WORLD CLASS LIBRARY HAS WORLD CLASS ART
The library building has four major original works
of art for the public to enjoy. The Board of Trustees selected a
variety of art forms to illustrate the goals of the library's
programs: to promote literacy, lifelong learning, and the love of
reading. Three of the works have been completed and installed.
Planning is under way for the fourth. All of the artwork is being
funded by donations.
"Sky Word" fills the central atrium, and
a smaller companion sculpture may be seen in the front window. The
hanging sculpture conveys the notion of leaves of print spiraling
upward as if recently liberated from books or computer screens.
Kristina Lucas and Michael Hayden formed the piece from
holographic rectangles, which include the letters of the alphabet
and an ampersand. Each letter is in a different calligraphic
style.
The mural in the Youth Services Department on the
second floor is designed to introduce children to the joys of
stories, the magic of poetry, and the creative process involving
words. Artist Robert Jessup used acrylic paint to create this
colorful, textural 80-foot mural, which features characters
interpreted from stories and folk tales of many cultures. This
tactile work invites children of all ages to touch and explore.
The theme of the third floor artwork is literacy.
Artist Pae White describes the reader as the "lone navigator
of his/her own boat traveling through perhaps uncharted
territory...Through literacy, all places and things are
possible." 
Her brightly colored computer-generated mural
covers part of the south wall and ceiling. Viewers will want to
return again and again to take this visual voyage of contemplation
and self-discovery.
Lifelong learners are interested in the past, the present, and the
future. They make their own connections. Chicago artist Fred
Nagelbach will create a three-dimensional installation for the
fourth floor that is part sculpture, part anthropological exhibit.
This work will invite viewers to pause, explore, and return often.
