Picturing America for Public Libraries

I will not be able to make it to Chicago, but I did want to share a program that I put together. This was our publicity and then I'll share the reaction:

Painting Rhapsody in Blue:
Plan for a fantastic evening immersed in art. We are going to explore the view of the city. First, we’ll start with an art discussion using prints -- Diebenkorn’s Cityscape I, 1963 and Sheeler’s American Landscape, 1930. Then we’ll move to the dance medium and look at strife in the city with clips from West Side Story. Finally we’ll try our hand at painting using sponges -- copying the style of Diebenkorn while listening to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. All ages welcome!

This turned out to be an amazing program. The title was Painting Rhapsody in Blue celebrating our ending activity of painting to Gershwin's symphony about the city. The discussion theme was "Strife in the City" and we looked at the impact/ repercussions of Industrialization and city life from the artist's perspective -- first in dance, then painting, then music. The hour started with the opening segment of West Side Story with the Sharks and Jets dancing in the city. I emphasized observation of the choreography and the breakdown of such when the aggression became more prominent. Then we turned our attention to the 2 Picturing America Art prints and we discussed the view of the city and compared the themes in these two paintings. The finale was listening to Gershwin after sharing stories of his composing this piece while on a train in New York listening to the city noises. Our discussion covered 3 art mediums and 3 distinct areas of America - New York, Detroit, and California. The audience was inter-generational with men, women, and 2 children. Plus the program pulled in single adults that were not coming "just because of the children." Truly the art work was the draw for this program. My themes came together better than I could have imagined with one of the men finishing his painting just as Gershwin's last chord played. This truly was one of the more exciting programs I've done in a while. Thank you for providing this great resource!
Laura Harris
Johnson Co. Public Library
Trafalgar, IN