Destin Library art exhibit ends Thursday

Today and Thursday are your last chance to go down to Destin Library and take a Sunday outing in a Paris park.
Since late April, the library’s Calhoun Room has exhibited copies of paintings by the French artist Claude Monet, and fellow Frenchman George Seurat’s most famous painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” The Seurat painting, which shows ordinary Parisians enjoying a weekend afternoon in a local park, was painted by Seurat using “pointillism,” dabbing on the paint in a series of dots rather than strokes. Closeup copies of sections of the painting allow library visitors to see the details of the dots, and how they combine to create the finished image. Library Director Jurate Burns said she’d received a brochure from Teacher’s Discovery, and had taken it over to a meeting with Marcia Hull of the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation. Burns said the foundation’s new educational director, Leah McGill, booked the Monet and Seurat exhibits for a three-week stay at the library.
Last week, McGill told The Log, the foundation brought groups of second and third-graders, including some homeschooled students, to visit the exhibit. “It was so much fun, I loved working with those kids,” McGill, a retired teacher said. “I would love to show you the thank-you notes I’ve already received. They loved the paintings, they loved the colors, they said Monet was their favorite artist. My favorite thank-you note said ‘This field trip is as good as cake.’” Burns said the paintings would stay on display through Thursday.