http://www.bplonline.org/virtual/subjects/. |
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