Tip o’ the hat to Gadfly followers who contributed for the H.D. portrait through the BAPL go-fund me page and to the Laros Foundation for pitching in in a big way.
Bethlehem Area Public Library Receives Grant from R.K. Laros Foundation
for Portrait of H.D.
BETHLEHEM, PA (January 28, 2020) — The Bethlehem Area Public Library (BAPL) is pleased to announce it has received a grant from the R.K. Laros Foundation to support the library’s recently completed portrait commission of local literary legend H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), painted by local artist Angela Fraleigh, professor and chair of the Moravian College Art Department. The grant was presented to BAPL Executive Director Josh Berk and Chair of the Board of Trustees Anne Felker on Wednesday, January 22, by Laros Executive Director Sharon Jones Zondag and Trustees Ron Madison and Elizabeth Shimer Bowers. The Laros Foundation is “pleased to be a part of [the Library’s] mission to preserve our shared history and to bring the community into the vivid life of our local library.”
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BAPL’s Josh Berk hosted a “sneak preview” of the H. D. portrait last Saturday at the library.
(Gadfly apologizes for the lousy photo quality, captured from video taken with poor lighting. Portrait better seen on the videos below.)
H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Angela Fraleigh
Video highlights of the “sneak preview”:
- BAPL director Josh Berk sketches the history of the Finding H. D. project and the portrait with Doug Roysdon’s “H. D.” marionette watching over his shoulder.
- Artist Angela Fraleigh unveils the portrait.
- Fraleigh talks a bit about her work.
- Actors Will Reichard-Flynn and Aidan Gilrain-McKenna, with Liam McKenna on trumpet, perform a scene from “The Secret,” an original play about H. D. that premiered during Festival UnBound in October.
- Some audience members chatting about the portrait.
“The Secret,” devised by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater Company, directed by Jennie Gilrain, puppetmaker and chief playwright Doug Roysdon, returns April 2-5 at Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem. Reservations: 610-867-1689, or lisa@touchstone.org
Touchstone Theatre