Arlington County Government offices and facilities will be closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Check Volunteer Arlington to learn about 2025 MLK Day of service opportunities.
Arlington’s annual tribute to Dr. King will be held at Wakefield High School on Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. with music, dance and spoken word.
I have been painting for most of my life. I draw inspiration for my acrylic landscapes from photographs that I have taken both locally in Arlington and on my travels both in and out of the country. Recently one of my paintings was purchased by the Arlington County Board to be gifted to Aachen, Germany, Arlington's sister city. I am a member of the Arlington Artists Alliance and show my paintings in shows and venues all around Arlington. I paint in acrylic on canvas or board and have artwork in many homes and businesses.
Chrysalis, one of our youth services librarians, shared this story with me:
"A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a mom and daughter before storytime who have attended regularly for a couple years now. She mentioned that her child loves playing librarian with their bookshelf at home, taking the books down to read, then putting them all back on the shelf.
Her daughter doesn’t quite understand what a librarian is yet, but she knows it has something to do with books. One day, she had pulled off all of her books to read and as she went to put them away, she looked at the pile of books and said:
'I am a librarian, and there is much work to be done.'"
Indeed.
2024 was a year that both ran too long yet not long enough. Let me explain. Too long to witness the tragedies and heartbreak encircling the globe. Not long enough to do all the things we librarians strive to do each day—inform, preserve, protect—to hold the people of our communities in shared humanity, focusing on unity.
Typically, this Director’s Message recaps our previous year.
Here goes:
The books I read: debut authors (Essie Chambers) and old masters (Charles Dickens, Jean Stafford). Favorites included Louise Erdrich and Kate Atkinson and prize winners such as “James” by Percival Everett and “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey, as well as “Held” by Anne Michaels.
There were writers whose every word I hung on, Claire Keegan as an example. New York Times list toppers (Elena Ferrante), and surprises such as “The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir” by Jennifer Ryan. Books about books: “The Reading List” by Sara Nisha Adams. And romance novels by Casey McQuiston and Dolly Alderton in anticipation of “Share the Love,” the 2025 Arlington Reads theme—a celebration of love in all of its manifestations and a chance to get beyond ourselves and into the hearts and minds of others.
My full reading list appears on Goodreads. In the new year, I am switching to StoryGraph to join a new community of book lovers. I hope many of you will connect with me there. If you struggle with finding either the time or the inclination to read, check out this piece from Axios. Lots of tips to spark one’s inner reader.
The 2024 Arlington Reads homage to James Baldwin underscored what a towering presence he remains in American literature. Likewise, our celebration of Afrofuturism introduced us to groundbreaking storytelling.
The Human Library and the Holiday Gift Nook returned—strong reminders Arlington residents are full to bursting with empathy and generosity. Thank you to all who participated.
The Shed, The Shop, our bookstores and gardens, GameFest and the creative Instagram reels, kept us nourished, curious, entertained and connected. Thank you to our talented library staff and volunteers.
The library’s patrons showed up. Our annual circulation broke records: eCirculation grew by more than 40% and many thousands of Arlingtonians attended more than 3,500 programs. Our patrons expressed good wishes in letters, emails and in person, further grounding our commitments to social justice, compassion and fairness.
The Library’s goals for 2025 remain the same. To hear and respond to those whose voices we have occasionally tuned out. To see those who live on the margins. To do our best each day for ourselves and for each other.
From the staff and volunteers of Arlington Public Library and the members of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library, we wish you all the best for 2025! There is much work to be done.
Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington Public Library
I am an amateur printmaker from Atlanta, GA, who trained in screen-printing and letterpress in Seattle, WA. My artistic interests are in understanding the way figure and landscape are rendered by different medias and I currently try to make landscapes that have been simplified in various ways but made more complex by color. The message my work hopes to convey is the texture of an individuality and inner life of black women like me.
This series of prints depict black women in nature - such as national parks, forests, and imagined landscapes - framed by assertive text - mission statements, wishes, and desires. I hope this series is a call to action for all people to care for and give respect to the people and places that surround them.
We are a group of artists who have the experience of being international students in American colleges and universities. We left our home countries (Japan, Palestine/Kuwait, Puerto Rico, Korea, and China) to study in the United States. We share a passion for art therapy, and we believe art can bring people together. American universities and colleges seek out international students like us, not only to increase campus awareness of global issues, but also for promotional purposes and revenue generation. Although approximately one million international students are enrolled in American higher education, it is unclear what it means to truly welcome and support them once they arrive here.
