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March 5th @ 2:00pm: Award-winning actor and singer Kimberly Wilson wrote and stars in “A Journey: A Musical One-Woman Show.” In this powerful performance Wilson embodies seven women, whose lives span hundreds of years, telling their stories of faith, hope and sense of calling that truly helped to shape American history.
Love and truth form the foundation of this inspirational performance. The women featured in the show like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks and more had the courage to make their dreams a reality that not only elevated their own lives, but also helped lay the foundation for future generations. Through song, movement and dialogue Wilson brings these characters, and their triumphs and truths to life. Each performance is immediately followed by an audience talkback.
This program is co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of Ridgefield and is offered in partnership with the Ridgefield Historical Society.
Ready to show your love for the Ridgefield Library? Thursday 2.23.23 is FCCF Giving Day: Your online donation on 2.23.23 supports all that you love about the Ridgefield Library and ensures vital access for everyone in our community to exceptional programs, resources, collections and services.
February 18th @ 2:00pm: H. Lloyd Weston is a former Ridgefield resident and an internationally known Jamaican-born artist whose work is in significant private collections in New York, Rome, Tokyo, London and Paris. Join us for this very special artist’s reception celebrating the artist and his work.
This exhibition — Color, Concept, Creativity — is on view in the Library’s Lower Level Gallery through March 29th. It represents a large body of Weston’s work from 1989 – 2019 which is influenced by Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. Weston’s luminous paintings often have an affinity with nature. He is a strong colorist who conveys warmth and dynamism in his landscapes and abstract paintings. Weston’s objective is to make paintings with a sense of beauty and immediacy that intimately connect with the viewer.
Please register to attend the artist’s reception.
Pictured: Sunrise on Lake Lugano, 2016
February 19th @ 2:00pm: Too Blue is a quartet whose members hail from CT & NY state. They have been performing in the area for over 20 years. As individual musicians, they’ve won numerous instrumental awards, and as a group are noted for being one of the top bluegrass bands in the area. Banjo, mandolin, guitar and upright bass are all acoustic, and the band sparkles with drive and energy.
Too Blue will entertain you with a unique blend of bluegrass old & new, flavored with country & swing, sizzling with hot instrumentals and sweet harmonies. Their vocal and instrumental repertoire ranges from country-flavored Patsy Cline, to traditional bluegrass Bill Monroe, to jazz standards, as well as their own originals.
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library’s generous support of the Ridgefield Folk Concert Series.
February 15th @ 7:00pm: An enormously popular event in 2022, “An Evening of Rap, Hip-Hop & Poetry” returns for 2023, this time featuring five of Connecticut’s best-known spoken-word performers: Iyaba Ibo Mangingo, “Goddess” Tymani Rain, New London Poet Laureate Josh Brown (aka “AnUrbanNerd”), MayaRose, and Sharmont “Influence” Little. Ridgefield Poet Laureate Barb Jennes will host and lead a brief talk-back at the program’s conclusion.
IYABA IBO MANDINGO is a painter, poet, writer, actor, playwright, and Master Teaching Artist. In addition to three poetry chapbooks—41 Times, Amerikkkan Exile, and 40 days & 40 nites of write—Iyaba authored full-length poetry collection, You Tongue Heavy Lakka 56.
GODDESS TYMANI RAIN is a multifaceted artist who placed 3rd in the 2023 Z Experience Poetry Slam and ranked 17th in the 2021 International SIPS competition. Tymani currently hosts Poetz Realm Open Mic in Bridgeport on the 1st and 4th Wednesday of each month.
JOSH BROWN (aka AnUrbanNerd) is a rap and spoken-word artist who currently serves as the poet laureate of New London. Josh also directs the ScHOLA2RS House Learning Community, an organization focused on increasing the graduation rate of black men studying at UConn.
MAYAROSE has performed theatre, improv, and poetry throughout CT, NY, and LA. MayaRose’s first book, Poems from My Broken Heart, was published in 2016. She currently cohosts the Coffeehouse Speakeasy open mic at Studio Hill Gallery in Woodbury.
SHARMONT “INFLUENCE” LITTLE has won over 100 poetry slams nationwide. He was a five-time member of the CT slam team Verbal Slap, was the 2018 Connecticut Grand Slam Champion, and opened for the NAACP Image Awards in 2009.
February 9th @ 6:30pm: In this online lecture, ArtScapades will look at the lives and works of four African American artists who were working around the turn of the 20th century. Horace Pippin, Laura Wheeler Waring, Aaron Douglas and Archibald John Motley addressed the themes most pertinent to the era, including slavery, racism, the role of blacks in World War I and the shift of the African American art world to New York, specifically to Harlem.