The following article was written by Therese Horstketter, Adult Services Associate at the Manitowoc Public Library.
Manitowoc will soon be home to many unique presences—more than usual even! Aliens in the air and amazing—and possibly Out of This World—artwork being created in-person and also available in print form. Manitowoc will once again be hosting Sputnikfest at Rahr-West Art Museum, accompanied by Art Slam, organized by Lakeshore Artists Guild.
All this fun takes place on Saturday, September 10, at the Rahr-West.
To accompany and celebrate our community’s love of artistic expression, Manitowoc Public Library will be offering a huge number of Art Books for sale during a good chunk of September.
Some are collector’s informational copies, some are how-to books, and others are publications filled with beautiful reproduction prints—many of which are nice enough to individually remove, frame, and display as a piece of art in your home. We also have a few art-focused encyclopedia sets that have broad appeal for a wide range of artistic tastes.
We never would have been able to offer such interesting volumes of art if MPL hadn’t been fortunate to have large donations of print materials from a local artist and from the Rahr-West, for which we’re extremely grateful.
Therese Horstketter
This Art Book Sale will start on Wednesday, September 7, and run through Tuesday, September 27. That is unless it sells out faster. Which is possible since nearly everything will be priced at $1!
Stop in and take home a book to cherish or to provide some inspiration for your own creativity. Use the guidance offered to create your own masterpieces—or at least something your mom would look at and say, “That is very pretty, honey!” Just think of all the family gifts you could create!? And speaking of gifts, don’t forget that these Art Books themselves also serve as exceptional, unique gifts. And gift-giving season is just around the corner!
Of course, while you’re at the Library searching through these artistic offerings, why not take advantage of the opportunity to look for a book or a movie to tie into the “Alien Groove” being celebrated for our community’s singular Space Age historical moment,
Serious or funny, there are many movies to choose from. I love “Men in Black” (full disclosure—only the first three) and “Galaxy Quest,” especially for the way they combine humor and drama. But, there’s also the beauty of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.” Not to mention the thrills of “Independence Day,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” and “War of the Worlds,” along with “Signs,” “Contact,” and “Alien.” And that’s only a good handful to consider.
Did I hear someone ask if we have stellar books to recommend? While they don’t all carry the same emotional edge of the movies, they do pack a punch in a satisfyingly different way.
Here is a short, but varied list:
- To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, by Christopher Paolini
- An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, by Hank Green
- Alien, by Alan Dean Foster
- Contact, by Carl Sagan
- Lagoon, by Nnedi Okorafor
- Extraterrestrial, by Avi Loeb
- The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
- Arrival, by Ted Chiang
- The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
- The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
Stop in and let our Library help you and our community blast off during this celebration weekend, allowing us to add to the wonderment as to what is “out there” and what we can find creatively within.
