Bathers Library Newsletter #3

Bathers Storefront (finally) opening!

It’s time to open! Aaaah! After months of odd construction and eating a lot of dust, I am excited to announce that the Bathers storefront will (finally) be opening officially, Saturday December 14th, from 2-7pm. We’ll have books and merch and snacks and drinks! Come through if you can!

Reading Groups Have Started

Also exciting to announce—or maybe just like, relay?—that our first reading groups have gotten off the ground ad are going great so far! Lives of Creative Women (currently reading All Fours), The “C” Word, and What are Meetings? are all up and cruising! It’s so cool seeing the space start to fill up with people reading and thinking and gathering together. We have a few more groups starting up in January, which I’ll send a reminder for in case there are any last minute sign-ups. And, there will be a call (probably in January too) for Spring/Summer groups, so if you were sad to miss the opportunity to propose a Winter group, your chance will come again soon.

Meet Sharada Tolton, our first Artist-in-Residence

Also, December marks the beginning of our artist-in-residence program! The residency is a three month, free private studio space inside the library to use however you’d like. Artists also have access to our front window to show work, and will make some kind of edition object as a culmination of their time. Our first artist is Sharada Tolton! Sharada draws dream-like worlds in colored pencil. Placing child and animal subjects in dense fantasy scenes, she illustrates an inner life of innocence in a sometimes gentle, sometimes violent natural world. Originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, Sharada now lives in Berkeley, California, where she draws and tattoos from her home. She has illustrated for fashion brands throughout the world and exhibited in North America, Asia, and Europe. You can find her on Instagram at @sirenshores.

Sharada will also be leading a workshop at some point (more details on that when they exist) and will be helping to select the Spring and Summer residents for 2025. I’ll post the application details/announcement on social media next week. Woo! Okay, welcome Sharada!

Support Bathers Library

Pick up some BL merch or one of our artist edition publications!