COLUMBUS, Ohio — This Memorial Day, Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis kicks off a year-long centennial celebration with an art exhibition honoring military veterans.
The event will feature live music, a used book sale, and a cookout from the library's scouting group. But one of the day's highlights will come with the opening of an exhibition of art created by military veterans who have participated in the Columbus VA's Veteran Arts Initiative program.
"The purpose of the Whole Health program and the Veteran Arts Initiative is to take those things that you do in your life - you know, your hobbies, your joy, what actually matters to you - and being able to put that into your actual clinical health care," explained Stephen Yarger of the Columbus Veterans Affairs Hospital.
"For me, art's very cathartic," said artist and Army Veteran Leni D. Anderson. "I have what I call a 'chaos and cacophony' bouncing around inside of my head and, like you see from my painting, this is sort of how my mind works — there's all of these different images. To me it makes sense; to others it may not. I don't know."
Dedicated on Memorial Day 1925 by Mabel Wagnalls Jones in honor of her parents who were co-founders of the Funk & Wagnalls publishing company, Wagnalls Memorial Library's Memorial Day celebration this year will kick off 12 months of special events including art exhibits, history tours and lectures, ghost tours and a play written by the library's historian all leading up to the hundredth anniversary in 2025.
"The Wagnalls Memorial has always, always been - and intended to be by the Wagnalls family - a place for education, for art appreciation, and to expand people's perspectives and opportunities," explained Deb Silvia, executive director of the Wagnalls Memorial Foundation. "So all of the activities throughout the year either focus on literary arts, performing arts, visual arts - which is very much the passion of the Wagnalls family and very much our purpose in the community is to bring that to the community and share with them."
For more info about Wagnalls Memorial Library's centennial celebrations, visit: https://www.wagnallslibrary.org/.