New Canaan Library
Sun:
12:00pm-5:00pm
Mon-Thu:
9:00am-8:00pm
Fri:
9:00am-5:00pm
Sat:
10:00am-5:00pm
Currently on Exhibition
Crafting Values
Craft v : to make with care, skill, and ingenuity
Values n : define what is important in our lives
When we craft anything, we decide how it will look and function, what materials to use, how to fabricate it. Consciously or unconsciously, those decisions are informed by our values. To knit a scarf I might consider the wearer and climate, should it be made of natural or synthetic materials, where will those materials be sourced and by whom. Each choice reveals concerns, beliefs, and aspirations that comprise our values.
For us—New Canaan Library and the community, Centerbrook Architects, Turner Construction, MillerKnoll, and Design for Freedom—crafting values meant designing a structure that fosters lifelong learning, social connection, and inclusion, and building and appointing it in a way that embodies our ideals.
This art assemblage breaks down how we got there.
Crafting
Panels appear sequentially from design through construction. Development was sometimes nonlinear.
Idea and inspiration – Listen, imagine, have fun.
Research and analysis – Search, study, think critically.
Test and refine – Try, fail, try again.
Build – Make it whole, piece by piece.
Values
Each panel relates to at least one guiding value. Most are intertwined.
Craft – Make with care, inspire us to think differently.
Lifelong learning – Forever explore and grow.
Community – Be an inviting, effective platform for the public.
Inclusion – Make room for all, value our contributions.
Sustainability – Follow the triple bottom line: environmental soundness, social equity, economic feasibility.
Upcoming Events
This event is in the "Adults" group.
Printmaking Workshop: Blind Embossing
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Art & Architecture,
Classes & Workshops,
Making & Crafting
Waitlist
Libraries are platforms for lifelong learning, and the arts can serve as a portal for understanding ideas and issues. Intentionally situated at the heart of the action, our new gallery is a dynamic space for culture, designed to engage the broadest spectrum of library patrons. Exhibitions will be integrated with our professionally developed adult and family services programs and collections, to provide experiences that will educate and inform as they also challenge popular notions of the role of art in our world.
Exhibitions will run quarterly or biannually, developed internally with experienced guest curators to keep our offerings fresh and innovative. Visitors can explore chosen themes in diverse ways—by viewing original works, installations, or didactic displays, listening to recordings, watching videos, chatting with specially trained volunteer docents.
We see libraries as infrastructure for imagination—the key to building a better future. Our new building, including our art gallery, allows us to expand our reach in this direction.