Permanent art at NCL features local artists

Outside the library, perched on a rock between the deck and the bridge, a dragon reads a book and welcomes visitors to his lair. The found-object sculpture by Marian Reynolds is dedicated to long-time Nederland Elementary School teacher and Library Foundation Board member Jean Foss.

Tom Hendricks donated rock from the  Caribou Mine for the fireplace and the outdoor wall behind the dragon. Len’s Excavating helped haul the rock. Fransen-Pittman donated $1,200 so KMB’s masons could go up to Caribou and hand-pick rocks for the project.  The end result is a rock wall and a fireplace that are unique to the Nederland area. They showcase our history, and  are a testament to the commitment of a lot of people to this library.

On chilly days a fire crackles in the two-sided stone fireplace built by local craftsmen with KMB Stone Masonry from ore-bearing stone that was mined in Caribou in the 1800s. Next to it is a stained glass window by Ward artist Naomi Edelberg Janches. Janches used sinuous blues and greens to suggest the creek that gurgles under the library’s south-facing deck. She says that even though glass is usually considered a rigid and unforgiving medium, she looks for “the natural fluidity that lies within the glass itself, expanding on its sensuality and allowing its natural swirls, curves and patterns to find their full expression.”

On the other side of the fireplace is a massive but ethereal forged metal gate created by Rollinsville artist Emmit Hoyl, a classically trained blacksmith who studied abroad at the Hereford Institute of Technology and founded Anvil Cloud Forge Company when he came back home to Colorado. Hoyl’s elegant gate evokes a book with pages floating away on the wind, and it folds on itself when the library is open. At night, the gate unfolds, making the library’s community room available for off-hour functions.