The Needham Free Public Library will be displaying sixteen AWTT portraits from January 2 through February 15, 2025 in the Friends Art Gallery on the second floor of the library.

Robert Shetterly will offer an artist’s talk on the first Sunday of the show, January 5, at 2:00 p.m., in the library’s Community Room.  Go here to register for this free event.

Many thanks to the Library Foundation of Needham for sponsoring both the exhibit and Shetterly’s visit to the library.

“Robert Shetterly is an American artist, best known for his portrait series Americans Who Tell the Truth. The project was begun in response to U.S. government actions following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Shetterly undertook the project as a way to deal with his own grief and anger by painting Americans who inspired him. The portraits have given Shetterly an opportunity to speak with children and adults all over this country about the necessity of dissent in a democracy, the obligations of citizenship, sustainability, U.S. history, and how democracy cannot function if politicians don’t tell the truth, if the media don’t report it, and if the people don’t demand it. He initially intended to paint only 50 portraits, but the series now includes 275 portraits. Portions of the series tour widely across the United States, being shown in schools, museums, libraries, galleries and other public spaces.”