ENFIELD — Kate Minshall walked through the Enfield Public Library pointing out pieces of art that were part of the library’s community coral reef art project.
There was the jellyfish made by a Mascoma Valley Regional High School student that used repurposed film as its tentacles, the fish with expressive eyes that young Enfield students made out of Bubble Wrap and the crocheted and knitted sea coral and octopus made by members of area fiber groups.
“We’ve done the whole project out of people’s recycling,” Minshall, the library’s director, said during a Wednesday morning interview at the library.
The public can view the completed coral reef from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 4 during a grand opening at Whitney Hall, the town office building where the library is located, at 23 Main St. It will be up in full for around a day and then the pieces will be distributed throughout the library for the public to view.
The idea for the coral reef started to percolate last summer when library staff installed a Free Little Art Gallery — known as a FLAG — as part of a worldwide project similar to little free libraries. People create small pieces of art, leave it in the FLAG, and take a piece of art that’s already there.
The project is meant to inspire creativity and community, two things that are a good fit for libraries, Minshall said.
“Is there anything more artistic than letters coming together, forming words, creating books?” Minshall said.
After the FLAG was installed, Minshall came across British artist Josh Gluckstein’s social media posts. Gluckstein uses recycled cardboard to create wildlife-themed pieces, including coral reefs. She was blown away — and inspired.
“We absolutely could do that,” Minshall recalled thinking. “We are experts with cardboard.”
While the majority of the project is made of donated items, the library had a $250 budget, which primarily went toward glue, tape, Shrinky Dink sheets — a specialized material that hardens when its baked, Minshall said.
More than 500 people from Enfield and surrounding towns created pieces or donated recycled objects to put toward the project, Minshall said. They brought in soda cans that were cut into fish shapes, paper towel roles and laundry detergent tubs that were cut up and made into a variety of coral pieces and sea creatures.
Community members picked up the items to decorate on their own time and returned them to the library from January through April.
Staff heard from multiple residents that “it brought them joy or it got them through the winter,” library clerk Jerusha Howard said.
“Enfield Village School students expressed enthusiasm and excitement during the process of learning about coral reefs, engaging with our public library, and creating their ‘school of fish’,” Whitney Banker, the school’s library media specialist, wrote in an emailed statement. She added that many students at the school regularly visit the library “and are excited to share their creations.”
Last fall, the Granite State Rockstars, an Enfield-based 4-H club whose 11 youth participants range in age from 7 to 16, contacted the library about volunteer opportunities and Minshall suggested the coral reef project. After taking a vote, the youth members decided to give it a go.
The club members made sea creatures out of paper-mache that community members decorated.
“My favorite part was watching them be able to build something and then release it and not be attached to it,” said Tammi DeFelice, the organizational leader of Granite State Rockstars.
The kids helped build bases to support different parts of the reef, among other tasks. DeFelice’s 12-year-old daughter, Laura, sewed together pieces of scrap fabric to make a giant octopus, which she described in an email as a challenge.
“I think that making my octopus and working with my friends and the Rock Stars were my favorite things about this project, but I also like thinking about how much joy the sea creatures I made have brought to people in the community, while they were decorating them,” Laura wrote in an email.
Another member of the Rockstars, Bella Dakai, agreed.
“It’s amazing that the library is able to put this project together and include the community,” Bella, 12, wrote in an email.
The project also aims to show the numerous ways the library space can be utilized. Staff will moved wheeled bookcases to another part of the library to make room for the coral reef.
The community “can use the space as much as you use the collection,” Minshall said.
Now that the project is nearing completion, Minshall is looking forward to seeing the community view it.
“They should be really proud of themselves,” she said.
The coral reef, or elements of it, is expected to make another public appearance this summer at the North Haverhill Fair — which is scheduled to take place July 22-26 — where Granite State Rockstars are planning on displaying it, DeFelice said.
