Join us on Facebook, @galluplibrary, and Youtube on Saturday, May 8th at 1:00 p.m. for an interview featuring Claudia Christian, star of Babylon 5 and author of various books.
In this special discussion, Claudia Christian talks about her time on the television show and other Hollywood productions. She also discusses her C3 Foundation, created to help people deal with addiction. Discover her books, other projects, and some fun facts.
Join us LIVE on Facebook, @galluplibrary on Friday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m. for a book talk featuring Edison Eskeets and Jim Kristofic.
The Navajo tribe, the Diné, is the largest tribe in the United States and lives across the American Southwest. Over a century ago, they were nearly wiped out by the Long Walk, forced removal of most of the Diné people to a military-controlled reservation in New Mexico.
The summer of 2018 marked the 150th anniversary of the Navajos’ return to their homelands. One Navajo family and their community decided to honor that return by organizing a ceremonial run from Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, to Santa Fé, New Mexico, in order to deliver a message and to honor the survivors of the Long Walk.
Eskeets ran 330 miles from Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, to Santa Fé, New Mexico, in sixteen days. His support team on the road includes Jim Kristofic, who observes the journey and records it in his notebook. Send a Runner: A Navajo Honors the Long Walk is a story of running for family, history, and the future of the Diné.
Join us LIVE on Facebook, @galluplibrary on Thursday, May 6th at 4:00 p.m. for a talk featuring Steven Gould, author of the Jumper series, and more.
We have all heard the phrase that the book is always better than the movie. Steven Gould knows the process of translating a book to the big screen. His popular book series Jumper has been made into a feature film and a television series. Find out the secrets of making your favorite book into a Hollywood production.
Join us on Facebook, @galluplibrary, and YouTube on Wednesday, May 5th at 1:00 p.m. for a storytelling presentation featuring Kristi Rae Wilson who received her MFA in Jewelry/Metals from the University of Illinois.
Her work has been included in international and national publications and exhibited throughout the United States. Wilson has taught fine art courses and served as an advisor for the Art Student Collective at the University of New Mexico for 8 years.
Currently, she teaches Jewelry and Small Metals Construction, Drawing, and Introduction to Art History as a Visiting Assistant Professor.
Join us on Facebook, @galluplibrary, and YouTube on Wednesday, May 4th at 1:00 p.m. for a drawing lesson with author and illustrator Ross Van Dusen.
Join us for a reading of Van Dusen’s award-winning children’s book How the Crocka Dog Came to Be and learn to draw your own Crocka Dog. Have your pencils and paper ready!
OFPL will launch its first Virtual Authors Festival this month! Artists, filmmakers, poets, and authors get your summer rolling with storytelling and creativity during the entire month of May.
Win prizes May 1st with a photo scavenger hunt using the GooseChase app! Download the app and use game code 8ZMXP7. Connect with us on FaceBook, @galluplibrary and YouTube to join the activities.
Register at ofpl.online for a copy of The Library Book by Susan Orlean now through August 7th.
The story chronicles the Los Angeles Public Library fire and its aftermath. Get ready for some great conversations and tons of fun as we meet virtually for the first time ever!
Zoom discussions will be held Thursday, August, 20th at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, August 29th at 2:00 p.m.
Email bmartin@gallupnm.gov or call 505-863-1291 for more information.
First Peoples’ Film Festival highlights indigenous filmmakers, writers, producers
Gallup Independent. November 21st, 2019. Richard Reyes, Staff Writer.
GALLUP – The inaugural First Peoples’ Film Festival highlighted movies produced, written and directed by indigenous filmmakers at the Octavia Fellin Public Library as part of Native American Heritage Month.
Film festival organizer Joshua Whitman, who is the experiential learning coordinator for the library, said the purpose of the event was to bring attention to works that are often overlooked in Hollywood.
“In my opinion, the film industry is predominantly white-washed,” Whitman said. “A lot of popular movies that are directed, produced, and written by people that are popular in the mainstream. The films highlighted in the festival are not really publicized because we are a minority.” Continued After Image
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Showcasing Native films
Whitman said he wanted to showcase Native American films because the community is predominantly Native American, making up about nearly 75% of the population in McKinley, County.
Whitman said he began planning the film festival about three months in advance, but it almost didn’t come together. He planned to show films for two weeks, but he ran into technical difficulties and licensing troubles.
There were also movies in production or post-production that he hoped to show but they are not yet ready.
Whitman researched Native American films via the library’s film streaming service Canopy. He then chose films that pertained to contemporary issues, particularly the transition from pre-colonization and colonization into modern society.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Diné artist Jerry Brown finds inspiration in traditions, upbringing
Gallup Independent. November 19th, 2019. Vida Volkert, Staff Writer
GALLUP – The sight of a nun walking down Thoreau’s NM Highway 371 with an acoustic guitar strapped to her shoulder is one of the reasons Jerry Brown changed the course of his life.
Brown, now a successful artist from Mariano Lake, had dropped out of high school and had no direction. In his own words, “I was too wild.” He had spent a few years in different boarding schools in the area, a school in Utah and public schools in Thoreau, Wingate and Crownpoint. Continued after Image
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
‘Too wild”
“I started the public school, but I didn’t like it there and walked back to the house.” he said
It was around 1988 when Brown saw the nun walking down the street in Thoreau. The nun was “Sister Michelle.” She was the principal of St. Kateri Tckakwitha school in Thoreau, which later became St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Brown remembered the school was known as “the academy,” and it was a small campus. He was so intrigued by the sight of Sister Michelle walking with her guitar that he decided to visit the school.
“They put me in 10th grade. I met all the teachers. They came from all walks of life. They were missionaries that were doing the good thing for the natives,” Brown said.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Library serves up a colorful concoction: Mocktails and Coloring
Gallup Independent. November 18th, 2019. Vida Volkert, Staff Writer.
GALLUP – Josh Whitman was making non-alcoholic mojitos with club soda instead of rum, and Shirley Temple with grenadine syrup and lime juice during a mocktails-and-coloring event at the Octavia Fellin Public Library Saturday.
On the table, next to the cups, syrup, ginger ale, ice cubes, and mixers, Whitman had a spread of designs and colored pencils. On another table behind him, Whitman had a set of speakers and was streaming indie music on Spotify.
“Coloring is one of the things you can do and not stress about it.” Whitman, the library’s experiential learning coordinator said. Continued After Image
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
‘Creative Expression’
“I have 14 different designs for them to choose from, and three different cocktails – I call them mocktails. The holidays could be stressful time of the year when people are shopping.” he said. “This is a free of stress and gives them a nice creative outlook to creative expression.”
Danielle Leekity, 32, and her children Anjelica, 11 and Jacob, 5, learned about the activity on Facebook and decided it was a good way to spend their Saturday in Gallup. The mother and her two children were sitting next to each other on an adjacent table and were coloring while enjoying their drinks.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
“My daughter is very artistic. She has pastels at home and taught herself how to draw,” Leekity said. “We usually come her for the events. Everybody says it gives children something to do but it is also for the families. a relaxing wat to spend the weekend. We go to the ArtsCrawl every month. The fun part about this area. everything is within walking distance.”
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