According to published research on their experiences, international students often struggle to navigate the institutional communities they’ve been invited to join, dealing with issues ranging from differences between educational systems to language barriers and cultural differences. Students desire to “belong” within their new host environments, but they also report feeling caught between racial stereotyping and being ignored. Although they are not always seen as an equityseeking group, they experience real structural barriers. One study found that images of international students were used to celebrate diversity, but institutions’ strategic communications rarely addressed these students’ racial identities or their experiences of racism on campus.
We were invited to be in this country, but are we welcome here? With the art in this exhibition, we are exploring what it means to create an inclusive community with you. How do we include and support everyone? How do we cultivate a sense of belonging for all of us?
As an artist, I create handmade patchwork pieces from fabric scraps. Each piece is carefully stitched together to form vibrant and unique designs. My work celebrates the beauty in small, forgotten materials, turning them into something new and meaningful. Through my art, I hope to show how even the smallest pieces can come together to create something beautiful.
Artist's Reception: April 8, 2025, 6-8PM @ Shirlington Branch Library
Various media have depicted what the future could look like. Some portray it as post-apocalyptic, a dystopia, or in neon. The latter has always been the most intriguing to me, as it gives a mysterious but technological feeling.
To create these images, I combined the photo acquisition of infrared with neon glow effects, through Adobe Photoshop. The purpose of infrared is to capture the natural light of any subject in a wavelength that is invisible to the human eye. The best time to capture infrared photos is at noon, on a sunny day in the spring or summer. The final aesthetic of each would result in monochrome, instead of color.
With the neon glow effects, learning a new technique in Photoshop was easy. I used the pen tool and set it to the color white. Next, I precisely clicked to pinpoint each corner or curve on any line that I saw. Finally, with each line finished, I set the outer glow effect to the color of my choosing, such as blue and pink. The consistency of them was important because this aesthetic was heavily inspired by the movie Blade Runner and video game Cyberpunk 2077, in which both are set in the future, featuring neon and noir respectively. Likewise, I chose the remaining colors to have a subtle presence, acting as the background.
Another reason for this aesthetic came from listening to lofi music and synthwave music (electronic microgenre). Whenever I listened, they would be interpreted as electronically peaceful and calming. With the presence of these luminous lights, the monochrome aesthetic allows me to see the world in a different way.
Artist Talk: March 2025
My favorite materials to work with are yarn and canvas. Using yarn to create shapes and visually appealing pieces is therapeutic for me. Art has been known to help relieve stress, lower depression levels, and help to enhance critical thinking skills. My work definitely does all of those things and will benefit the community. I want my work to be an inspiration to others to pursue their dreams and to reassure them that the sky is the limit.
Naturaleza Viva explores the intricate relationship between nature and my hometown, Mexico City, capturing the essence of both in vibrant, emotive compositions that weave together the past and present. Through my work, I aim to evoke a profound sense of nostalgia and belonging, celebrating the beauty of flowers, cacti, or landscapes and the memories they hold within them. I seek to highlight not only the visual splendor of these surroundings but also the emotional connections they foster within me and others who share similar experiences. Each brushstroke and color choice reflects my deep, personal connection to the natural world around me, inviting viewers to rediscover the familiar and appreciate the subtle, often overlooked wonders of our environment. My art serves as a reminder that nature is not just a backdrop but a living, breathing part of our daily lives, shaping our identities and leaving an indelible mark on our hearts.
The titles of each of my paintings are folkloric expressions from my beloved Mexico, reflecting not only the connection to the work but also how Mexicans use language as a playful art form. These expressions poetically capture the wisdom inherited from our abuelitas, with lessons often condensed into a single phrase or just a few words.
Growing up in a small town in Montana with few possessions, the mountain behind our house became a giant playground full of nature’s wonders from moss-covered rocks to spring creeks. My love of what nature could produce was firmly rooted. I would spend my retirement years combining that love with a passion to sculpt, with most of my works driven by humor, the one thing that keeps me somewhat sane in a not-so-sane world. If my works bring an observer to laugh, ponder or to appreciate, I have accomplished my mission.
For more information contact Mr. Beerbohm at ken.beerbohm@gmail.com