Beflast Free Library

Open Poetry Reading and Reception for Painter and Poets
2019-04-02 17:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Abbott Room
April is National Poetry Month and the Belfast Free Library is celebrating with an exhibit and an open reading. The creative work of Marjorie Arnett and twenty-seven poets come together in an Ekphrastic Exhibition, “Painter & Poets” to be held in the Kramer Gallery of the Belfast Free Library for the month.
Belfast artist, Marjorie Arnett, asked poets to select one of her colorful paintings and write a poem interpreting the work through vivid, often dramatic, verbal descriptions. The term ekphrastic refers to a form of writing, mostly poetry, wherein the author describes another work of art, usually visual.
There will be an opening reception on Tuesday April 2 from 5-6pm, just prior to the “Open Poetry Reading” which will take place in the Abbott Room at 6:30. Sign up for the reading begins at 6:00, Belfast’s new Poet Laureate, Arielle Greenberg, will start the evening of poetry, so come early and enjoy the exhibit and the reading!
For more information please call the library at 338-3884 ext. 10.

Marry Poppins Book Group at Troy Howard Middle School
2019-03-29 18:30 - 19:30
This book group for kids and families is offered in coordination with Troy Howard Drama Club’s production of Mary Poppins this month. Copies of the original Mary Poppins book are available to borrow at the Belfast Free Library children’s floor desk. We will meet on Monday, March 25 at 6:30 to talk about the book. Those who wish to can see the performance with a group organized by the library at Troy Howard Middle School on Friday, March 29 at 7:00. Families are asked to RSVP for these as well.

Meets at Belfast library on March 25
Meets at Troy Howard Middle School on March 29

Film: I Know a Man ... Ashley Bryan with filmmaker Richard Kane
2019-03-27 18:00 - 20:00
Filmmaker Richard Kane presents I Know a Man … Ashley Bryan. Join the Belfast Free Library for a film screening and a conversation with the director.
I Know a Man … Ashley Bryan is said by some to be an antidote to the hatred, racism and division that our country is experiencing. The film is about this 95-year-old creative wonder who skips and jumps in his heart like a child. Born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Ashley’s talent was nurtured by artist Romare Bearden. Ashley was drafted out of Cooper Union into the segregated US army at age 19. He served in an all-Black battalion during World War II and preserved his humanity by drawing, stowing supplies in his gas mask. Ashley now lives on the remote Cranberry Islands, Maine, and has been using art his entire life to celebrate joy, mediate the darkness of war and racism, explore the mysteries of faith, and create loving community. He is a poet/illustrator of over 50 published children’s books, and makes magical puppets and sea glass windows from found objects inspired by his African heritage. The film explores his world from the time his father “was given the mop and the broom”, (a reference to Gordon Parks photograph, American Gothic). He quotes Marian Anderson admonishing “to keep another down you have to hold them down, and therefore cannot … soar to the potential within you.” He spreads beauty through his linocut prints exhorting “Let My People Go”. His life story and the art he makes from this wellspring of experience is an inspiration to people of all ages.

Richard Kane bio:
Richard is an independent film director whose work is focused on the intersection of art and contemporary American life. He is currently raising funds for his next film ROBERT SHETTERLY: An American Who Tells the Truth. Previous film releases include, J. Fred Woell: An American Vision, I Know a Man … Ashley Bryan, Imber’s Left Hand, and 15 others, all part of the Maine Masters collection, a New England Emmy-nominated series of portraits that airs on public television. With partner Melody Lewis-Kane, their company, Kane-Lewis Productions, has worked for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the White House Office of Technology Policy among many others. Kane-Lewis produced the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s 50th anniversary film Protecting the Nature of Maine, an indie doc ROCK SOLID: The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium and the classic award-winning documentary M.C. Richards: The Fire Within. From 2007-2016 Richard served as chair of the Maine Film & Video Association.

Belfast Garden Club Evening Lecture Series
2019-03-26 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Farming with Wildlife in Mind
The final winter program jointly sponsored by Belfast Garden Club and Belfast Free Library is a talk by John H. Twomey, a Montville farmer who began growing vegetables, fruits, chickens and brook trout after working 37 years as a professor.
Twomey, an avid naturalist and the author of a recent book, “Retiring to, Not from: From Massachusetts Professor to Maine Farmer,” will present a slide talk describing the farm life he shares with his partner and the work he does in fields, woods and scrubby areas to promote wildlife habitat. The farm operates off-grid on solar power and the couple produces all of their own firewood and most of their own food.

Marry Poppins Book Group
2019-03-25 18:30 - 19:30

Teen Yoga
2019-03-21 16:30 - 17:30 | Abbott Room
Come enjoy yoga with instructor Sara BrandNew! Relieve stress, increase flexibility, improve mood and make friends. Free and open to all ages 11-17.

