Writing for Discovery, April 20, 27 & May 4

Writing for Discovery with Phyllis G. Ross

A Fundraiser for the Katonah Village Library

A Writing to Learn group is a community of writers - new and experienced - who bring head, heart and spirit of discovery to the work of writing and thinking. These three-session writing groups explore thoughts and feelings through different writing strategies. The group will write to enhance understanding, insight and self-awareness. There will be brief readings in preparation for some sesssions, but the heart of the work will take place in the group writing, sharing our writings and finding our voices.

Phyllis G. Ross will lead this 3-session writing program on Thursdays, April 20, April 27 and May 4th from 10-11:30 am at the Library. The fee for this fundraising event is $75 per person and checks should be made payable to the Katonah Village Library. Please register as soon as possible, since this program will be limited to 10 people. Call 914-232-8871 to register.

Phyllis G. Ross, LMSW, DSW, is a social work practitioner and educator who trained at the Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking. She has taught writing as a part of the Bard Institute summer program and has facilitated writing workshops for teachers, members of the community and executives in the nonprofit sector.

Pianist Artis Wodehouse - April 2, 2006 Benefit Concert

Artis Wodehouse to Give Benefit Concert for the Katonah Village Library

Artis Wodehouse, pianist, reed organist and music historian, has graciously donated her time and talent to offer a special concert at the Katonah Village Library on April 2, 2006 at 4 p.m. Ms. Wodehouse is a specialist in historic sound recordings and a performer of new and neglected music.

The New York Times has called Ms. Wodehouse the “savior of the old and neglected.” Time Magazine called her internationally best-selling 1993 recording “Gershwin Plays Gerswhin: The Piano Rolls” on the Nonesuich label, “a remarkable example of technology put to the service of art.”

Ms. Wodehouse teaches locally at Bramson’s Music in Mount Kisco, New York. The suggested donation for the concert will be $5 per person.

As a pianist, organist and music historian, Artis Wodehouse has established herself as a specialist in historic sound recordings. She received a DMA in piano performance practice from Stanford University where she used early sound recordings to study 19th century piano performance style. She has recorded the electro-acoustic Invisible Cities by Michael McNabb on the Wergo Label, and music of Villa-Lobos with pianist Alfred Heller on Etcetera.

Most recently, Ms. Wodehouse realized a CD on the Warner Classics label, Zez Confrey Piano Rolls and Scores devoted to the American Jazz Age composer/pianist. Her CD is the first inclusive modern recording to show the range and scope of Confrey’s music for the player piano as well as for the human performer.

In addition to her doctorate from Stanford, Wodehouse holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music.

Urban Sprawl & the Landscape - Author Talk, March 29th, 7:30 pm

Owen Gutfreund Addresses Urban Sprawl and the Landscape

On Wednesday, March 29, 2006, Owen Gutfreund, Assistant Professor of History and the Urban Studies Director of the Barnard and Columbia Urban Studies Programs, will give a special presentation at the Library on twentieth century sprawl and landscape. Join us for an intriguing study of the causes and catalysts of suburban sprawl. This event is open to the public.

Professor Gutfreund's talk at the Library coincides with the Katonah Museum of Art and the Hudson River Museum's look at the art and history of suburbia, Westchester the American Suburb, a collaborative show running through May 2006.

Dr. Gutfreund's book Twentieth Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape offers an illuminating look at how the American highway system has dramatically transformed American communities. He analyzes several American communities including Denver, Colorado and Middlebury, Vermont to tell a compelling story of how government sponsored highway development radically transformed America's cities and towns. This "follow the money" approach to studying government subsidized suburban development also looks at the country's increased dependence on cars at the expense of efficiency, ecological concerns and social equity issues.

New Mothers Discussion Group - April/May 2006

New Mothers Discussion Group

New mothers and their infants, birth to 12 months, are invited to attend these monthly meetings. The goal of this program is to give new mothers information to enrich their parenting skills and an opportunity to meet other new mothers. Each meeting will feature a speaker who will lead a discussion on a topic of interest to new mothers. There is always an opportunity for questions and group discussion.

All meetings will be held at The Katonah Village Library at 10 a.m. on the dates listed below. For information call Vicki Ingrassia at 232-3508 at the Library.

How to Talk with Your Pediatrician
April 7, 2006, Friday

Tips on how to make the most out of your visits with your pediatrician

Presented by Dr. Amy Handler, pediatrician and mother.

What New Parents Need to Know About Wills
May 5, 2006, Friday

This program will give you useful information about wills with emphasis on the importance of Guardians and Executors for families with young children.

Presented by Carolyn Harting, Attorney-at-Law, who has a private practice in Bedford Village which specializes in Estate Law.

Movable Magic with Paul Johnson, March 31, 2006

Paul Johnson Presents Movable Magic
(How many books can he pull from one suitcase?)

On Friday, March 31st, at 7 p.m., watch Paul Johnson pull a library's worth of movable/pop-up books - many his own, others made by British schoolchildren - from a single suitcase. He'll talk about the endless power of the book as an aesthetic form and its special fascination for children of all ages. No admission charge.

To register and for more information call Vicki Ingrassia, Children's Librarian, at 914-232-3508.

Paul Johnson is internationally recognized for his pioneering work on developing literacy through the book arts and as a paper engineer and book artist. Author of over 15 titles including A Book of One's Own, Literacy Through the Book Arts and Pictures and Words Together, he ran until recently the Book Art Project from Manchester Metropolitan University. His movable books are in the collections of the Cooper-Hewett Museum in New York, the National Gallery, the Library of Congress, the University of California at Berkeley and Yale University, among other institutions. His work selected for Stand and Deliver - an exhibition of editioned movable books that has been touring the U.S. He exhibits widely and is on the United Kingdom Craft Council's select list of British designer-makers.