Meet This Month’s Featured Artist – Laura Ortoleva
Featured
Meet This Month’s Featured Artists!
In April, AAPLD is delighted to display entries in The Land Conservancy of McHenry County’s Amateur Photo Contest.
Each year amateur photographers are invited to participate in this annual contest highlighting the inspiring nature of The Land Conservancy’s preservation work. The goal is to share the beautiful and immense natural diversity found throughout McHenry County. The photos were taken at properties The Land Conservancy has helped protect or restore. Each site has a unique character and story, contained in the photos’ captions.
The Land Conservancy has operated in McHenry County since 1991, and has preserved over 3,200 acres of land. Eight of its sites are open to the public, and include restored woods, wetlands and natural habitats. Other sites are conservation easements; a voluntary, permanent agreement between a landowner and The Land Conservancy, which allows the owner to continue to use and enjoy the land and eventually sell it or pass it to his or her heirs, knowing that it will remain undeveloped. Other Land Conservancy initiatives include Project Quercus, which encourages planting and preserving oak trees, various community education programs, the Apple Creek Food Forest which showcases edible species trees, plants and shrubs, and the Farmer/Landowner Lease Match, which pairs beginning farmers who need access to land, with landowners interested in selling or leasing to a new generation of career farmers.
An accredited nonprofit local land trust, The Land Conservancy of McHenry County works with local property owners, communities and volunteers to preserve open, natural and agricultural land. The organization is privately funded through annual memberships, donations, grants, contracts with municipalities to provide open space stewardship services, fundraisers, and merchandise. Learn more at conservemc.org
If you’re a local artist interested in exhibiting your work, please submit samples of your work and contact information to social@aapld.org
AAPLD Hosts Author and Naturalist Stan Tekiela
Spend an evening with author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela, Wednesday, April 9, at 7:00 pm, at the Luecht Auditorium at McHenry County College, for a fun and fascinating talk about our favorite (and not-so-favorite!) birds. Challenge what you think you know about common birds such as the European Starling, and the American Crow, for a new perspective and understanding of our backyard feathered friends.
Admission is free, but registration is required.
Tekiela is the originator of the popular state-specific field guide series, which includes the Birds of Illinois Field Guide, Trees of Illinois Field Guide and many more. Over the last four decades, he has authored more than 200 field guides, nature appreciation books, and wildlife audio CDs for nearly every state in the nation. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he is also a syndicated columnist, and radio personality who travels the nation to study, photograph, and write about wildlife. Copies of his books will be available for purchase and signing at the event, courtesy of Read Between The Lynes bookstore in Woodstock.
The evening will also include an information expo featuring local conservation and nature organizations; the McHenry County Conservation District and Foundation, the Land Conservancy of McHenry County, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources- Moraine Hills and Volo Bog, McHenry County Audubon Society, the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, Small Water Education, Illinois Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Crystal Lake Nature Center.
The evening is sponsored by a coalition of McHenry County libraries, including Algonquin Area Public Library, Cary Area Public Library, Crystal Lake Public Library, Harvard-Diggins Library, Huntley Area Public Library, Johnsburg Library, Marengo-Union Public Library, McHenry Public Library, Nippersink Public Library, and Woodstock Public Library. The coalition’s “Let’s All Read Together” community reading program encourages county residents to come together for a shared reading experience.
Meet This Month’s Featured Artist!
For March, AAPLD welcomes pastel artist Susan L. Chelminski to the Art Wall in the Adult Services Department. Learn a little more about this talented artist.
The Artist: Susan L. Chelminski
Background/Experience: I began my interest in art at a very early age. My mother was a professional artist and she mentored me and stoked the fires. I studied under the internationally renowned artist Joseph Abbrescia at The Village Art School, in Skokie. I also studied under the direction of Frankie Johnson, Susan Plough and Barb Benstein. My career took a left turn as I worked in the field of psychology, though I continued to dabble in creative writing, jewelry making and tole painting. Nearing the close of my counseling career, I decided to resurrect my passion for art. I have been juried into art shows at the Dole in Crystal Lake, the Main Street Art Center Gallery in Lake Zurich, and The Land Conservancy’s Art of the Land.
