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2025 Rotating Art Application Process is Now Open

 The Malden Public Library is accepting submissions for our Monthly Rotating Art Exhibit for 2025. The application period is now OPEN thru Monday December 30, 2024.  The Rotating Art Exhibit is available to any artist in our local community.

For information about exhibiting Art through our Rotating Exhibit at the Library, please see our Rotating Art Exhibit page on the Library website.   Here is the link to apply :

2025 Rotating Art Application

Here are some highlights from this year.

Contact Marita with questions mcoombs@maldenpubliclibrary.org

 

Young Adult Craft: Spooky Candle Making, Oct 17th @3PM

Young Adults in the 6th through 12th grade are invited to the Malden Public Library to get crafty in the spooky season on Thurs. October 17th from 3:00-4:30 PM.
We will be making spooky candles for the fall season with YA Librarian Patrick. All materials are free but sign-up is required so click this link to register today:

https://maldenpubliclibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/young-adult-craft-spooky-candle-making/

Beauty of Nature – Prints and Poetry of Joel Cooper and Deborah Gordon Cooper

Beauty of Nature will be on exhibit from September 28 through November 22, 2024 in the Converse Art Galleries of the Malden Public Library.  Open Wednesdays 2-4 PM; for additional gallery hours or to schedule a group tour,  call 781-324-0218.

From National Gardener Magazine (Fall, 2024).  “The Coopers … worked together delightfully. It took Joel about 100 hours to create a print. Once completed, he would place it on an easel in the middle of everything, hoping that Deborah would find that little thread to inspire the poem that might express the feelings that print brought out in her, much like a fairy tale. Sadly, Joel passed away in 2021.” The Cooper family has donated 85 of Joel’s prints to the Malden Public Library’s Art Collection. The current exhibit showcases 30 prints and poems created by the Coopers over the past 40 years. The exhibition is made possible by the generous contributions of John Giso, Michael Nuttall, Martin Cooper, Kim Taylor and the Trustees of the Malden Public Library.

Joel Cooper (April 16, 1945-October 13, 2021) began fine art screen printing in 1989, having been introduced to the process through a workshop at the Duluth Art Institute. Joel was a talented printer for over 28 years, with a portfolio of over 170 prints. His work has been exhibited at various Duluth Art Institute shows including the Arrowhead Regional Biennial Exhibits. In February 1998 a collaborative show, As We See It, took place at the Duluth Art Institute. It combined 42 screen prints along with poems by his wife, Deborah Gordon Cooper and this began a series of many exhibits they did together, including the Northern Prints Gallery and the Johnson heritage Post Gallery in Grand Marais. Joel owned and operated Cooper Enterprises in Duluth for over forty years and was a founding member of the Northern Printmakers Alliance.

Deborah Cooper is the author of six collections of poetry, including Between the Ceiling & the Moon (Finishing Line Press 2008), Under the Influence of Lilacs (Clover Valley Press 2010) and Blue Window (Clover Valley Press 2017). Deborah’s work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, among them two collections by her writing group of over thirty years, most recently Bound Together: Like the Grasses (Clover Valley Press 2013). She has co-edited anthologies published by Holy Cow Press: Beloved on the Earth, The Heart of All That Is and Amethyst & Agate. Deborah has conducted writing circles with homeless individuals in her community. She has taught poetry classes in jails and juvenile centers for many years. Deborah was honored to serve as the Duluth Minnesota Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014.

 

Clean Water Action

Getting the lead out

Join us at the Malden Public Library for a presentation by Clean Water Action and the Mystic Valley NAACP on the status of lead piping here in Malden, the effects this has on our community, and how you can be part of the solution. Registration is not required but is requested.

*Earlier advertisements listed the availability of Free Child Care at this event. Unfortunately we are unable to make this accommodation.

 

https://maldenpubliclibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/clean-water-action/

 

For more information about Clean Water Action’s work in the Malden area:

https://cleanwater.org/2024/09/12/bringing-lead-service-lines-surface-malden

Remembering Dina Malgeri

Former Library Director Dina Malgeri (1929-2024) passed away last evening, soon after celebrating her 95th birthday .  Dina was a fierce advocate for the Library and I am sure everyone has their own personal stories of her amazing time as Director from 1972 to 2013.

For those that never got a chance to meet Ms. Malgeri, we are attaching a lovely article that was in the Boston Globe at her retirement, as well as the UMA video of Dina touring the Library.

https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2013/02/23/library-losing-its-top-advocate/

https://maldenpubliclibrary.org/converse-art-archives/converse-memorial-building/virtual-tours/

Here are a few words from our community about Dina Malgeri’s legacy.

