Custom artwork to welcome library visitors

Tom Milstead
Posted 6/3/20

When Goshen County Library Board started the process of renovating the Goshen County Library, its main goal was to make the library feel like a warm, safe place for people of all ages

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Custom artwork to welcome library visitors

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TORRINGTON – When Goshen County Library Board started the process of renovating the Goshen County Library, its main goal was to make the library feel like a warm, safe place for people of all ages. 

There’s an are specifically for ‘tweens,’ for young adults, for people to work on laptops, and a sitting area by a fireplace where people can relax and read.

According to President Ellen Creager, the goal for the renovation is to make everyone feel comfortable at the library. 

“Part of what we’re trying to do with the library is compartmentalize so that each age group in Goshen County has its space,” she said. “We’re hoping this will be a warm and lovely space. I’m hoping it’s going to be a community center.”

One of the focal pieces of the library is the children’s room, which features board books and early reading materials, as well as activity walls and a few play centers. It’s a unique room for a unique age group – and the exterior needed to fit that criteria as well. 

“As part of our redesign of the library, to make it a more open and welcoming space, we wanted the entrance to the new children’s space to have a unique and special feel,” Creager said.

To accomplish that, Creager reached out to Eastern Wyoming College art student Winter Hunt. Hunt created a one-of-a-kind three-dimensional mural arch of books that highlights the entrance to the children’s reading room. It’s a unique piece of art for the unique age group. 

“I’m ecstatic,” Creager said. “It’s literally way beyond what I thought it would look like. I think the library is a hub of the community, it’s the heartbeat of the community, and this is going to be such a cherished icon. It’s so unique and it fits our new design. It’s a welcoming idea.”

Hunt, who lives in Torrington but grew up in Nevada, said she had a few pieces of concept art to draw from, and drew from her experience as an artist to bring the piece to life. 

“I was told to just make an archway out of books,” she said. “Basically, I just looked at the concept and went with it. I like a lot of art and how some art uses brush strokes as part of the picture, so I went with that art style and it turned out pretty good.”

Hunt, who normally specializes in digital art, said she had some nerves while she was creating the archway because it was her first public commission. But after she got going, the work came easy and the end result was an original piece packed with meaning for the artist and, hopefully, for the young readers that will pass beneath it. 

“Other than titling almost all of the books, it was pretty easy,” she said. “A few of them are just made up titles. A few of them are classics. A lot of them are books I have actually read myself, and hopefully kids will come through and pick book titles that they see and will ask to read them.”

The project came out so well, in fact, that Hunt has been commissioned to create similar pieces for the library’s exterior doors. As a result, her artwork will be greeting library visitors young and old, from new readers to old, for a long time to come. 

“It’s pretty cool,” Hunt said.