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Art. Live at the library!
Fine Art at the Florence Williams Public Library in Christiansted (FWPL), St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, has a history which takes it back to the early seventies when the new 20,000 square foot building in the heart of the historic town was dedicated. Local artists accepted the opportunity to show their support for the institution of this center for information resources by making their work visible in its presence. My 20 plus years with the library has been enriched by the enjoyment I have experienced through their art, knowing and interacting with them on numerous projects.
The first art work to come forth was a collection of Fritz Henle http://savannah.ai/St_Croix.html photographs capturing St.Croix subject matter. These color photographs represent some of his best work. They were generously displayed throughout the four-story library, the focus of review of regular library patrons including those with a more discerning eye.
Shortly thereafter, a collection of illustrations produced by then children's book illustrator Leo Carty, were displayed in the children's room of the library, they hung there until the devastating hurricane Hugo (1989) swept through the library and destroyed the building.
After the library was dedicated in 1974, The Virgin Islands Council on the Arts (VICA) funded a project with young Rastafarian artist, Darius Truel. A product of his is a colorful mural painted on the northeast wall of the Children's room where it remains. VICA later funded an Outreach library services project where the artist, Truel and the librarian (this writer), conducted oral history interviews which provided content for at least a half-dozen murals painted in senior citizen facilities including the Herbert Grigg Home and Whim Garden on the island of St. Croix. Murals were also painted at the Harwood Hospital and the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility.
Carty established himself as the "Artist in Residence" at FWPL when he produced for permanent display, a portrait of Florence Augusta Stephens Williams, the first native-born librarian in St. Croix and for whom the library was named. Subsequently the library in cooperation with the VICA, conducted summer art programs with Carty teaching children how to paint murals. As a continuum, many of his students went on to art school and returned in the summer to serve as instructors to more children in the library summer art program. Results of this program saw over a half-dozen murals produced in the library. With the exception of one which was destroyed in the reconstruction of the library after hurricane Hugo and two which are on panel-board, they remain displayed along with the portrait of Florence Williams, which also survived the storm.
Most recently, Leo was selected as one of the centuries noted 20th Century American artists by the U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/Usvi.htm His painting "Good Day Ladies", a scene just blocks from the library, was included in a series of large posters promoting awareness of the national decennial cenus.
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