Stop by the Reading Room to meet Katie DeGroot, artist of the major art installation in the Reading Room. 

Greenwich Library is pleased to announce that it has commissioned a major art piece for its Reading Room. Artist Katie DeGroot (born 1955, Kandahar, Afghanistan) produced a three-panel, 6’ x 24’ watercolor entitled The Promenade of the Trees. The piece was commissioned to celebrate the Library’s recent Reimagine renovation project, completed in 2021.

“Throughout Greenwich Library's long history, it has relied on the tree as an icon which reflects its commitment to growth and knowledge,” said Joe Williams, Greenwich Library Director. “I cannot think of a more perfect statement for our Reading Room which reflects our values as an institution.”

“Trees show us the immense individuality and diversity of nature,” says DeGroot. “How wonderful to be asked to create a painting, The Promenade of The Trees, for this Library, where knowledge and art can be shared thanks to the tree's great gift to us, paper.”

The artist will be available to speak with the public at a meet and greet event on Friday, May 31, between 4:30 and 6:30 pm in the Library’s Reading Room.

Artist Katie DeGroot previously served as the Director of Skidmore Colleges’ Summer Studio Art Program. She attended New York University and Illinois State University and now resides on her great grandparents’ farm next to the Hudson River.

An Art Commission Committee comprised of four longtime Library volunteers worked together to select the artist including Buildings and Grounds Committee members Barbara Richards and Karen Free Royce (also a Library trustee), and Flinn Committee members Debra Fram and Kirsten Pitts.

The Promenade of the Trees is a gift to Greenwich Library from Peggy Edersheim Kalb and Scott Kalb.