Violin teacher Lisa Pettipaw will perform and host an “instrumental petting zoo” at Arts on the Lawn July 30 at the Scarborough Public Library. Shared / Lisa Pettipaw
The Scarborough Public Library is celebrating the arts on July 30 with an event featuring local musicians, writers, sketch artists and knitters.
“It’s like a wonderful, unique celebration of how we all do what we love, and to be able to come back to the world and share it is amazing,” said Elisa Boxer, a Scarborough writer who will read from her latest book. children’s book, “Splash!,” at the Art on the Lawn event.
Her books, Boxer said, are about women who break. For example, “Splash,” tells the story of Ethelda Bleibtrey, a 1920 Olympic gold medalist who used swimming to help her recover from polio. In 1919, she also helped pass a law requiring women to wear stockings while swimming.
The daughter-mother of two violinists will play on the lawn and have a variety of instruments for people to try out, in what she calls an “instrument petting zoo.”
“We’ll have tables with violins,” said daughter Lisa Pettipaw, a musician and violin teacher who lives in Saco. “Maybe two bases just to mix it up, have a big one and a small one.”
Members of the library’s Sketchers group, including Patricia Scammon and founder Michael Brown, will display their sketches.
“I’ve done it my whole life,” said Brown of the artform. “I started, as an army chief, as a military illustrator for the United States Air Force, and from that time on I never stopped doing it.”
Patricia Scammon will display her sculptures at Art on the Lawn. Drew Johnson / The Forecaster
“I was always a closet doodler,” said Scammon, who has been told that drawing “isn’t really an art” in the past. “(The Sketchers) kind of burn your soul to create and be a part of something bigger than yourself.”
Library knitting group member Robin Rubinstein will have some of her work on display.
“(Arts on the Lawn) will be an opportunity for us to meet and introduce, hopefully, other people to the art of weaving,” she said. “See if they can get something out of it.”
The Scarborough Public Library aims to welcome these groups and foster a collaborative community that supports local artists, according to Director Nancy Crowell.
“There are a lot of talented people in our community,” Crowell said. “We can come together, in an organized way, to support all the artists. It’s really fun.”
But the library is not just a gathering place, the artists said, but something they relied on throughout the pandemic to feel community and thrive.
Dianne Pettipaw, the mother in the violin duo, moved to Scarborough in December and immediately became involved in the library and its community.
“The first place I came was the library,” he said.
The knitting group met via Zoom throughout the pandemic due to library resources. In the meantime, Boxer used the library to research more female criminals to write about.
“We’re making this technology available locally in-person,” Boxer said. “At a time of (technical) budget cuts and when most of the world is still online, it feels more celebratory.
A family-friendly Art on the Lawn event will take place at the library from 9 a.m. to noon July 30 with a rain date the following day. The event is free but there will be books and art available for purchase.
For more information, visit scarboroughlibrary.org.
