Library
Community Gallery & Displays
Community Artist Gallery
Since January of 1979, the works of local artists have been displayed at the Library through our Community Artist Gallery program. The gallery is located on the main level of the Library. For more information about the gallery and the art that is showcased, or if you would like to feature your work, please send an email to our Programs and Public Relations Coordinator.
Fox Valley Knitters’ Guild
September-October 2023
The Fox Valley Knitters’ Guild will celebrate its 35th anniversary with a juried art show featuring member works from September 5 through October 28. The 39 works on display created by 20 guild members demonstrate the versatility of knitting and related fiber arts. They showcase a variety of garments and other three-dimensional objects, including home decor and sculptural items. Selected pieces feature textures and color work exclusive to fiber arts techniques.
The Fox Valley Knitters’ Guild was formed in November 1987 when 30 avid knitters met at The Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles to share knowledge and promote knitting and related fiber-based crafts. The guild now has more than 100 members dedicated to the guild’s mission to encourage high standards of design and technique. Meetings feature presentations by local and regional experts, as well as virtual programs with renowned instructors and designers based worldwide.
Charity knitting is important to the guild’s mission. Members have knitted hats, scarves, mittens, shawls and blankets for the elderly, homeless and underserved youth. Other projects have benefitted breast cancer survivors, chemotherapy patients and people with dementia.
Tessa Koller
July-August 2023
Tessa Koller, a St. Charles native, is a working artist who specializes in multiple mediums. Her artmaking skills led to earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2008. Since then, she has pursued painting, abstraction, realistic portraits and landscapes, and visually dynamic acrylic pours. She’s had her work displayed at 116Gallery and many venues in and outside of St. Charles. In addition to exhibiting locally, she has traveled to almost nine countries delivering keynote speeches and showcased her work.
The story behind her artwork is one to follow and is regularly published in multiple magazines and national health and wellness journals. Recently, she was published in the international magazine, Wellbeing Magazine and manages a blog that draws hundreds of unique subscribers from across the world. Visit www.tessakollerart.com for more details about her triumphant story, her articles and blog, and subscribe to her monthly newsletter.
Wayne Art League
May-June 2023
The Wayne Art League was started in the 1950s at the Little Home Church by the Wayside on Army Trail Road in Wayne, Illinois. Initially, we were known as the Wayne Art and Garden Club.
Today we are a group of 40+ artists working in a variety of styles and media. We meet every Monday morning to paint or draw. In the colder months, we meet at the church in Wayne where we paint from still life arrangments or live models. In the warmer months, we move outdoors and paint plein air in various parks and private homes in the Fox Valley and beyond.
We have a long history as a group of dedicated artists who support and nurture one another in the creative process. You can see our exhibits at galleries and other venues in the Fox Valley several times each year. For more information about the Wayne Art League, contact: [email protected]
Rudy Viereckl
March-April 2023
I am a lifelong resident of the Fox Valley area. I owe my love of the outdoors to my parents, who took us camping every summer. It was during these trips that I learned to appreciate the beauty of nature and how we are stewards of our environment. With a long telephone lens, portable photo blind, and a healthy dose of patience, I am able to capture images that I hope will inspire you. As a lifelong learner, I am just getting started in this journey. I feel that my photographic eye is evolving as environmental issues become prevalent. I am also an optimist and feel that the best is yet to come.
I am inspired by local photographers Thomas Mangelsen and Art Wolf as well. Please visit my Facebook page RVFinephotography or my website at RVFinephotography.com to comment and view additional images of our wonderful suburban life.
These library prints are available for purchase during the show for a 20% show discount. Please contact me at [email protected] for further information.
Carly Palmer
January-February 2023
Carly Palmer is a St. Charles-based writer and artist. She primarily works in the artistic mediums of paper collage, assemblage, and acrylic abstracts. She has exhibited in several local galleries in the Greater Chicago Area as part of both group and solo shows. She is a Resident Artist and School of Art Instructor at Water Street Studios in Batavia, Illinois. She is currently a student in the Jungian Studies Program at C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Her most personally meaningful work as an artist and writer weaves together elements of depth psychology, surrealism, and symbolism. This is the creative trinity where both she and her art feel most alive.
The show’s title, “Read Between The Lines”, is an ode to Carly’s endless curiosity about life’s greatest mysteries, as well as a nod to her deep love of reading. Through life and art, she is endlessly exploring what it means to be artfully human. In her work, she often hovers at the crossroads of intention and impulse. She plays into this contrast, and offers the viewer the chance for multiple meanings. She appreciates the juxtaposition of seamless placement in creation and veiled suspense in interpretation.
Art in the Library
The Library is home to one of the largest permanent art collections on display in our community. Through the years, the collection has grown from pieces acquired during the Works Progress Administration (WPA) era, to contemporary sculptures for our lawns. Media of many types from wood block prints to oils, and lithographs to photographs are represented as well as several bronze sculptures. We are grateful for the contributions of the St. Charles Public Library Foundation, the Friends of St. Charles Public Library and local benefactors.
Lobby Display Case
The St. Charles Public Library offers its main floor lobby display case without charge to nonprofit organizations and community members who wish to share a collection, broaden interest in or highlight a special program. There are four glass cases, each measuring 34″ wide by 40″ high. Each case has glass shelves that cannot be moved or removed. For more information, please contact our Program and Public Relations Coordinator.
