“MARY FELTON CHARCOAL DRAWINGS” EXHIBIT COMES TO THE DOVER LIBRARY IN DECEMBER

The Friends of the Dover Library is pleased to announce that Mary Felton of Marshfield is the December Artist of the Month. “Mary Felton Charcoal Drawings” will feature original charcoal drawings and affordably priced framed prints. The exhibit will be on display in the library from December 1st to 30th.

Felton’s work varies from pieces that border on photo-realism to those that border on abstract. Figures and horses dominate her choice of subject matter because the artist finds so much beauty in them, and she gets the most satisfaction from capturing them in charcoal.

“Even though I worked briefly in other mediums,” she said, “I’ve always embraced charcoal drawing, and it has been my exclusive medium since 1996.”

“With charcoal,” she continued, “there is no faking it - not when you are working in realism. Flaws and weaknesses cannot be hidden under the complexity of color tones and painting techniques. The simplicity and boldness of black, white and grays expose design and value structure in all their raw nakedness.”

A graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, Felton worked as a commercial artist for several years before switching to fine art. Since building her home in 1995, which provided her with a permanent studio, she has had much success with her black and white charcoal drawings. In addition to her personal work, Felton occasionally does commissioned portraits, mainly of horses.

She has exhibited widely in hundreds of juried shows nationwide, as well as having solo shows in Boston and New York.

Felton has accumulated many prestigious awards over the years, including in 2008, when she was awarded the first-ever Gold Medal of Honor Best in Show Award at the Academic Artists Association’s Annual Juried Show in Springfield, MA. In early 2009, she was honored to have two drawings included in a book published by Art Horse Magazine.

This year, Felton also enjoyed becoming a full elected member of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club of New York, one of the country’s most distinguished women’s arts organizations, and she exhibited in the Spring Members Show at the Broome Street Gallery in Greenwich Village as well as at the Annual Juried Show at the National Arts Club.

Felton is active in the many organizations into which she has been juried as a member, including the Hudson Valley Art Association, Hudson Valley, NY, and the International Guild of Realism, Scottsdale, AZ. She is represented by Franklin 54 Gallery in New York.

To learn more about the artist, please visit her website at MaryFelton.blogspot.com

Dec Meeting - Dec 7

The Friends will hold its December meeting on Monday, December 7, at 9 am in the library's Community Room. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. Topics to discuss include initial planning for the March 25 Spelling Bee, planning a book sale in the new year and a recap of the Holiday House Tour. For more information or to get involved, please email the executive committee at Friends.of.Dover.Library@gmail.com.

The Friends of the Dover Library Holiday House Tour was, once again, a great success. Shown below is an excerpt from an article by Neil Johnson of the Dover-Sherborn Press:



Any drive through Dover will pass by a few antique homes or beautiful mansions, and thanks to the Friends of the Dover Library and four generous Dover homeowners, Dover residents had a chance to walk through some of those beautiful homes on Sunday’s 23rd annual Holiday Homes Tour.

