Tapestry

Artist: Helena Hernmarck, Ridgefield, CT

Title: Open Door, Open Book

Size: 8 feet wide and 16 feet long

Materials: 25%linen, 75%wool, weighing about 60 pounds

Description: Hand woven the artist used over 600 colors in the design, which depicts an open book with a vista. She intends it to convey a double meaning-the library opens its doors to anyone who wants to learn, and one is drawn in by the hint of interesting things inside. Also, the book bindings are opened and one can glimpse through the back of the book and the widening of the horizons that education fosters in a person.

Location: This piece hangs on a two-story high blue tiled wall just inside the main entrance on the second level of the new library.

Stained Glass Window

Artist: David Wilson, South New Berlin, N.Y.

Size: 4 feet wide and 22 feet long

Materials: Leaded glass with aluminum subframe

Description: This stained glass window is made of durable leaded glass which includes "antique" hand blown transparent and opaque colors, clear bevels, dichroic, and mirror coatings. The artist felt that because the window faces north and getting no direct sunlight, and because there is a lot of surface light from the western exposure, he would use light colors, with prismatic and reflective elements so that the work will mysteriously respond to all kinds of changing light. The design itself has a "technical" and geometric quality which is compatible with a highly advanced and computerized library.

Location: Northern window in the Community/Conference Room, level 2

Sunbench

Artist: Clyde Lynds, Wallington, NJ

Title: Sunbench

Size: 4 feet high, 10 feet long

Materials: 7" thick, steel rod reinforced, cast and carved concrete. Surface lighting of the concrete will employ optical fiber imbedments.

Description: Deeply engraved on the front of the bench are Daniel Webster's words, "Knowledge is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power are scattered in all its beams." The scale Webster invoked in these words embodies the infinite possibility contained in a library, the artist feels. At night and on darker days, fiber optics, in constantly moving and changing programs, appear on the back of the bench. One display, says the artist, illustrates the minute particles and beginnings of life from the micro world while another portrays the macrocosm represented by a night sky. He says further that "together the two displays symbolize the vast, all- encompassing sum of knowledge available to and from the library building." Fiber optics are used to suggest a forward looking technologically oriented facility while the traditional form of a stone bench acts as a counterpoint to the technology of communicating with light and re-establishes the historical significance of the library.

Location: Centered in the wide walkway leading to the front entrance of the library.

Sculpture

Artist: Agnes Nyanhongo, Zimbabwe

Title: The Rain Ceremony

Material: Green Spring Stone

Description:This beautiful sculpture depicts a group of women joyously looking to the sky as the rain is pouring down. They let the rain wet their faces and long hair with utter abandonment and bliss.

Location: 2nd floor, Periodicals Room

Sculpture

Artist: Professor Claudia Widdiss, ECSU

Title: Alexander "Sandy" Taylor

Material: Bronze

Description: Sandy Taylor, renowned poet and professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, founded with Judith A. Doyle Curbstone Press in 1975. Dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice, Curbstone Press became one of the major literary small presses in the United states.

Location: 3rd floor

Sculpture

Artist: Joe Del Pra

Title: Hero Boy

Material: Aluminum and steel

Location: 2nd floor

And More......