What’s happening at the Library? Art Exhibit by Ronnie B. Keltz and Marion Sublette’s Japanese Artifacts

Published 2:11 pm Friday, April 8, 2022

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Paintings, drawings, and needlework by Ronnie B. Keltz are on exhibit in the Reference section throughout April.

Clark County resident, Cora Heffner, is Ronnie Keltz’s daughter, and loaned her art to the Library.

There’s a breezy landscape of Squaw Island in Canandaigua Lake, NY; a cheerful ocean scene of two pelicans on pier piles in Aruba (where she and her husband, Jack, vacationed every year).

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A drawing of sunflowers and a watercolor of a geranium reveal real skill for rendering flower petals. A still life, done at age19, is perfect for the library. It shows a pair of tiger-framed glasses atop two books, one of which, “Favorite Stories,” Cora kept for
many years.

There’s a painting of a covered bridge that glows with mellow summer afternoon light (Mrs. Keltz loved covered
bridges) and a pencil drawing of the family home in Bradford, PA.

Two of my favorite pieces are simple color pencil illustrations of shoes and luggage, mischievous visual haikus,. They illuminate the pleasant possibilities of daily living.

Spend some time in the sunny light of CCPL’s reference reading area this April enjoying the genial art of Ronnie B. Keltz. A lovely place to read and relax.

In the Library lobby on the left side, going in, is a collection of souvenirs patron Marion Sublette collected during the time she and her husband Dave lived in Japan from 1963-65. There is an exotic porcelain geisha doll and three bright, fanciful examples of Oshie, a traditional Japanese art in which colorful pieces of kimono fabric are shaped, pressed, padded with cotton and then assembled into figures. (Thanks to reference librarian, Brad Allard, for that information.)

There are also elegant examples of Japanese pottery and dishware, including a red jade tray. It’s an entrancing display. Thank you for sharing it with the community, Marion.

National Library Week is April 3-9, so the lobby’s right display case features 1950’s pictures and newspaper clippings about the beginning of the Clark County Public Library. Included is a Winchester Sun photo of the Jaycees “Mile of Dimes” collection; opening day at the first train car Library; Librarian Graves Tebbs and her Uncle, Retired Navy commander, Ernest Paynter, helping young Pilot View bookmobile patrons; and, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and 4H members participating in the 1961 National Library Week Youth Reading Program.

The women of the Winchester Fine Arts Club, members of the Clark County Fiscal Court, the Jaycees and many other community members and civic organizations worked long and hard to establish a Library. This display is a tribute to their vision and dedication.

“Bunnington’s Baskets, Bonnets, and Baked Goods” is in the white display case immediately to the left of the inside lobby doors, just before the circulation desk. The Bunnington’s, their chicks, ducks (especially the yellow one who is “A Star!”), and friends M and Tuna and loaded the shop with stunning floral millinery and decorated wicker baskets filled with carrots and
carrot cookies.

Every time you check out items during April, you’ll receive a slip on which you can guess the number of carrots in the shop. Closest guess wins a one-hundred-dollar voucher to the Clark County Farmer’s Market. Second and third place guesses win twenty-five-dollar gift certificates to The Daily Grind Coffee Shop. Winners will be notified May 1.

Bunnington’s Baskets, Bonnets, and Baked Goods epitomizes an axiom of Puppen philosopher, Clovis de Fleury: “Vitum venustus, petasi venustulus in perpetuum. “Live a Beautiful Life and Always Wear a Charming Little Hat.”

May you have a week just like that.