Personal Archiving: Organizing and Caring for Your Stuff
2019-03-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Abbott Room
For this meeting of the Wawenoc Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society, Reference & Special Collections Librarian Sharon Pietryka will explain some of the basics of arranging, describing, and storing family history materials so future generations can know what and where they are. Listeners will hopefully take what they have learned and apply it to their own collections.

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome! Light refreshments will be served.

POSTPONED TONIGHT The Come Boating! Winter Adventure Series
2019-03-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Due to illness tonight’s program is postponed. We will re-schedule in April or May.
The Winter Adventure Series continues with a screening of rare film footage from the 1940 National Whitewater Championships. The talk, co-sponsored by Come Boating! Belfast’s Community Boating Organization and the Belfast Free Library is free and open to all
Maine canoeist Zip Kellogg will present the film featuring the First National Whitewater Canoe and Kayak Championships held here in Maine in 1940 on the legendary Rapid River. The film was missing for about 70 years and Zip found it down the road at the Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport. Zip puts the race in the context of its time using some informative and hilarious notes and letters he has turned up. This is an action packed film in which not everyone went home after the race with the same boat – if they took a boat at all!

Maine Mycological Society Presentation
2019-03-17 11:00 - 13:30 | Abbott Room
David Porter
Mushroom Microscopy

When we use a 10x hand lens in the field, we are able to see details of the surfaces of mushrooms that might not otherwise be clear to our unaided eyes – surface scales and hairs, spore producing tissue, etc. But in the laboratory, with a compound microscope and an increased resolution of 1000 times that of the unaided eye, the intricate magnified world is truly astonishing. The details of mushroom spores and their exotic surface ornamentations, the remarkable development of filamentous mushroom tissue which creates the structure of stalk, cap and gills, the intricate cystidial structures that can be important in species determinations (but of unknown function), as well as many other hidden anatomical features expand our appreciation of the beauty of mushrooms and their place in the natural world.

Teen Movie Matinee- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (PG-13)
2019-03-15 15:00 - 17:30 | Abbott Room

Creating Family Memory Books
2019-03-12 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
This is part one of a three part series on Creating Family Memory Books
Presented by John Elberfeld and Jane McLean
In this overview session we’ll cover how to gather and sort photos and documents; research information and write text; research types of memory books; put a memory book together; distribute book. We’ll show examples of memory books, low-tech to high-tech.
The next session will be on Tuesday April 9th where we will learn about writing the captions and text and putting it all together. In part three (date: TBD) we will use an online program to create the books.
John Elberfeld and Jane McLean, husband-and-wife team, live in Belfast, retired teachers, training and experience in archival techniques, exhibit fabrication, genealogy, historical writing, desktop publishing, and creating memory books.

Wildlife Track and Sign Talk with Sandra Mitchell
2019-03-05 18:30 - 20:00
THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE TUESDAY MARCH 5TH, 6:30
Friends of Sears Island and the Belfast Free Library will co-sponsor a presentation titled “Learning to Read Tracks, and Using Them to Enter the Secret Lives of Wild Animals” by Sandra Mitchell on Monday, March 4th at 6:30pm at the Belfast Free Library. Sandra will discuss most of the major species of wildlife people can expect to see in their yards and the woods of Maine. This includes not only tracks, but the signs associated with animals and their travels, such as browse, scat, dens, burrows, nests, and more. This promises to be a great introduction to what the beginning naturalist should know about the critters in their environment! Sandra Mitchell is a Registered Maine Guide and an avid amateur naturalist. She is a Certified CyberTracker, and enjoys investigating natural mysteries. Her website is https://www.wildlynxnature.com/.
This event will take place in the Abbott Room at the Belfast Free Library and is free and open to the public. For more information, please call the library at 207-338-3884, ext.10. To learn more about Friends of Sears Island visit www.friendsofsearsisland.org.

Cartooning Club
2019-03-05 16:00 - 17:00
Belfast Free Library Cartooning Club with graphic artist James Quigley, every Tuesday 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Participants will explore drawing techniques and exercises to develop the imagination. Projects may include comic strips, autobiographical illustration, transforming stories to sequential art, and more. All ages and skill levels are welcome and encouraged. Drawing materials will be provided.
James Quigley is a graphic artist, illustrator, and cartoonist residing in Appleton, ME. His work has appeared in the form of skateboard graphics, comic books and comic strips, animation, rock posters, and shirt graphics.
All library programs are free and open to the public. For more information call 207-338-3884 ext. 24.

Stay & Play Time for Babies & Toddlers
2019-03-05 10:00 - 11:00 | Children’s Floor
Weekly short, interactive playtime especially for babies and toddlers with their caregivers. Time for play and exploration on the children’s floor. And time for kids and caregivers to get to know one another. Tips about great books, songs, and games for this age group. Midcoast Music Together sessions once per month.

Children and Teen Game Day
2019-03-01 15:00 - 17:30 | Third Floor
Fifteen new games to play! All ages under 18 are welcome. Come stop by to this free event!
