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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Mercer Public Library
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260702T160000
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SUMMARY:Artist in Residence: Opening Reception for Mietzi "Marie" Bleck
DESCRIPTION:Join us in celebrating the work of our 2026-2027 Artist in Residence Mietzi “Marie” Bleck on July 2 from 4pm-6pm. Light snacks and drinks will be provided and no advanced registration is required; all are welcome to attend. Thanks to a sponsorship by the Friends of the Mercer Library\, the Artist in Residence program is free for all who wish to participate and enjoy our local artists’ work. For questions or additional details\, please contact the Library at 715-476-2366. \nPrints by Bleck have hung in the library since 1937 when they were donated by the Mercer Women’s Civic Club. With 89 years of history\, the Mercer Library is proud to recognize her importance to Mercer history and welcome her home. \nIn the hope of honoring her art\, life\, and service to our country\, several of her works will be prominently displayed at the Mercer Public Library\, including the addition of three new block prints. The legacy that Bleck has left through her depictions of life in 1930s Mercer has survived long after its initial creation. \nA multi-modal artist\, Bleck worked with linoleum cuts\, paints\, sketches\, and wrote poetry. Block prints that hang in the Library were made as a part of the federal Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) efforts to employ artists to beautify and enhance public spaces. Most of her work was inspired by her time in Mercer and Northern Wisconsin. She truly fulfilled the mission of the WPA in bringing art to our community and representing life in Mercer at the time. \nBorn in Oshkosh\, Mietzi Bleck lived most of her life in Mercer including as a teacher during the 1937-1938 academic year. She was the head of the Art Department of Oshkosh High School before joining the Navy’s WAVES program\, becoming a Aerographers Mate\, and moving to Palmer\, Alaska. After contracting an illness\, Bleck returned to Milwaukee\, where she ultimately succumbed\, having lived a full\, yet short life.
URL:https://mercerpubliclibrary.org/event/opening-reception-marie-bleck/
CATEGORIES:Adult Events,Friends of the Library,Kids Events,Teen Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260708T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260708T173000
DTSTAMP:20260603T195301
CREATED:20260429T205634Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T202339Z
UID:10001758-1783524600-1783531800@mercerpubliclibrary.org
SUMMARY:Public Screening: "The New Deal for Artists"
DESCRIPTION:Join us on July 8 from 3:30pm-5:30pm for a free screening of the 1979 documentary “The New Deal for Artists”\, narrated by Orson Welles. This screening is a part of the 2026-2027 recognition of artist Mietzi “Marie” Bleck\, who created works that have hung in the Library since 1937 as a part of the WPA-Federal Arts Project. Thanks to a sponsorship by the Friends of the Mercer Library\, the Artist in Residence program is free for all who wish to participate and enjoy our local artists’ work. For questions or additional details\, please contact the Library at 715-476-2366. \nSynopsis (from Corinth Films): \nWith the failure of President Herbert Hoover’s policies and ensuing Great Depression\, Americans were desperate for help. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pragmatic New Deal Program aimed to put US citizens back on their feet and back to work\, and also included an innovative and lively public arts program designed to provide economic relief and jobs for artists of all walks. Nearly every artist born between 1900-1915 spent their formative years under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration. Unfortunately\, with the arrival of Martin Dies’ House Un-American Activities Committee\, theatre actors\, directors\, writers and painters soon found themselves the target of Republicans’ aggressive anti-communist agendas and the W.P.A. was under full-blown political attack. \nA warm look back at W.P.A. and the most ambitious government-supported arts program since the Italian Renaissance\, THE NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTS was originally made for German television as a 90-minute documentary by director/writer/producer Wieland Schulz-Keil. It premiered in the US on PBS in April 1981\, and garnered critical acclaim and today\, 40 years after its premiere\, Corinth Films proudly presents the fascinating documentary digitally remastered from the 16MM negative. Narrated by the iconic Orson Welles\, THE NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTS\, also features a who’s who of 20th Century luminaries including Studs Terkel\, John Houseman\, Arthur Rothstein\, Howard Da Silva\, James Brooks\, Nelson Algren and more.
