July at the library

Fourth of July was HOT! We gave away loads of t-shirts and membership forms (not to mention pink lemonade) and talked with lots of people about the plans for the new library, the Clausen Cabin, and the gardens.

This month, our work party schedule includes repairing and re-installing the stained glass windows at the Ida Lane Clausen Gazebo on July 19 & 20th, 11 am to 5 pm. You recall these five lovely windows, created by Denise Akert-Mohr:

 The windows were destroyed, shot out by a .22, in winter or spring 2012-13. A sixth window, showing a robin, was left untouched. We promptly covered it with plexiglass to help protect it (at least from flying rocks or BB guns). Denise was crushed, and the community was, justifiably, outraged.

However, we rallied, and the library set aside monies through the Community Revenue Sharing fund program to recreate the broken windows. Denise provided original drawings to Expressions in Glass, where Debbie Matthews matched the glass and designs as closely as possible from the photos we took, doing a beautiful job.

At the annual meeting in 2013, the JTEL announced a fund drive to pay for Lexan to cover the new windows. The drive earned $1,020 by the middle of December.

So now it's time to put our plan in action, come together, and make beautiful construction music at the gazebo!

Come on down on Saturday & Sunday, July 19th & 20th, any time between 11 am and 5 pm. We'll feed the volunteers, fix up the gazebo, tidy up the gardens, and make our public art available to the public again.

And, as a bonus, Denise made another window! (We'll install it at the work party.)

See you there!

Election results and Jamie Smith lecture tonight!

Jamie Smith, cartoonist, will be speaking on his adventures with pencil and camera as a park ranger in Maine over the last year.  7 pm tonight, October 24th, at Hartung Hall in downtown Ester! Don't miss it—Jamie's always a great speaker and his talks and illustrations are worth coming to see. This will be the second time Jamie has given a talk for the John Trigg Ester Library; we're delighted to have him back.

The Ester Library Lecture Series is free and open to the public, but donations are always welcome—and greatly appreciated. Lectures are generally held on the third Wednesday of the month at 7 pm. For more information, please contact Trey Simmons, series coordinator.

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The election results and terms of the board at the annual membership meeting are as follows. New members are highlighted with an asterisk, board members re-elected with a double asterisk.

Monique Musick, 2011-2013 (president)
Deirdre Helfferich, 2012-2014 (vice president)**
Nancy Burnham, 2011-2013 (treasurer)
Jan Ohmstede, 2011-2013 (secretary)
Rena Flint, 2012-2014*
Molly Rettig, 2011-2013
Kayt Sunwood, 2012-2014*
Carla Helfferich, 2012-2014 (alternate)*
Trey Simmons, 2012-2014 (alternate)**

GEB meetings & Sandy Jamieson!

This next week is going to be busy for the library!

First, this weekend is the launch of Growing Ester's Diversity, a new program at the library! The program will start off with a food security issues book & movie discussion group on Saturday, January 14, 4:30 pm at the JTEL office, studio #8 at the Annex, 2922 Parks Highway. Come prepared to discuss books you have read or are reading on agriculture, food, nutrition, biodiversity, food systems, and the like! We also have books and movies available for checkout. See our discussion group page for more information.

If you are interested in helping with the long-term planning and fundraising to maintain this program at the library, please come to our planning session the next day, Sunday, same place, same time.

Next, the 2012 lecture series begins on Wednesday, January 18, 7 pm at Hartung Hall with Sandy Jamieson as the first speaker.

A local artist, guide, pilot, and log builder, Jamieson is well known for his wry and often pointed satirical paintings depicting Alaska life and political issues. Jamieson's presentation, "'Predator Control' And Other Alaska Political Commentary" will cover a range of topics from Alaska politics to big game guiding, flying, commercial art, and Arctic Man. His work is often thought provoking, frequently humorous, and always Alaskan.

Hartung Hall is at the corner of Main Street, Ester Loop, and Wellhouse Road in downtown Ester. Parking (and beverages) are available at the nearby Golden Eagle Saloon.

Library Lecture: Jamie Smith

Jamie will be giving the next JTEL lecture, Thursday, September 23, 7 pm at Hartung Hall on sequential art: gag cartooning, editorial cartooning, graphic novels, sequential art. For more information about the series, see the website. For more on Jamie, go to his blog.

Dedication for the Ida Lane Clausen Gazebo

Library lecture: Igor Pasternak on contemporary art

guerrilla art in a national park

Igor Pasternak, an adjunct art lecturer at UAF and an occasional visitor to the Ester Village Square and the Golden Eagle, will be the John Trigg Ester Library's next guest lecturer. Pasternak's talk is titled "Criticism, Craft, and Concept in Contemporary Art" and will be held at Hartung Hall on April 28, Wednesday, at 7 pm. Pasternak and his wife, Sveta, are also having a joint show at the Annex during the month of May.