Architectural Sculpture Safari Through Yale University with Mathew Duman

Saturday, May 4th at 11 a.m. (Registration is required. Limit 20 people.)
Join photographer and author Mathew Duman for a lecture (April 25th) and then a tour of Yale University in New Haven. Yale is an extraordinary place where you can observe gargoyles in their natural habitat! On this trek, Matt points out many of the grotesques & gargoyles that originally inspired him to explore the campus and to write his book: Those who have never been will find a visit to Yale’s campus (60 – 90-minute tour) to be a fascinating combination of academics, history, art and architecture. Those who are familiar with the campus will find that there are still many discoveries yet to be made because many of these sculptures still go unnoticed by even the most dedicated Yalie. Either way, searching out these works of art can be almost as much fun as appreciating them. Binoculars recommended!

This event is free and open to the public.

Film Screening: Wings of Life

Thursday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m.
“Wings of Life” – a stunning adventure full of intrigue, drama and mesmerizing beauty. Narrated by Meryl Streep, this intimate and unprecedented look at butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, bats and flowers is a celebration of life, as a third of the world’s food supply depends on these incredible – and increasingly threatened – creatures.

This film screening is free and open to the public.

Celtic Music & Stories With Jeff Snow

Tuesday, March 12th at 7 p.m.

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, singer and guitarist Jeff Snow will put on a concert of Celtic music. Jeff’s concert will include songs and stories from Scotland, England and Ireland. He’ll play vibrant arrangements of traditional classics along with his own compositions on six and twelve-string guitars, autoharp, Celtic Bouzouki and Bodhran. Jeff’s concerts always delight their listeners who are welcome to clap and sing along.

Author Talk: Connecticut River From The Air with Jerry Roberts & Tom Walsh

Thursday, February 28th at 7 p.m.

Connecticut River From the Air chronicles the 410-mile course of New England’s greatest river as it flows from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound.  Hundreds of stunning aerial photographs with dynamic captions and narrative present the history and natural splendor of this extraordinary waterway. Beauty and wonder can be found in historic canals and bridges as well as twists and bends in the River, ship wrecks, rock formations, and even sand patterns on the River bottom. From naturally formed ox-bows to cornfield mazes, hidden valleys, quaint villages, industrial cities and sweeping vistas, these wonders of the River are the true treasures of this amazing waterway and its surrounding landscapes. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Author, historian, Jerry Roberts has spent his career digging up the past, discovering history’s untold stories and bringing them to the public through books, documentaries and exhibits. He has served as executive director for several major museums in New York and New England. He likes to say that history is the best reality show ever produced.

Pilot, photographer, Tom Walsh is a senior captain for a major US airline. When not flying across oceans at six miles high, he pilots his own small aircraft, low and slow, chronicling coastlines, rivers, small towns and big cities for a variety of clients through his own company, Shoreline Aerial Photography.

Bald Eagles In Connecticut

Image courtesy of Paul J Fusco

Saturday, February 23rd at 2 p.m.

Did you know bald eagles usually mate for life? Did you also know that the female bald eagle is larger than the male, or that bald eagles hold the record for the largest nest? Please join us at the Essex Library for an illustrated lecture on bald eagles by Richard Taylor, Master Wildlife Conservationist from the CT DEEP Wildlife Team. The presentation will include the history, range, habitat, diet, nesting, breeding and recovery of bald eagles in Connecticut.

Richard Taylor is a retired Human Resources executive who formerly worked for General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation.  Richard has had an interest in wildlife and fisheries his entire life and since his retirement, he completed Connecticut’s Master Wildlife Conservationist program and is now active volunteering and presenting programs on wildlife to libraries and non-profit organizations. He has a passion for education and continuous learning and has served as a Chief Learning Officer, a member of the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship and Rhode Island Vocational Council and has degrees and certifications from SCSU, RPI and Cornell.

This illustrated lecture is FREE and open to the public. For more information on our programs, see our Adults’ Featured Events page here: http://www.youressexlibrary.org/adult-services/adults-featured-events/

 

Film Screening – Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf

Saturday, February 9th at 4 p.m and Wednesday, February 20th at 4 p.m.

For fans of Chicago’s Lurie Garden, New York’s High Line or any of Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf’s other revolutionary garden designs, the Essex Library will screen the new documentary, “Five Seasons” twice in February.  Award-winning filmmaker Thomas Piper captures Oudolf’s “New Perennial” movement designs through the year and immerses viewers in his creative process including the beautiful abstract sketches, theories on beauty and ecological implications of his ideas in this 75-minute film. Viewers will enjoy discussions taking place through all fours seasons in Piet’s own gardens at Hummelo, and on visits to his signature public works in New York, Chicago, and the Netherlands, as well as to the far-flung locations that inspire his genius, including desert wildflowers in West Texas and post-industrial forests in Pennsylvania.

As a narrative thread, the film also follows Oudolf as he designs and installs a major new garden at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, a gallery and arts center in Southwest England, a garden he considers his best work yet. Piet Oudolf has radically redefined what gardens can be. As Rick Darke, the famous botanist, says to Piet in the film, “your work teaches us to see what we have been unable to see.” Through poetic cinematography and unique access, Five Seasons reveals all that Piet sees, and celebrates all that we as viewers have been unable to see.

Many thanks to the Essex Garden Club for their support with these screenings.

Author Talk: Alex Prud’homme with The French Chef In America and France Is A Feast

Saturday, September 29 at 4 p.m.

Alex Prud’homme, Julia Child’s grandnephew, will present an illustrated talk on his two recent books. The French Chef In America: Julia Child’s Second Act, recounts the enchanting story of Julia Child’s years as a TV personality and beloved cookbook author and vividly describes the myriad ways in which she profoundly shaped how we eat today. Child was in her 60’s when she turned away from classical cooking and began to use recipes from around the world. It was then that she began to write in the first person instead of as The French Chef. France Is A Feast documents how Julia Child first discovered French cooking and the French way of life via intimate and compelling photographs taken by her husband Paul Child in France in 1948-1954.

Journalist and non-fiction author Alex Prud’homme began his writing career in 1988 after joining New York magazine as a fact-checker. He wrote many short articles there, and freelanced on the side, producing stories like “Slave,” a New Yorker piece about an irascible soup maven (later made famous by Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi”). In the 1990s he moved to Business Month, where he profiled business leaders, to Time, where he covered national affairs, and to People, where he wrote crime stories. His articles have also appeared in The New York Times and Vanity Fair. He has written books about terrorism, the ImClone scandal, and the environment.

Copies of The French Chef In America and France Is A Feast will be available for purchase and signing. This event is FREE and open to the public. Please call the Essex Library at 860-767-1560 for more information or to register.

Boot Camp For Your Senses: A Lecture By Tovah Martin

Sunday, September 16th at 3 p.m.

Author and gardening expert Tovah Martin tells us our gardens could be so fulfilling, if we plugged in. Created to coincide with the publication of Martin’s latest book, The Garden in Every Sense and Season, this lecture explores the garden on all levels. Learn to garden with eyes wide open, ears to the ground, and hands outstretched. Tailored to the current season to make the experience dynamic, this lecture will lead attendees through an odyssey of exploration to awaken the senses and arouse their abilities of perception. Sharing advice and ideas to deeply enhance the gardening experience while also incorporating a “Smellathon” to help get nostrils in gear, this lecture is beautiful and fun as well as highly practical.

An accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA, Tovah gardens fanatically and organically both indoors and throughout her seven-acre Connecticut garden. People, Places, Plants magazine called her “one of the top 10 most influential educators in gardening” and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored her with its Gold Medal “for extraordinary service to horticulture, especially greenhouses and indoor plants.” Martin has written more than a dozen gardening books and served as garden editor for Victoria Magazine. In addition, her articles appear in a broad range of magazines and periodicals. She is a repeat guest on the CBS Sunday Early Show. She also teaches houseplant cultivation to Master Gardeners and lectures extensively throughout the country.

Copies of The Garden In Every Sense and Season will be available for purchase and signing.

Author Talk: James R. Benn with Solemn Graves

Thursday, September 13th at 7 p.m.

The Essex Library is honored to welcome back James Benn in celebration of the release of his 13th Billy Boyle mystery, Solemn Graves.

In Benn’s latest Billy Boyle WWII mystery, US Army detective Billy Boyle is called to investigate a mysterious murder in a Normandy farmhouse that threatens Allied operations.

July, 1944, a full month after D-Day. Billy, Kaz, and Big Mike are assigned to investigate a murder close to the front lines in Normandy. An American officer has been found dead in a manor house serving as an advance headquarters outside the town of Trévières. Major Jerome was far from his own unit, arrived unexpectedly, and was murdered in the dark of night.

Copies of his books will be available for purchase and signing.

Authors In Conversation: “My Old Man And The Sea: With Christopher Buckley & Sam Tanenhaus

Wednesday, August 15th at 7 p.m. in The Cube at Centerbrook Architects  

Christopher Buckley’s father, an avid sailor, once owned a wooden sloop named Panic. In describing a few of William F. Buckley’s adventures at sea in the memoir “Losing Mum and Pup” he adds that his Mum often commented, “Bill, why are you trying to kill us?” In a special Essex Library event, Christopher Buckley will share details about a lifetime of sailing with his father: on Long Island Sound, across the Atlantic twice and Pacific once. Expect tears, laughter, the whole schmear.

Christopher Buckley is a novelist, essayist, humorist, critic, magazine editor and memoirist. His books include Thank You for Smoking, The Judge Hunter, and The Relic Master. He worked as a merchant seaman and White House speechwriter. He has written for many newspapers and magazines and has lectured in over seventy cities around the world. He was awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor and the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence.  Copies of The Judge Hunter will be available for purchase and signing.

This event is free and open to the public. Please call (860) 767-1560 to register.