Ray Brown, "Talkin' Birds" Radio Host and NPR "Weekend Edition" Contributor, Will Present a Slide Show about Bird Migration, Thursday, September 22, at 6:30 PM, to accompany a Local/Focus Window

Poster design by Mary Owens

Next Thursday, September 22, at 6:30 PM, the South End branch will be open to host a remarkable slide show by Talkin' Birds show host, Ray Brown, whose illuminating bird commentary is a regular feature on NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon on Saturday mornings. Brown, who also is a radio host on the classical music station WCRB and a well-known WGBH-TV and radio fundraiser, is a longtime South End resident. In The Magic of Migration, he will answer what he imagines may be among your birding questions: Why do birds migrate? How do they decide when — and where — to go? How do they find their way? And, is it true that one bird species has been known to fly more than 7,000 miles…non-stop? Brown will also address the many threats to birds, both during migration and on their breeding and wintering grounds, and what we can all do to help birds survive.

Urban birding display with nests made by birds and by students at the Children's Art Centre

The bird-migration slide show accompanies the Urban Birding exhibit currently on display in the Tremont Street window of the South End library, a collaboration between USES's  Children's Arts Centre on Rutland Street and Mass. Audubon's Boston Nature Center (BNC). The latest Local Focus project is the fifth one sponsored by FOSEL to showcase local artists, creative entrepreneurs and non-profits in the library's prominent window spaces. For the September exhibit, students in the CAC Vacation Arts program visited the Mattapan bird sanctuary on the former grounds of Boston State Hospital, and studied birds and the ways in which they build and maintain their nests. Inspired by their visit, the children made their own nests from natural and studio materials. Their creations, as well as nests made by actual, birds are featured in the library window.

The event is free. We serve refreshments. Seating is limited. The South End library is fully handicapped accessible. 

Mass Audubon is generously offering reduced-rate annual memberships to the South End library's patrons, which provides free access to all Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuaries and a variety of other discounts. Membership forms are available at the library.

A New Window Display Showcasing the Image of the Book in Ceramics and Folded Art Will Be Installed This Week in the Library's Tremont Street Window as Part of its "Local Focus" Initiative (Copy)

Lori Pease's earthenware book tile

Since a board member of the Friends of the South End Library discovered the potential of the South End library's beautiful large windows as a community exhibit space earlier this year, the branch has showcased a range of displays.  Coming up next is a dual display in the Tremont Street window of the image of the book itself, one by a local ceramicist who used to work in publishing; the other, the town librarian of a small public library in New Hampshire who wanted to do something more creative with the to-be-discarded books, and learned how to fold them into paper sculptures. (The local connection is that a FOSEL board member also volunteers at the NH library.)

New Hampshire librarian Veronica Mueller's folded books

Ceramic books for artful decoration, by Lori Pease

Lori Pease was for many years the design director for a local literary publishing house, Zoland Books, but has since worked with the image of the book in clay, using the book's texture, form and color as her inspiration. Pease's clay books can be hung on the wall, used as coasters or book ends, or arranged in decorative groupings. Veronica Mueller, the town librarian in Warren, NH, began to practice folding books after a seeing a picture of it on the Internet. She has given classes to adults and children, and folds books upon requests for special occasions. They make unique gifts for friends and family who want names or messages folded into the books, she explains. "The only tools required are old books without value, a pencil, a ruler, graph paper, and depending upon the design, a bone folder. There is no cutting or gluing involved," she says.

The Local Focus initiative was formerly called Window Take-over. It is meant to use the library windows as a showcase for local artists, non-profits and entrepreneurs and has to be compatible with the library's mission to serve and inform the community. All inquiries are welcome and should be directed to Anne Smart, head librarian of the branch.

The Friends of the South End Library are finalizing simple guidelines, which will be available at the library as soon as they are completed. Price lists of any items for sale are at the circulation desk. Thirty percent of Lori Pease's ceramics will be rebated to the South End library to support its programs.