Central Square Library
45 Pearl Street

Artist: Linda Lichtman
Title: Untitled
Date: 1980
Materials: Leaded stained glass
Dimensions: 7' x 3'
Location: 1st floor reading room

Of her rectangular stained glass window, rendered in earth tones and designed for the main reading room of the library, artist Linda Lichtman says, "I wanted to make a window which would be both colorful and restful -- a window which would be enlivened and animated by the color, yet calmed by the graphic elements. This is a window some people will be looking at for long periods of time, and others will be viewing as they are doing research or reading. I didn't want to confront the viewer... I wanted to provide a measure of interest and peace."

Artist: Lilli Ann Rosenberg
Title: Celebrating the Marshland
Date: 1982
Materials: Tiles, clay pieces, found objects, and impressions of block letters
Dimensions: 80" x 30 1/2"
Location: Outside the entrance on Pearl Street

To create her acclaimed mosaic murals, Lilli Ann Rosenberg mixes tiles, clay pieces, found objects, and impressions of block letters. In Celebrating the Marshland, her materials include real shells and stones, which, combined with lively images of fish, birds, and turtles, allude to the salt marshes that once covered much of Cambridgeport.

Rosenberg is an accomplished artist whose numerous other Boston-area works include a large mosaic in the MBTA Park Street subway station and another mural for the lobby of the Children's Hospital. Trained in architecture, sculpture, and ceramics, she studied at the Cooper Union and Art Students League (both in New York City), as well as at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She has lived in New England for most of her working life.

Artist: Lilli Ann Rosenberg
Title: Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Date: 1985
Materials: Ceramic and concrete mosaic
Dimensions: 15" x 52"
Location: Outside the entrance on Pearl Street

Rosenberg's second piece honors Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., who preached at nearby First Baptist Church when he was a student at Boston University. The mural depicts a towering mountain, flowing stream, and blazing sun - a visual translation of one of King's most powerful quotes: "I just want to do God's will and he has allowed me to go up to the mountain. I see the promised land."

Artist: David Judelson
Title: Untitled
Date: 1979
Materials: Ceramic
Dimensions: 3 1/2' x 3 1/2', 2' x 4'
Locations: Check out desk, Pearl Sreet, and courtyard entrances.

Three clusters of ceramic tiles are embedded in the brick paving at the check out desk and at both the Pearl Street and courtyard entrances of the library. On an August day in 1979, David Judelson recorded the library transactions by embossing the tiles in front of the check out desk with impressions of books, library cards, date stamps, names of kids and librarians, footprints and a projector reel.

The tiles at the courtyard entrance are impressions made from the library sign above the door. At the Pearl Street entrance, the tiles play on a visual pun. They depict four square objects which can be seen from the library, including a set of pay-phone buttons. On the inside square is the impression of a branch, which makes it the Central Square Branch.

David Judelson originally pursued architecture as an undergraduate and graduate student at M.I.T, but became increasingly interested in ceramics. He studied at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in the 1970s, and has pursued art ever since. His many large-scale public commissions include a sculptural rooftop terrace for Scholastic, Inc., in New York. He also has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He spent many years living in the Boston area before moving to New York City.

Commissioned through the Cambridge Arts Council's Public Art Program. Funded in part by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Block Grant.