On my way back from lunch, I saw movement near the Chesney Neighborhood's Great Mural Wall and found mural artist KT Walsh (Lawrence KS) with two assistants, Ashley Laird (Chords & Oil) and Sam Hupp (Unitard Magazine) mid-paint.

If you haven't been by lately, it has grown immensely, with focus now on filling the south side expanse. I'm still trying to catch artist Dave Lowenstein working on the mural—I missed him all last summer—but there's still a lot of time and whitespace...

Summer is just around the corner, which means temperatures are on the rise. Unfortunately, every year people in our community find themselves in need of assistance to help cool off from these high temperatures.  Luckily, there is a program through the American Red Cross in Topeka that can help.

The Sabatini Gallery has been on Twitter for about a month now, and, as flattering as it is to get followers from all over the planet, chances are they won't be stopping by too often, or benefitting much from our tweets.

But if you live here and/or within a day's drive of Topeka, are here on business, holiday or are performing at say, the Expocentre, and need a break from your stuffy tourbus and grumpy bandmates, try following us on Twitter. We update regularly about gallery...

The clock is ticking, and if you want to participate, you need to reserve your space by March 30!

The Edible Book Festival asks you to interpret a book with food, similar to the way a sculptor shapes real-life objects out of clay. You can be literal, conceptual, obvious, thought-provoking, silly, serious—whatever—it's your book and your imagination at work.

Past participants have described this as one of the most fun family activities they've done. Others have begged us to...

On President's Day when the Library closes, employees meet anually for Staff Development Day*. It's an opportunity to meet as a whole, and we spend the day listening to keynote speakers, attending education sessions, planning, brainstorming and presenting awards.

On this year's agenda, we were told a "secret guest" would make an appearance. Little did we know it would be so COOL! SDD* planners invited the Topeka High School Drum Line to perform for us as and they were AWESOME....

Art has the power to bring about change, and change often begins with dialogue. Telling Secrets intends to facilitate taking that challenging first step: talking with each other about difficult subject matter. 

 

Look who it is!

Our former Director has come out of retirement to rally for the arts despite our country's tough economic uncertainty.

... Today was fun. I got to hang out with cool people and talk about art and build eye muscles.

When we discuss what we see, what an artist might be trying to say and consider the techniques they're using, we become better tour guides, docents and art professionals for YOU. Below are pictures from our travel log.

 

 

The Library recently received a copy of the 2009 Proposed Annual Budget for Topeka and we welcome you to come in and take a look.  This is an important document that will have an impact on multiple aspects of your daily and professional lives and we are proud to offer this opportunity.

Our murals remind us of something we experienced together (either in the past or as a group of painters) and give us a guidepost for what we're working toward.