True Crime Series Continues with Dr. Allison Paganelli: The Making Of A Serial Killer
March 28, 2012
Dexter, Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates; they entertain and terrify us in equal degrees. But how much do these fictional human monsters have in common with real serial killers? Is there a common psychological “fingerprint”? And serial killers made or born?
Dr. Allison Paganelli, a specialist in Abnormal Psychology, will talk about the traits that are characteristic to that most feared class of criminal; what science knows, and doesn’t know, about serial killers. Please note, this program is not suitable for children. Thursday, March 29th, 7 p.m. at the Essex Town Hall. Please call 860 767-1560 to register.
The Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series Continues With Landscape Designer Louis Raymond
March 6, 2012
Louis Raymond at home in the Red Border
“Plays well with Plants: A Gardener’s Garden of a Lifetime, Fifteen Years & Counting”
Friday, March 23rd, at 7 p.m. in the Essex Town Hall
Louis Raymond is a garden and landscape designer with clients nationwide; his own riotous garden in Hopkinton, Rhode Island will be the subject of an upcoming book. His exuberant designs have been widely published, including in House & Garden Magazine (on the cover), Metropolitan Home, and Design New England. In “Plays Well With Plants,” he’ll talk candidly about his garden’s successes and failures, and how his design philosophy has guided its creation. Overall, he is pleased with the fruits of his own labor: “So far, so good: The red borders actually do look red, sometimes triumphantly. The Belgian fence – of beeches, not fruit trees – is filling out its frame. Two of the pergolas are built and largely canopied. The double-ball topiary of hardy orange is the biggest and baddest on the continent. The Southern magnolias, so rare this far north, are almost as high as the roof.”
Raymond has been gardening for over 50 years, ever since, as a pre-schooler, he “borrowed” a number of geraniums from public gardens across the street from the family home. While he has always had a fondness for plants and gardening, Raymond took the scenic route to his current vocation. By the time he was 25, he had already earned baccalaureate degrees in chemistry, piano, and voice – and still found time for a couple of years of medical school along the way – before launching successful careers as an opera singer and a freelance writer. By 30, he had retired from both to take up the trowel fulltime. Click here to register for this program.
Click here to see the schedule of Centerbrook talks for 2012.
Many of the Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series talks for 2010-2011 can be viewed on YouTube. Links to the films are on our Lecture page here.
Diamonds and Purls–New Knitting Group Draws A Crowd
February 17, 2012
Admit it – you’re a knitter, or you want to be. But what fun is it to knit all alone? And who’ll show you new patterns, knitting books or share ideas? Join our new knitting group, Diamonds and Purls, meeting every Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. If you’ve never knitted, Librarian Anna Cierocki will show you how; just bring a set of size 10 needles and we’ll even supply the yarn. If you’re an experienced knitter, bring whatever you’re working on. It’s a sociable and productive way to spend an afternoon.
We’ve got some wonderful knitting books available including:
The Principles Of Knitting by June Hiatt
A revised and updated edition of a popular classic primer shares comprehensive guidelines for beginning and experienced knitters that demonstrate how to approach a full range of techniques.
Knits Men Want by Bruce Weinstein
For as long as women have been knitting, they’ve been knitting garments for men-only to have men hide their lovingly created pieces in drawers and closets. There are timeless master patterns, from socks, hats, and scarves to an array of sweaters, all in a range of sizes and most written for multiple gauges.
Knitting In The Details by Louisa Harding
The 24 projects in Knitting in the Details showcase small, quick-to-knit patterns in Louisa’s romantic, feminine, and cherished signature style, from a beret with ribbon embroidery or a beaded scarf to a simple knitted vest with eyelets or a tank top with appliqué hearts.
400 Knitting Stitches
Filled with detailed, step-by-step instructions, charts, and photographs, this book covers nearly any fiber style you’re looking to create.
Gifted: lovely little things to knit & crochet by Mags Kandis
Designer Mags Kandis inspires with this delightful collection of beautiful and colorful little projects for you to knit, crochet, and felt. From wearable accessories such as hats, mittens, scarves, socks, and wraps to home decor including a tea cozy, pin cushion, needle case, and laptop cover, these 30+ pieces are sweet, lively and add a little joy to every household.
More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
A collection of thirty knitted patterns that can be completed in a minimum of time features instructions for creating such classic gifts as mittens and hats, as well as newer ideas including a seed-stitch bracelet and pyramid-shaped sachets.
Witnesses To History, Veteran’s Day Program
October 31, 2011
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Ben Cooper was a young combat medic with the 45th Infantry Division in WWII when he was sent to Germany to be an official witness at the Dachau Concentration Camp, an experience he never spoke of until 1990. He broke his decades-long silence, he explains, to help today’s youth understand the reality of war, and to bear witness to what he saw of the Holocaust so that it might never be repeated. Henny Simon, a German Jew, experienced the horrors of the Ghetto and the death camps from the opposite side; as an internee and survivor. Today, the two are friends, and speak together on this compelling, ever-relevant topic. The Essex Library is proud to present the fourth in its Witnesses To History series of programs on Veteran’s Day, Friday November 11th at 3 p.m., at Essex Town Hall, with Ben Cooper and Henny Simon.
