Hartford Public Library has organized the first-ever Hartford Bird Week to begin later this month, with events scheduled at library branches and parks across the city meant to inspire both the young and old to explore the growing hobby of birdwatching.
The events in Hartford will be held in conjunction with #BlackBirdersWeek2022 (May 29-June 4), a national effort from the organization @BlackAFinSTEM that began in 2020 to highlight Black nature enthusiasts, increase visibility of Black birders and inspire people to become involved in birding. Hartford Public Library received a $2,500 Celebrate Urban Birds Equity, Birds, and Culture grant from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to support its efforts.
“I love city birds. There is so much we can learn from our winged neighbors, even pigeons, sparrows and geese have fascinating histories. It is hard not to be inspired, or at least smile, when watching the goslings at Keney Park. The adult geese perfectly model how it takes a caring community to raise children, and that we all need support to survive in this world,” said Hartford Public Library Systemwide Teen Services Librarian Victoria Palmatier. “Connecticut has a rich history of birding. One of America’s first formal birdwatching groups began in New Haven, and Roger Tory Peterson of the famed Peterson guidebooks is from Old Lyme! The Hartford Parks are exceptional and accessible and home to a wide array of native and migrant birds/wildlife.
In addition to organizing more than a dozen programs that will be held over the course of four days, Hartford Public Library has compiled a suggested reading list for Hartford Bird Week and has purchased numerous birding guides that will be available for borrowing. Customers can also visit any library location during regular hours to participate in a Connecticut bird scavenger hunt or create a “Vision Bird” art piece.
“Hartford’s birds have a vibrant network of groups and enthusiasts supporting them,” Palmatier said. “The park rangers from the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, Greater Hartford Area Audubon Society, Conte Urban Partnership/Park River Watershed and the folks from the Connecticut-based Facebook group Anti-Racist Collective of Avid Birders were invaluable resources during the learning and planning for this week. The library is a place where community can come to be curious and find connection, so it makes sense for us to throw open the library doors and connect our customers to our parks and wildlife neighbors.”
The full lineup of events for Hartford Bird Week is as follows. For more information call 860-695-7439 or email vpalmatier@hplct.org.
May 31
Tweet Tweet! Sing Like A Bird
Albany Library, 10 a.m.
Join Selina at Albany for a bird story time and craft.
Birdémon Arceus! Nature Walk
Bushnell Park Performance Pavilion, 11 a.m.
Join Victoria and expert New England birder John Green on a nature walk, and hear John’s bird sounds.
Birds in the Garden!
Albany Library and Barbour Library, 3 p.m.
Decorate a potted plant and learn how to attract birds to your home.
Birdémon GO!
YOUmedia, Downtown Library, 2 p.m.
Join Mr. Marc from YOUmedia for a bird-themed augmented reality scavenger hunt.
June 1
Beautiful Bushnell Birds
Bushnell Park Playground, 2 p.m.
Join Miss Katherine for birdwatching in Bushnell Park. Can you find New England’s blue flamingo, the heron?
Birdémon Snap! Bird Photography and Lunch
Keney Park Pondhouse, 2 p.m.
Learn how to shoot nature photography with local photography expert Frederica Gray, and enjoy a lunch with librarians. RSVP at 860-695-7439.
Hummingbirds in Hartford
Barbour Library, 2 p.m.
Join Irene for a poem and craft! Take home a potted plant to attract hummingbirds. RSVP: 860-695-7401.
Birdémon GO!
Barbour Library, 2 p.m.
Join Mr. Marc from YOUmedia for a bird-themed augmented reality scavenger hunt.
June 2
Blessed Nests
Albany Library, 3:30 p.m.
Learn about nests from Sydnee Foster from the Roaring Brook Nature Center, and make your own birdhouse for Albany’s neighborhood nest!
June 3
Tweet Tweet! Sing Like A Bird
Albany Library, 10 a.m.
Join Selina at Albany for a bird story time and craft.
Baby Birds at the Library
Downtown Library, 3rd Floor, 11 a.m.
Tweet tweet baby birds! Join Miss Lina for a baby bird story time and craft.
Fowl Play: Pope Park Scavenger Hunt
Putnam Street Playground at Pope Park North, 11 a.m.
Join Miss Nancy and community nature leaders for a bilingual (Spanish) nature walk and native Connecticut bird scavenger hunt.
