Make 2025 be the year that you get to some of those classics you’d always planned to read! With our quarterly meetings, you can read leisurely and dive deeply. We’ll explore both fiction and nonfiction from the US and abroad for an expansive view of the past and, perhaps, a better understanding of the present.
Meets first Thursday of every third month.
First ten registered participants receive a free copy of each meeting’s book.
To register, email Lea at lea.aschkenas@cityofsanrafael.org.
Make 2026 be the year that you get to some of those classics you’d always planned to read! With our quarterly meetings, you can read leisurely and dive deeply. We’ll explore both fiction and nonfiction from the US and abroad for an expansive view of the past and, perhaps, a better understanding of the present.
Meets first Thursday of every third month.
First ten registered participants receive a free copy of each meeting’s book.
To register, email Lea at lea.aschkenas@cityofsanrafael.org.
May 7 — The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
August 6 — The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Alex Haley
Make 2026 be the year that you get to some of those classics you’d always planned to read! With our quarterly meetings, you can read leisurely and dive deeply. We’ll explore both fiction and nonfiction from the US and abroad for an expansive view of the past and, perhaps, a better understanding of the present.
Meets first Thursday of every third month.
First ten registered participants receive a free copy of each meeting’s book.
To register, email Lea at lea.aschkenas@cityofsanrafael.org.
February 5 — It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis
May 7 — The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
August 6 — The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Alex Haley
Video games and snacks that sounds like a great time.
What?! Yes, the library has got you covered!
Come get your game on with the new Pickleweed Library Video Game Club. The Club is an inclusive place for all tweens and teens to come a hangout, make new friends, play video games and eat delicious snacks.
We will have a Nintendo Switch running some of your favorite games. Come on by and enjoy good company and video games.
Ages 9 to 17.
You are more than welcome to bring your own portable system to play.
Snacks will be provided.
This program is brought to you thanks to the support of The Friends of the Library.
Video juegos y bocadillos suena a un rato divertido.
Ven a jugar con el nuevo Club de Videojuegos de la Biblioteca Pickleweed. El Club es un lugar inclusivo para todos los preadolescentes y adolescentes para venir a pasar el rato, hacer nuevos amigos, jugar videojuegos y comer deliciosos bocadillos.
Tendremos una Nintendo Switch con algunos de tus juegos favoritos. Ven y disfruta de buena compañía y videojuegos.
Edades de 9 a 17 años.
Puedes traer tu propia consola portátil para jugar.
Habrá bocadillos.
Este programa es traído a usted gracias al apoyo de The Friends of the Library.
Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021) became famous for his colorful paintings of American confections and buffets. He was also a self-described art “thief,” who openly drew ideas from and reinterpreted old and new European and American artworks. An influential teacher at Sacramento Junior College and the University of California, Davis, Thiebaud never stopped learning. He believed that art history is a continuum that connects artists of the past, present, and future. Highlighting work from across the beloved artist’s six-decade career, this exhibition features Thiebaud’s inventive reinterpretations and direct copies of famous artworks, as well as objects from his personal art collection that inspired him. Approximately 60 quintessential works by Thiebaud — including paintings of people (alone and together); still lives of cakes, tabletops, and other ordinary objects; cityscapes featuring soaring buildings; and mountain landscapes — offer an in-depth exploration of one of the most important and overlooked aspects of his creative practice: his passionate engagement with art history.
“I believe very much in the tradition that art comes from art and nothing else” —Wayne Thiebaud
FAMSF Docent: Alfred Escoffier
This exhibition at the Legion of Honor runs March 22, 2025 – August 17, 2025.
First Wednesday Art Talks are provided by the Friends of the San Rafael Library
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective, is the first major museum retrospective of the groundbreaking work of Ruth Asawa (1926–2013). It will feature the entire spectrum of the artist’s awe-inspiring practice. Sculpture, drawings, prints, paintings, design objects and archival material from U.S.-based public and private collections will offer an in-depth look at her expansive output and its inspirations, exploring the ways her longtime San Francisco home and garden served as the epicenter of her creative universe.
Docent Speaker: Avril Angevine
This exhibition will be at SFMOMA: April 5–September 2, 2025
First Wednesday Art Talks are provided by the Friends of the San Rafael Library
This art talk will showcase a period room at the Legion of Honor, the Salon Doré, originally constructed in 1781 at the Hôtel de La Trémoille in Paris during the reign of Louis XVI. It was later installed as a ballroom in a California home, then donated and reconstructed at the Legion of Honor in 1959. Twenty-first century visitors can get both a visceral and intellectual sense of how social life was conducted in an aristocratic environment during the eighteenth century. The salon de compagnie was designed to receive guests and invite conversation; it was meant for music and games and its elaborate rituals are embedded in everything from the arrangement of chairs to the quality of the lighting. Said to be one of the four finest French period rooms in an American museum, the Salon Doré is distinguished by having all the appropriate furnishings as well as lighting that creates the impression and atmosphere of candlelight.
FAMSF Docent: Marsha Holm
First Wednesday Art Talks are provided by the Friends of the San Rafael Library
2024 marks the 100th anniversary of San Francisco’s Legion of Honor. In honor of this celebration, this talk will look at the Legion’s global connections and the art, cultures and stories reflected in that collection.
What does an ancient Greek goddess have in common with an 18th century British noblewoman? How did a fusion of Islam and Christianity create a unique Spanish style of art? This talk will explore how contact between different people and cultures resulted in exchanges of ideas, resources, philosophies, and spiritual beliefs. And whether it was migration, trade, or conquest, these cultural exchanges are reflected in the art seen at the Legion of Honor. Global Connections: Art, Cultures, and Stories in the Legion of Honor’s Collection is presented as part of the museum’s 100th anniversary celebration
FAMSF Docent: Mike Madrid
First Wednesday Art Talks are provided by the Friends of the San Rafael Libraries
For thousands of years, Japanese artists have produced strikingly creative, distinctive, and functional ceramic works, utilizing traditional techniques while applying new adaptions and incorporating influences from other cultures such as Korea and China.
From the 5,000-year-old ritual jars of the Jomon period to the startlingly innovative creations of the 21st century, immerse yourself in the imaginative techniques, complex variety, and sheer beauty of Japanese ceramics in the Asian Art Museum’s collection, from centuries past to the present day.
Asian Art Museum Docent: Ginny Meyer
Ginny Meyer is a Docent and Storyteller at the Asian Art Museum. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea and has been studying Asian Art for a long time.
First Wednesday Art Talks are funded by the Friends of the San Rafael Library
For thousands of years, Japanese artists have produced strikingly creative, distinctive, and functional ceramic works, utilizing traditional techniques while applying new adaptions and incorporating influences from other cultures such as Korea and China.
