Join us at Deer Pond Farm for a 4-mile, moderate difficulty hike on our Laurel Trail for a view at our fully blossoming mountain laurel grove. Learn about how the CT state flower came to be, how it is protected, and which wildlife love laurel. 

Please register here

$5 members; $10 non-members

Music and Rhyme for Children from Birth to 3s! A program for babies and their caretakers that incorporates music, rhythm, stories, and nursery rhymes to spur language development, body awareness, pre-reading skills, self-confidence, and cooperation. Gathering at 10:15, the program begins at 10:30.

Registration appreciated, drop-ins welcome!

Come by the Junior Room to learn more about the summer of Level Up at Your Library. Find out about all the events and activities the Library has to offer this summer! Pick up your first BINGO sheet, do a craft, have a snack, play some games, and have some fun! Kids of all ages are welcome to participate. Registration opens for July’s Library Club (formerly known as Library Camp), a weekly 2-hour drop-off for kids entering Grades K-4 (you must register for each individual week, space is limited).

Join KML and Kent Art Association to watch Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress, and The Tangerine.

A journey inside the world of a legend of modern art and an icon of feminism. Onscreen, the nonagenarian Louise Bourgeois is magnetic, mercurial and emotionally raw-an uncompromising artist whose life and work are imbued with her ongoing obsession with the mysteries of childhood. Her process is on full display in this intimate documentary, which features the artist in her studio and with her installations, shedding light on her intentions and inspirations.

Guests are encouraged to bring snacks and drinks!

Join us at the Library for casual games and refreshments. 21+ are welcome!

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

French Fridays. Meets first and third Friday of each month at 9:30 a.m. Join us for a French Conversation Group at the Library. Reading Room. Free & Open to the Public.

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Join us at Deer Pond Farm for the national annual summer bird count. We expect to observe breeding songbirds, raptors, and more! We may also see some young fledgling birds at our nest boxes and purple martin gourds. 

Please register here

$5 member; $10 non-member

Have you ever wondered how handcrafted brooms are created? Join us for this day-long hands-on class taught by Massachusetts broom maker Alan Curboy. Students will learn the basics of broom material selection and layout while using traditional tools and methods to create a hand-crafted finished product. As a group, we will discuss the various aspects of the craft and go step by step, making both a Whisk broom and Cobweb style broom.

Join Lee Sohl and her dogs for some Father’s Day stories! We will be meeting in the Junior Room. Children of all ages are welcome to participate.

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Mela is a 4th Generation Clairvoyant Liaison with over 35 years experience in spirit communication.

Clairvoyance is the ability to perceive that which most others cannot. This is in direct communication with spirit. No one spirit can be guaranteed to come through in any session. Whoever is the one with the message, will present themselves.

Meet Mela in this short video

Annual Benefit Party.

Please visit the link below for more information:

https://www.kentmemoriallibrary.org/benefit-2025/

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Take advantage of this rare opportunity to have an in person session with Sheilaa L. Hite in Kent, CT!

Sheilaa Hite, C.Ht., CLC, is a world renowned Master Tarot consultant, instructor, Intuitive and author who insightfully uses the Tarot, Astrology, Palmistry, Psychometry, Dream and Symbol interpretation, Mediumship, Channeling, Meditation, Healing and Intuitive Counseling to help her clients understand and fulfill the meaning and purpose of their lives. Her ability to expertly interpret and use the power and energy of the Tarot is legendary. She has an accuracy rate of 95-100% and is featured in Paulette Cooper’s book, The 100 Top Psychics in America.

Meet Sheilaa in this short video

Music and Rhyme for Children from Birth to 3s! A program for babies and their caretakers that incorporates music, rhythm, stories, and nursery rhymes to spur language development, body awareness, pre-reading skills, self-confidence, and cooperation. Gathering at 10:15, the program begins at 10:30.

Registration appreciated, drop-ins welcome!

Deer Pond Farm Sanctuary Manager/Naturalist, Lori Lichtenauer (CT Licensed Forester) will present on the practices of silviculture. Learn about managing woodlands for diverse needs of people and wildlife. She will explain a brief history of forestry in New England, and share details of how foresters create land management plans for wildlife, biodiversity, and recreation. 

Please register here

FREE: suggested donation $10

Music and Rhyme for Children from Birth to 3s! A program for babies and their caretakers that incorporates music, rhythm, stories, and nursery rhymes to spur language development, body awareness, pre-reading skills, self-confidence, and cooperation. Gathering at 10:15, the program begins at 10:30.

Registration appreciated, drop-ins welcome!

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Bring your lunch, listen to stories, and enjoy a fun craft! All are welcome, this program is intended for preschool-aged children. This event will be offered in person in the Junior Room of the Library.

Registration is appreciated but not required.

The tarot provides a rich landscape of symbolic imagery that reflects the hero’s journey. The mirror of the tarot is an inspiring tool for both creative writing & journaling.

In this workshop, Kathleen Kryspin, local English teacher for over 29 years, will instruct you to use tarot cards to inspire both creative writing & reflective journal practice.

Whether you are interested in storytelling or self divination, this workshop will provide you with writing tools from the tarot!

This discussion will provide a brief overview of the early and middle periods of Stoic philosophy, with a primary focus on the later Stoics. We will also explore select aphorisms from both Eastern and Western philosophical traditions to highlight how wisdom transcends time and cultural boundaries.

Patrick Bonis has been a dedicated teacher and coach for nearly 25 years, specializing in Community Health and holding credentials as a Certified Wellness Counselor. As a Performance Coach, he seamlessly integrates philosophy into his pre-lift and pre-game talks, inspiring athletes and students alike. With a strong foundation in Anatomy and Physiology, combined with his passion for philosophical thought, Patrick empowers individuals to tap into the timeless wisdom and actions of those who came before them. His unique interdisciplinary approach fosters both physical excellence and mental clarity.

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Relief for Grief Group. Meets the second and fourth Friday of each month from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. This is a community group for anyone who has experienced a loss, is feeling grief, or grieving. Grief is a natural emotional and physical response to loss. Every person reacts differently and it may be expressed in many ways. This group is neither traditional therapy nor counseling, per se, but it is a safe supportive space where people can come together, speak about their loss, explore their emotions and thoughts, if it is the right time and place for them to do so. Reading Room. Free & Open to the Public.

For kids entering Grades 5 and up only, please. Attendance at this event counts for one point towards the summer’s eight-point goal. Registration is appreciated, please email (kmljuniorroom@biblio.org) to register, or register online.