By Tricia Haggerty Wenz
Megyn Craine is an interdisciplinary artist who sees art making as a process of discovery. Her work is a reflection of how she interprets the world around her. It encourages us to look a little deeper, to question the way we understand our own world and its meanings for us.
Her exhibition, “Artifact,” opens on the ArtWalk at Hartford Public Library with a reception on Friday, May 13th, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The pieces will be on display through June 25th. Megyn will hold a conceptual collage workshop on May 21st from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. To register, click here.
The following interview was edited for length and clarity.
Were you an artist since birth?
I was always creative as a kid. While at 17 I wasn’t sure what I wanted for the rest of my life, I did decide to go to art school at the Hartford Art School. I was a student of the Experimental Studio department. Without having to focus on any particular medium, we were encouraged to try anything. I learned welding, photography, painting, performance art and more. I wanted to learn every medium and push every boundary I could. I transferred to the San Francisco Art Institute New Genres department where I got my degree.
After I graduated, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I knew what I like to do — which is be creative and help to inspire more creativity in others.
‘Two Piece Set’ by Megyn Craine.
Perhaps because of that uncertainty you have done a million other things. And still do. Can you list a few?
Horse wrangler, bakery owner, waitress, fine art auctioneer, pastry chef, nanny and now I am in grad school for marriage and family therapy.
But at the same time, you were always an artist.
Always an artist. I was always making art. But I did not want to pursue making a living at it so it never occurred to me to show my work.
And yet here you are.
Yes, my husband Rafael Osés is also an artist. We actually met at Hartford Art School. He had an ArtWalk show a few years back and encouraged me to apply.
Is this your first exhibit?
While I have shown pieces here and there this is my first solo show.
Wow.
Yes, it feels pretty good.
What was the process like, getting this show together?
Looking though my work. the word “artifact” kept coming back to me. This exhibit is made up of things I’ve collected — the artifacts of my life.
The title piece of artist Megyn Craine’s “Artifact” exhibition.
I am fascinated by the title piece.
My title piece was created during the early days of the pandemic. The piece began with a number of old family quilts that I transformed it into art work. Beginning April 1, 2020, and every single day for the next two months, I would collect an artifact from that day’s experience and document it by writing something about it, stitching it into the quilt and sealing it in the moment, so I no longer know what was written on them. During the exhibit people are invited to take an artifact from the piece if they would like.
That is so cool.
Yes, I wanted my show to be an interactive experience for the viewer. During the entire length of the exhibit, I will have a bowl of tools available for anyone to add any artifacts they want to the piece. Artifacts are so interesting — things that we grow up with that we could have been easily tossed away now have value some other way. How we or others determine the value of something is so fascinating to me.
What a gift you are giving to the viewer.
For me the viewer is just as important to the artwork as the maker. The idea of having something interactive in the show feels so important to me. This work has been packed up in my house for a while and now by sharing it with others my art will take on a whole new meaning. I am excited about this collaboration and the opportunity to experience my work while others are experiencing it as well.
Lina Osho-Williams, center, accepts the Faith Hektoen Award at the Connecticut Library Associations annual conference in Hartford last week. Standing with her, from left to right, are HPL Director of Public Services Marie Jarry, former HPL Assistant Director of Youth and Family Services Denise Martens, HPL Branch Services Coordinator Bonnie Solberg and HPL children’s librarian Linda Montanez.
Hartford Public Library Youth and Family Services Manager Lina Osho-Williams has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Connecticut Library Association’s Faith Hektoen Award for her work serving children.
Osho-Williams, who received the award at the CLA’s annual conference in Hartford last week, has worked at HPL for 17 years and can often be found leading story times and other activities in the children’s room at the Downtown Library.
“My passion is with teaching the little ones,” says Osho-Williams. “There is something just precious about working with the little ones. I love the continuum — working with them as small children and then seeing them grow and come back as adults, seeing their beautiful potential being realized.”
Born in Sierra Leone, Osho-Williams left the country in 1997 in the midst of civil war and settled in Gambia for two years before arriving in the U.S. and eventually Hartford in 1999. Prior to working at Hartford Public Library Osho-Williams taught preschool in the early childhood education department with the Community Renewal Team.
The Faith Hekteon Award is presently annually to recognize the efforts of an individual or group that has made an impact on library services to children in Connecticut at the local, regional or state level. Developed in 1979, the award is named for Faith Hektoen, who served as a consultant for children’s services at the Connecticut State Library for more than 20 years. Osho-Williams was nominated for the award by a fellow children’s librarian at HPL.