Please don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear history, as told by those who were there to see and live it. This is a program you will never forget. Call the Essex Library to register, or for more information, at 860-767-1560. The Essex Town Hall is located at 29 West Avenue in Essex.
Connecticut Ghostbusters Appear Tonight
October 28, 2011
October 28th at 7 p.m. at the Essex Library
Got a haunted house – or just like to hear about them? Join Connecticut Paranormal Research Society “Ghostbusters” Joe Franke and Orlando Ferrante for a special program that reveals Connecticut’s Most Haunted – homes, cemeteries, and more – via photo, film evidence, and eyewitness accounts. Scary good fun (not for kids under age ten – sorry)! A donation of $5 per person is requested to defray program costs. Click here to register for this program.
Irish Music At The Essex ‘Go Bragh’ Library
March 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 15th at 7 p.m.
It’s an early St. Patrick’s Day treat when Irish troubadour Tom O’Carroll returns to the Essex Library for an evening of music and folklore.
November’s Adult Programs At The Essex Library
November 1, 2010
If you want to learn something in November, then get yourself over to the Library for any one, or all, of our adult programs. Come learn about wines perfect for holiday celebrations, hear the stories of war veterans that will leave you in awe of their contribution to keeping us free, listen to opera that will keep your ears spellbound, watch a sugar plum fairy put a sparkle in your eye, listen to poetry that will rend and mend your heart and learn skills to help you go from amateur to pro photographer. And for an evening of extraordinary exuberance, come listen to the man who discovered DNA’s double helix– Nobel Laureate Jim Watson will discuss architecture designed to create a space for learning with Centerbrook Partner Emeritus Bill Grover, FAIA.
See the Library website for details.
New York Times Reporter Kate Zernike and Boiling Mad
October 7, 2010
Get An Up-Close View Of The Grass Roots Political Movement That’s Rocking The Establishment This Election Year, With New York Times Reporter Kate Zernike on Thursday, Oct. 7th at 7 p.m at the Essex Library.
Kate Zernike presents her new book Boiling Mad; Inside Tea Party America. Who are the people of the Tea Party revolution? How are they flexing unexpected political muscle in the choice of candidates, and how will it impact the coming elections? We’re delighted to welcome Kate Zernike, who’s been covering this story for the Times since the Tea Party first appeared, and who’ll be talking about her first-hand observations of this potent political phenomenon. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Beverly Willis Self Portrait
We’re looking forward to a group of very exciting speakers this year. We’re kicking it off with Beverly Willis, FAIA on Friday, October 15th at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Essex Meadows, 30 Bokum Road, Essex. Willis is President of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation which she founded in 2002, following a 50-year career in architectural and design practice, beginning as a multi-media artist. Among the award-winning architecture projects in her extensive portfolio are the Union Street Stores (1965), the Margaret Hayward Park Building (1978), and the San Francisco Ballet Building (1983). She holds a fine arts degree from the University of Hawaii and an honorary doctorate from Mt. Holyoke College. Her art has been exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Honolulu Academy of Art. She authored Invisible Images—The Silent Language of Architecture, published in 1997 by the National Building Museum. Ms. Willis’ Foundation promotes research and public understanding of women’s contributions to the fields of architectural and environmental engineering, landscape design, the building arts, urban planning and historic preservation, as well as architectural history and criticism.
Her talk will include a showing of the 15-minute film “A Girl Is A Fellow Here” ~ 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. At a time when few architectural firms would hire women, Frank Lloyd Wright unhesitatingly employed women, giving them both training and the opportunity to practice. Ultimately, over 100 women architects and designers worked with Wright, many of them going on to remarkable careers of their own. In his studio in Oak Park and at both Taliesin Fellowships, Wright trained and practiced with women as draftsmen, designers, and fellow visionaries. ”A Girl Is A Fellow Here”: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright focuses on six of those women – Marion Mahony, Isabel Roberts, Lois Gottlieb, Jane Duncombe, Eleanore Pettersen, and Read Weber. Through their work and their own words, they reveal what they gleaned from Wright and where they departed from his model. Who they were, how they came to architecture, what they learned from The Master, and where their careers ultimately took them emerge from filmed and audio interviews…and their own architecture. Under Wright’s guidance, from Oak Park to the Arizona Taliesin, they learned their craft and honed their ideas; they split wood and laid shingles; they dreamed and drew and designed. After they left Wright’s studio, they created thousands of projects across the country. Houses and hospitals, churches and libraries, theaters and wineries: from California to Florida, their architecture endures. They are Frank Lloyd Wright’s unknown legacy, and their practice forms a legacy for all women working in architecture today.
Photos of Taliesin West; Credit: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Don’t miss the final lecture in the 2009/2010 Centerbrook Architect’s Lecture Series on Friday, June 4th at 7 p.m. when Centerbrook principal Charles Mueller will present “A Medieval City In Modern Times: a photographic study of Schaffhausen, Switzerland”
Charles Mueller received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1983 and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1984 from the Rhode Island School of Design. He joined Centerbrook Architects and Planners in 1984 and was named a principal in the firm in 2002. Mr. Mueller is experienced in residential, educational, and museum projects throughout the eastern United States. These include facilities for Quinnipiac University, Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk, Connecticut, the First Congregational Church in Battle Creek, Michigan, and the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida.
