The art of the world from the Queens Library

Even if the cold weather and Covid are keeping you indoors when possible, an inside look at some of the great art of the world, along with its creators, its influences and its time and place in history are available for free in one’s home.

All you need is the internet and the website for the Queens Public Library.

The popular Art History Lecture Series, led by retired New York City school teacher and principal Mary Dono, returns on Jan. 7 and runs through Feb. 25. It is part of a wide-ranging offering of programs from the QPL that is geared toward seniors but is open to anyone wishing to log in. Some programs require registration.

Dono’s topics this year will include the art deco movement; modernist Marc Chagall; the Harlem Renaissance; Black artists and more. She believes the artworks are only part of the story.

Dono said first that no art movement is created in a vacuum without influences or begins or ends on a single day.

“Art Deco wasn’t even named that until the 1960s, when it had a revival,” she said. “It was at its height in 1925, and it passed through different styles. Into the 1930s it featured streaming, which was a feature of things like diners. By the 1939 World’s Fair [held in Queens] it was on its way out.”

Dono doesn’t want people to know only of Pablo Picasso’s greatest paintings.

“I want to know who Picasso drank with,” she said.

Dono has compiled more than 70 presentations. And it is a labor of love for someone who has a passion for art. Her four academic degrees, including a doctorate from St. John’s University, are related to her professional education background.

“I do a lot of research,” she said.

Dono said Art Deco, on Jan. 7 and 14, and Chagall on Jan. 21 and 28, both had enough material to require two parts, as does the Harlem Renaissance double feature on Feb. 18 and 25.

“Those are very rich topics,” she said.

Another QPL art offering is the two-part series on Jan. 11 and 18 titled “Western Art History: The Big Picture from the Stone Age to the Beginnings of Modern Art.”

Speaker Gene Wisniewski will bring participants from the Stone Age through the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of Classicism; and from medieval art to the 20th century.

Madlyn Schnieder, the library’s Older Adult/Homebound coordinator, said the library always has tried to get its in-person programs to the branches where they would be of most use to the patrons on-site.

That naturally led to going online as the demand grew. Covid two years ago made it absolutely essential to help people who would be forced into isolation.

“We wanted to make sure that we could make as many of our programs and activities as possible virtual,” she said. One of Dono’s presentations last year had nearly 70 participants at their screens, and not just in the World’s Borough.

“From across the ocean, from California,” she said. Sometimes it would require getting their instructions and presenters familiar with the developing technology going from Zoom to Webex.

“We’d train them,” she said. “We’d have rehearsals to make sure they know how to share a screen,” she said.

Other activities beginning in January include a memoir-writing workshop beginning on Jan. 5 with registration required; “Still Life - From Drawing to Watercolor “ with Karen Fitzgerald beginning Jan. 6; and “Theatre des Artistes: Modern Art Evenings” with Jennifer Katanic beginning Jan. 20.

Programs beginning in February and later include light aerobics; ukulele instruction with registration required; workshops for pastels and clay and others.

Information on the programs, links and registration are available online at queenslibrary.org.