URL:https://mercerpubliclibrary.org/event/the-new-deal-for-artists/
CATEGORIES:Adult Events,Featured,Friends of the Library,Teen Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://mercerpubliclibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/The-New-Deal-for-Artists-poster.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260723T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260723T173000
DTSTAMP:20260603T195301
CREATED:20260506T193041Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T193831Z
UID:10001759-1784820600-1784827800@mercerpubliclibrary.org
SUMMARY:Artist in Residence: Honoring Mietzi Bleck through Block Printing with Cedar Nelson
DESCRIPTION:Join the Mercer Library in celebrating the life\, legacy\, and art of Mietzi “Marie” Bleck through her more prolific medium\, block printing. On Thursday\, July 23\, artist Cedar Nelson will host a beginner workshop on capturing the beauty of the Northwoods through this dynamic media. Space is limited to 12 participants and advanced registration is required. Reserve your space by calling the Mercer Library at 715-476-2366. \nThanks to a sponsorship by the Friends of the Mercer Library\, all programs in the Artist in Residence series are free and open to the public. For more information\, contact the Library Director\, Julia Pusateri\, at director@mercerpubliclibrary.org or by calling 715-476-2366. \nMercer Public Library has decided to posthumously recognize local artist Mietzi “Marie” Bleck as the 2026 Artist in Residence. Prints by Bleck have hung in the library since 1937 when they were donated by the Mercer Women’s Civic Club. With 89 years of history\, the Mercer Library is proud to recognize her importance to Mercer history and welcome her home. \n 
URL:https://mercerpubliclibrary.org/event/honoring-mietzi-bleck-block-printing/
CATEGORIES:Adult Events,Featured,Friends of the Library,Kids Events,Teen Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260812T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260812T173000
DTSTAMP:20260603T195301
CREATED:20260506T202510Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T202510Z
UID:10001761-1786548600-1786555800@mercerpubliclibrary.org
SUMMARY:Public Screening: "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story"
DESCRIPTION:Join us on August 12 from 3:30pm-5:30pm for a free screening of the 2009 documentary “Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story”.  This screening is a part of the 2026-2027 recognition of artist Mietzi “Marie” Bleck\, who created works that have hung in the Library since 1937 as a part of the WPA-Federal Arts Project. Thanks to a sponsorship by the Friends of the Mercer Library\, the Artist in Residence program is free for all who wish to participate and enjoy our local artists’ work. For questions or additional details\, please contact the Library at 715-476-2366. \nSynopsis (from the American Library Association) \nThe film shows a spectacular range—from New York to the West Coast\, from Chicago to the Deep South. The stories of the writers and the people they chronicled take viewers beyond stock images of the Depression into the trials and fragile joys of people’s lives. The Writers’ Project workers were assembling guides and interviews\, but they were also knitting together the cultural fabric torn apart by the national crisis. \nFor this sweeping subject\, the film uses a broad palette of archival film and audio from the 1920s and ’30s\, murals from the arts project\, FSA photographs\, live-action footage and spellbinding interview commentary shot in High Definition. Interviews with surviving Project workers Stetson Kennedy in Florida and Studs Terkel in Chicago (one of his last interviews) provide riveting stories that help anchor the narrative. A diverse group of leading authors\, poets and historians provide witty and heartbreaking insights on an extraordinary vision of the America we never knew. Rarely seen footage from early social documentarians from the 1930s reinforce the immediacy of these perspectives. \nThe soundtrack features a collection of original field recordings made by Writers’ Project workers on acetate disk\, using a massive machine the size of a coffee table\, which was lugged along to interview sites. Newly restored by the Library of Congress\, this recording device is shown “in action” in the film. Sound elements include Cuban and gospel songs\, audio of Zora Neale Hurston singing and collecting stories in Florida\, street vendors in New York and folk songs of the West. A number of commissioned musical works by artists such as Taj Mahal\, the Gypsy Kings and Peter Ostrushko\, and a musical score by Joseph Vitarelli\, highlights the range of cultures the Writers’ Project set out to capture. The film also draws upon a rich reservoir of radio broadcasts\, including a passionate defense of the WPA arts projects (in the face of scrutiny by the Dies Committee) from a young Richard Wright in 1939. \nThe film shows the most chaotic publishing venture in history and the remarkable national biography it produced. It reveals how out-of-work Americans\, young and old\, found hope in the country’s darkest days and created a legacy for American culture. Viewers will leave with a deep feeling of how that legacy has renewed meaning today. \nMajor funding for the documentary Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities\, and the state humanities councils of Illinois\, Nebraska\, Idaho\, Maryland\, Texas and Wisconsin. Produced in association with the Library of Congress\, the documentary will be broadcast in HD on the Smithsonian Network. \nA companion book\, Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America\, by documentary co-producer and writer\, David Taylor\, was published by Wiley and Sons in February 2009.
URL:https://mercerpubliclibrary.org/event/soul-of-a-people-writing-americas-story/
CATEGORIES:Adult Events,Featured,Friends of the Library,Kids Events,Teen Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://mercerpubliclibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Soul-of-a-People.jpg
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