The tour, which visited three of Dover’s antique homes and one new mansion, is the Friends’ largest benefit of the year; 650 tickets were printed for this year’s tour, with sales going briskly into the tour date thanks to the beautiful weather.
When the Friends of Dover Library began the house tour 23 years ago, it was one of the first in the area, said Madge Casper who, along with Michele Keleher, chairs the event; though the number has grown in intervening years, some have been cancelled this year because of the economy. Casper was thankful that Dover residents were still coming out to support the library.
“In these recessionary times, we’re pleased the tour participants realize the importance of giving back to the community,” she said. “The library is one of the top five for its size in the country, and it’s money we raise with the tour that helps keep it that way.”
“It takes a lot of citizens of Dover to come together to present these houses,” Keleher added, noting that 13 members of the Friends committee work year-round to get the tour ready, and 65 people work at the houses on the day of the event.
The first house on the tour, which belonged to Rose DiBartolo, was an antique home, once two separate farmhouses built in 1818 that had been joined together to form one house. In the last seven years, it has undergone significant transformations, adding a variety of amenities and turning what was a large garage into the new living room. The house featured a pool and granite terrace in the backyard, as well as birdhouses and a fountain.
Each house on the tour featured different floral designers donated by a florist and food donated by caterers. At the DiBartolo house, Perennial Designs of Needham had provided the floral arrangements, and the Dover Market provided the catering; Higgins Wine and Spirits also offered wines for tasting and recommendations for the upcoming holiday season, and Adam Shumate played piano for the event. Nancy Wright of Perennial, who had, with Lisa Calderone, designed the floral arrangements, talked a little about the process of designing for the house tour.
“We come to the house several weeks before the event to take photos and get a feel for the style of the house,” said Wright. “We also speak with the owner to learn about their design ideas.”
The second house, 1 Pegan Lane, was owned by David W. Lewis Jr. Lewis had grown up in the house and had moved back in 2004, after two years of extensive renovations. The house had been built in 1735, and some of the house retained its antique feel; it had, in its long history, been a blacksmith shop, a tavern and a general store. The house featured floral arrangements by Flowers by Design of Dover, and Dessert Works of Norwood provided catering. Lewis stood outside and spoke to visitors about his house as they were leaving.
“It’s quite an old house,” said Lewis. “For a long time people didn’t put much money into it, so everything’s reused — it gives it much of its character.”
The third house, the home of John and Jan Barr at 120 Walpole St., was a 1795 farmhouse which had, in its long life, served as a country and equestrian property for a number of prominent Bostonians such as Dr. Hans Zinsser, a noted immunologist and Harvard Medical School professor who would bring faculty and students to the farm. Though the property once included much of the surrounding area, most was sold off in the 1960s, and the house has seen extensive renovation. It remains an equestrian property; there is still an antique barn on the property, and at times there have been as many as seven horses. The floral designs were by Forte of Westwood, and Chiara provided the food for the house.
The final home, the house of Stephen Fogg at 3 Adams Lane, was the tour’s only modern home, built in 1999. Located on more than 24 acres of land and surrounded by forest, the house featured mahogany floors and granite countertops in its spacious rooms, and was filled with floral arrangements by the Chicatabot Garden Club, the Dover Garden Club and the Powisset Garden Club. The catering was done by Sherborn Inn.
The beautiful houses are the draw of the tour, of course, and the touring groups enjoy taking in the beauty of the houses and getting ideas for their own. But underlying all of that is the important fundraising for the library; Anne Coster, a member of the Holiday House Tour Committee, said the day is so effective because it serve both purposes so well.
“All funds go straight to the library, to things like children’s reading programs and author visits,” Coster said. “It’s a great way to contribute to the library, and it’s also a fun day out.”



Here is the link to the actual article: http://www.wickedlocal.com/dover/news/x255181507/Good-crowds-great-weather-for-Holiday-House-Tour

Many thanks to all who helped make the day a success! And thank you to Neil and the DS Press for the great coverage.

More on Advocacy: State Library of Massachusetts--potentially closing, but at what cost?

This just in, from the Reference Department of the State Library:


At a press conference on Thursday, October 29, the Massachusetts Governor's Office announced that Governor Patrick is considering closing the State Library of Massachusetts as a cost-saving measure. This closure will have a monumental impact on the cultural heritage of the Commonwealth.

Open to the public since 1826, the State Library has developed comprehensive collections in the areas of government documents, law, Massachusetts history, and public and current affairs. From the Bradford manuscript "Of Plimoth Plantation" to the ever-expanding digital repository, the State Library has collected items of crucial importance to the record of Massachusetts' historical wealth.

Please sign our online petition to show your support of the State Library of Massachusetts: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveyourstatelibrary/
After signing, a message will appear asking if you would like to make a donation. There is no need to make a donation. Your name has been recorded, and an acknowledgement email will be sent. Just close out of this window. This is the price of using a “free” petition site.

Additionally, if you would like to contact the Governor's office directly, please visit his website at http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_contact_us.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit the Friends of the State Library page at http://www.mass.gov/lib.

Follow us on Facebook at Save Your State Library!

The State Library is undertaking exciting digital initiatives to provide greater public access to our collections.

· Electronic Repository: This summer, the library upgraded its electronic repository of the Acts and Resolves and other state publications. In addition to a new look and feel and enhanced features, we have added several thousand new electronic documents.

· Scanning: Through a partnership with the UMass Boston libraries and the Boston Library Consortium, the library has scanned the Acts and Resolves from 1692 to present, the Reports of the Attorney General (1832 to present) and several other series. These digital objects will be added to our electronic repository and are currently available on our website.

· Electronic Journals List: Through our affiliation with our library network, we are now able to provide an A to Z list of electronic journals available through the library’s subscriptions (some require a State Library of Massachusetts card for access).



We've said it before, and we'll say it again: in this economic environment, we are going to have to be increasingly committed to advocating for the things we believe in. What you do next is up to you.