My favorite medium: Pastels offer me the ability to fully immerse myself in my work. I love color, and soft pastels help me to indulge this passion.
What inspires me: My subject matter varies depending on my mood, though the bulk of my work is deigned to have an element of surprise, suh as my “Something Fishy” series, which combines the flow of flamenco dancers with that of a betta fish. The series “We Are What Eat” combines people and food.
Find her on Instagram at sooz.art3
If you’re a local artist interested in exhibiting your work, please submit samples of your work and contact information to social@aapld.org
Check Out August’s Art Display
When you stop by AAPLD during August, be sure to visit our Art Wall, upstairs in the Adult Services department. There, you’ll find forty works by area artist Michael Schmitt. Much of Schmitt’s work focuses on themes of flight, particularly birds. His art will be displayed through the month of August. Learn a little more about the talented artist behind the work.
The Artist: Michael Schmitt
Community: Grayslake
Background/training: I’m a past member of the American Society of Aviation Artists, and received art coaching through the Barbara Wagner Studios, and Stefan Baumann. I’ve been a photographer since I was a child.
Preferred media: Oil painting and digital photography
Preferred subject: Birds are my favorite.
What do you want people to think/feel when looking at your work? If my photography looks like art and my art looks like photography, I’m happy. It’s a chance for the viewer to observe a moment in time so the details of the subject can be observed.
If you’re a local artist interested in exhibiting your work, please submit samples of your work and contact information to social@aapld.org
Find facts at your fingertips!
Outdoor Adventure Begins at the Library!
Get Started
Visit the Find Your Wild display, near the entrance to the Main Library on Harnish Drive. Pick up a Find Your Wild bookmark with a special code to receive points in the Find Your Wild challenge. Scan the QR code on the bookmark to go to the Find Your Wild challenge page, or find it at mccdistrict.org
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Download the Goosechase App (iOS / Android).
Step 2: Login or create a free account.
Step 3: Search for the Conservation District's experience with code LPW8Z5 or search "Find Your Wild."
Step 4: Click "Accept" to accept the Terms and Conditions.
Step 5: Create a Username and then click "Join this Experience."
Earn Points and Prizes!
Complete Missions to earn points, and become eligible for outdoor-themed prize basket drawings every two weeks. Missions include visiting conservation areas, and completing fun outdoor activities. Start earning points right away with Missions you can complete in the app, including the BONUS POINTS: Library Referral.
The more Missions you complete, and the longer you stay active in the program, the more chances you have to win. In addition to being eligible for the prize basket drawings, you can also earn sticker packs for reaching different point levels:
Level 1 (500 points) Outdoor Fun sticker pack
Level 2 (1000 points) District Mission sticker pack
Level 3 (1500 points) Flora and Fauna sticker pack
Spring Photo Contest – May Voting
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Spring Photo Contest – April Voting
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Discover January’s Library Reads
Mystery
The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan - Former Senator Dorothy Gibson is the most talked-about person in the country right now, though largely for the wrong reasons. As an independent candidate for President of the United States, Dorothy split the vote and is being blamed for the shocking result. After her very public defeat, she's retreated to her home in rural Maine, inviting her ghostwriter to join her.
Her collaborator is impressed by Dorothy's work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the stunning surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer in their midst. And when Dorothy Gibson asks if you want to team up for a top secret, possibly dangerous murder investigation, the only answer "Of course!"
The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories . . . two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy's political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation-much like the election-may not unfold the way anyone expects.
Suspense
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston - Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
The identity comes to Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the target: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.
Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes--especially after what happened last time.
Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to—her real identity—just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn't be higher--but then, Evie has always liked a challenge...
Literary Fiction
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid - From the celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age comes a fresh and provocative story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students.
It's 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie's starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardised by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks and illicit intrigue. A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption and reckless abandon, Come and Get It is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion, and bad behavior.