Children’s Room Art

Original Artwork to Spark Imagination

Early in 1990, KPL received a grant from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation to transform the Central Library’s Children’s Room. With that gift, the library commissioned several artists to spark our imaginations with original artwork.

• Author and illustrator David Small painted a pillar with nursery rhyme characters.
• Artist Dee Durkee sculpted Jack and his beanstalk.
• Architect Michael Dunn designed the castle entrance to the Story Room.
• Jamie Rife created four vibrant stained glass windows.
• Storybook characters surround the pillar painted by Barbara Thiery Buysee.

Framed artwork, collected over many years, hangs throughout the room, from the newest paper painting by Denise Fleming in 2005, to the “picture-letter” created in 1881 by a young Lucy Fitch who later wrote and illustrated 24 very popular books about twins.

All of the art in this children’s space is a complement to the beauty of busy activity in an active learning space. Visit the Central Library Children’s Room to see it in person, or browse some of the images here.