Miss Malgeri
“was the smartest and most well-read person I have ever met. She was well-versed in almost all topics from books and music to art, politics, history, film, theater, languages, social issues, Boston history and the Red Sox. She was a classic, old-school Librarian, who honored the importance of libraries in a community, honored the books on the shelves, was fair and considerate, had integrity, was dedicated, and knew that the people who visited the Malden Public Library were always the most important part of the Library. There will never be another Librarian quite like Dina Malgeri.”

–Stacy Holder

Miss Malgeri
“did an amazing job ensuring that the original Converse building was restored to its former dignity.”

–Rebecca Smith

My favorite memory
“of Miss Malgeri is celebrating birthdays with my family. She loved sharing chicken feet with me (that was one of her favorites). Over the years we shared lots of good food and memories.”

–Carol Woodruff

Moments
“Miss Malgeri was a great boss. She was fair and kind. She stood beside and helped me through some of the toughest times in my life. She was a real class act.”

–Marge Glennon

 

Malden Reads
“We thank you for your support and guidance for establishing Malden Reads 15 years ago. Our continued work promoting literacy and community is in part due to your hard work as Director. We have always resepected your involvement in the community and your ability to connect different groups around Malden for the benefit of the Library.

–Linda & Jodie Zalk Malden Reads

Dina
“was an independent spirit and a strong woman that did not fit the mold of many women of her era. Just before she retired, I had the pleasure of working on a documentary about the historic section of the Malden Public Library, along with my colleagues Ron Cox and Brent Robie. Dina hosted and narrated the video. That experience led to a continued connection after she retired where I learned more about her life and got a sense of her curious nature and her love for books and learning and culture. We exchanged good old fashioned letters – hers were handwritten, mine were typed, and I occasionally visited her in her beloved North End neighborhood, where she grew up and lived till the very end of her life. She never drove a car and proudly called herself a city person who commuted by public transportation to work during her 40+ years at the library. She loved reading the Boston Globe every day, along with reading and listening to books. She deeply loved the Malden Public Library and the community she served.

–Anne Durso Rose Trustee

The Friends

When I started volunteering with the Friends, over 20 years ago, I usually had the booksale room to myself, because no one else wanted to sort the donations and organize the shelves.  It became my hobby.  Dina would show up carrying a heavy box of donations, and I would insist on going back with her to her workroom, to fetch the rest of them.  I loved chatting with her—she was interested in everything and everyone.  I was soon telling people at the library, “I want to be Dina when I grow up!”  I often brought a bag lunch to eat in the booksale room, and Dina would sometimes join me, so we could keep on talking.  She had fascinating stories about growing up in the North End, working in army base libraries overseas, all the history she’d seen, and her decades at the Malden Public.  She never seemed to eat much at those lunches, and she didn’t care for sweets, but she liked to bring me pastries from her favorite North End bakery.
She must have been in her seventies then, and she had more energy than I’d ever had at any age.  Even when she started having medical problems or injured herself falling in the winter, she was indomitable.  I was still telling people, “I want to be Dina when I grow up!”
Now I’m in my seventies, and I still do.
–Devra Kunin

New 8-Week English Conversation Class

We have changed the English Conversation Class to an 8-week class. The English Conversation Class meets on Wednesdays from 1:00-2:00pm. The class is no longer “drop-in.”
You are now required to register for this class. It is limited to 35 students. You will be placed on a waiting list for the next 8-week class in order of your registration (first come, first served).
The first 8-week session is from Wednesday, October 2, 2024–Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
This first session is now full, but you can register and join the waiting list here:

Young Adult Craft: Needle Felting, Thursday, Oct. 3rd @3PM

Young Adults in the 6th through 12th grade are invited to the Malden Public Library to learn a new craft: Needle Felting. This class will take place in the Program Room on the second floor at 3:00 on Thursday, Oct. 3rd. This is a fun hobby that involves tufting wool into cute shapes with needles. This is a serious craft and sign up is required, so click on this link to secure your spot in the program today:

https://maldenpubliclibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/young-adult-craft-needle-felting/

Artificial Intelligence in our Daily Lives.

 

On Saturday Sept 28th  from 2-4pm the Malden Public Library will be hosting a unique workshop exploring the impact and implications of Artificial Intelligence in our daily lives.  We will discuss beneficial, real-world applications and how to safeguard against the risks posed by AI enabled deep fakes, scams and misinformation.

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Malden Public Library.

Everyone is welcome to attend and registration is encouraged.

To Register at :  https://bit.ly/malden-ai

 

 

 

 

Preschool Storytime – Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.

Storytime for preschoolers (appropriate for ages 3-5) will be offered weekly on a drop-in basis on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. beginning September 19. Each hour-long program will feature several picture books, songs and rhymes, and a simple craft. No need to register! Just come to the Children’s Room on Thursday and arrive by 10:30 a.m.

(Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate preschool groups in the post-storytime craft activity, but groups are welcome to attend the picture book portion at the beginning of the program.)