Ferndale Library’s Summer Exhibit Brings Community Together with Art
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Aug. 7, 2026)
Ferndale, MI – What does summertime mean to you? For some it means sunshine, butterflies, and flowers. Or the lighthouse toured on a family road trip. The joy of a breezy bike ride. The glow of a crackling bonfire. Or a sip from a cold drink on a hot day.
For the Ferndale Area District Library, summertime means hosting events that bring people together to think about arts and culture, like the Summer Group Art Show which had its opening reception July 26. The exhibit is a collection of works submitted by Ferndale residents around the theme of summertime. Visitors to the opening also got to hear the melodies of guitarist Chad Stocker of the bands The High Strung and Eck!
Laurie Denoyer’s “Joy of Summer” featured a mix of flowers done in watercolor and ink, giving beautiful mix of defined lines and warm fuzzy colors. “I’ve been painting my whole life,” she said. She’s never had her work featured in a show before. “My daughter heard about it and encouraged me to put one of my paintings in.” Denoyer has lived in Ferndale since 1991, and said she loves how creative the city is.
While painting landscapes and flowers has been a sustaining joy in her life, Denoyer is enjoying it even more now that’s she’s a grandmother. “I make painted rocks with my grandchildren that look like food,” she said. “And they put those around for people to find.”
Millie Pruchnic is also inspired by the flowers of summertime. Her piece, “Summer Ride in Bloom” has a bicycle with flowers in its basket. She recalled “feeling the freedom” of riding bikes in the summer when she was younger. “That’s what summer feels like,” she said.
As a graphic designer in adult life, it leaves little time for her own creative projects. But the Library’s call for submissions helped her reclaim some of that creative freedom which comes through in her piece. “I was inspired to get back into this because of this event,” she said. She claimed over a dozen hours of peaceful painting time to bring Summer Ride in Bloom into reality. She even took a day off work to make it happen.
“I have 16 and 12 year old daughters. I want them to know to how to make a plan for yourself and follow through with it,” she said, adding that her girls are already inspiring. Her daughter Stella recently won the library card design contest, with an image featuring a caterpillar.
Seeing all of the community art in one place has motivated her even further. “There’s so much talent here. I didn’t know what to expect. There’s so much texture. And so many things people take think of as summer.”
For Jenny Haggerty, the exhibit gave her the chance to take a picture that she loved and turn it into a larger work of art. “Doug” is a dragonfly that graced her garden earlier in the year, who seemed to pose just right for a picture. “I love nature, and the dragonfly is just so luminescent it caught my eye,” Haggerty said.
“You spend so much time with a painting, you have to connect to it,” she said. That’s why she gave the bug a name, Doug. “I’d be like, time to go work on Doug,” she said. With years of doing marketing work, she’s learned that making creative time for herself is an important part of happiness. “I get to paint more in retirement,” she said. “It’s a nice way to spend my time and I really enjoy it.”
Haggerty was also part of the library’s group exhibit in the fall. Her feelings of awe are not limited to nature. She’s in love with the library as well. Before retiring, she volunteered with the Friends of the Library, a nonprofit that raises money to support programming that wouldn’t otherwise be in the library’s budget. “We’re so lucky to have a library that supports local arts and culture in our community with so many great programs and events,” she said.
For photographer Paul Corsi the show was an encouraging experience.
Corsi had two photographs in the show. “Sarasota” featured a life guard stand on a beach that he photographed while on vacation – a quintessential summer scene. “Wake Up Link” has a more interpretative quality to it, with a hole in some greenery forming a space that drew him in to wanting to explore more. 
“Look at the community here in general,” he said. “Everybody is smiling. There’s people hugging and asking questions. It gives someone like me a chance to feel like a professional for a day. It’s a chance to experience feeling seen.” He credits the library for creating such experiences. “Before I learned about Ferndale, I didn’t know a library could do as much as it does. I’ve checked out cook books, and tools, and come to concerts. And now I get to experience this.”
The works are on display through Aug. 23. Coming soon is another opportunity for the community to come together for a collective art experience. Tiny Art has 5 x 5 canvases and paint available for pickup beginning Aug 10. Patrons can create what they’d like and return the canvas by Sept 21. The community art reception is Wednesday September 23. The Ferndale Area District Library is located at 222 E. Nine Mile Road in Downtown Ferndale. Learn more at www.fadl.org.
