The Power Of Art Will Make You Think

We have two new displays up this month, thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities. The displays are pictures from the "Picturing America" series. The series brings some of our nation's most significant images into classrooms and libraries nationwide. It offers a way to understand the history of America - its diverse people and places, its travails and triumphs - through some of our greatest artistic masterpieces.
In the long, white hallway between the public library and the genealogical library, we've placed the picture "Quilts: 19th through 20th Centuries." Since March is National Craft Month, the picture of these quilts is very appropriate.
There are several quilts shown with patterns such as the Bars Pattern, Split Bars Pattern, Grandmother's Fan Quilt, Crazy Quilt, Diamond in the Square, and the Lone Star Pattern.
And to intrigue you, we've added some questions to make you think about the wonderful craft of quilting. The historical connections are slavery, Reconstruction, women's oral history, and the Industrial Revolution.
The picture placed in the Odom Genealogical Library is one selected by our genealogist, Irene. The painting is "The Oxbow" (1936) by Thomas Cole. It represents a view from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a thunderstorm.
Our questions to intrigue you include a search for several items in the painting, including an umbrella and Thomas Cole sketching while wearing a top hat.
This painting represents the 1830s when America's wilderness was being settled. It shows a vast area of forest, river and lowlands, as well as a gently sloping mountain in the background. The historical connections are Puritans and the idea of a city on a hill.
You'll be seeing more pictures from this interesting series, as we change the paintings to bring you a greater sense of the power of art to stimulate intellectual awakenings.
All thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities.