hello@streetroad.org
610 869 4712
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Street Road
725 Street Road Cochranville, PA 19330 

The Little Free Library
1016B Gap Newport Pike 
Cochranville, PA 19330
part of the ongoing series summer library​
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Librarian 7
Rhonda Ike
July 15 - September 3, 2022

Rhonda Hershey Ike is the founder and creator of EarthArtYoga, a creative endeavor that aims to explore the intersection of nature, art, movement and breath. EarthArtYoga organizes and creates earth based art experiences that nurture and soothe the soul. A large part of her work is ephemeral, honoring and celebrating the constant changes in nature and in ourselves. Rhonda encourages interaction with her artwork by creating installations that viewers must travel through to experience. She is very interested in the changes that occur over time and the impact the viewer has on the work.

This spring, Rhonda collaborated with Kauffman Orchards in Ronks, PA to create “Returning,” a unique outdoor art installation built from “retired” apple trees, cherry trees and peach prunings, which includes a Chartres style labyrinth spanning 100 ft. across. The piece is currently on view throughout the Summer and Fall of 2022. “Returning” invites viewers to honor and enjoy nature by engaging with various contemplative spaces within the exhibit. In October, after the harvest season in the orchard, there will be a closing celebration and these sculptures will be burned, returning them to the Earth from which they came.
See full details about the Summer Library project, including other Librarians' work, here.

Full Circle

Books as building blocks
Creating forms
Simply, like Mondrian
​Erasing the distractions
Color, images and titles
That pull the eye away
From our true nature
Of Earth

Building back the trees from which they came:
from trees to books and back to trees again.
This installation was inspired by Ike's  recent outdoor work with trees, especially her nearby site-specific piece “Returning.” In both installations, her intent is to honor the wisdom and infinite contributions of trees by building spaces for viewers to engage with and contemplate these wonders of nature.

Working with the books as sculptural elements led her to create forms that somehow represent these gentle giants. The large circle in the middle of the space is the circumference of one of the largest trees in Chester County, located in Cochranville, three miles from Street Road Artists Space and just a stone’s throw from the Little Free Library.

Ike invites visitors to enter that space and feel the magic within. Viewers are encouraged to add books from the shelves or the floor to this circle in order to contribute to the growth of this installation.

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VISITING
Please check our website or social media before visiting as our hours are subject to change.

Street Road HOURS
Fridays and Saturdays from 11am-3pm and by appointment.

Little Free Library HOURS
Mondays 6-9pm (beginning Jan 16, 2023)
​Thursdays 12-4pm
Fridays 10am-2pm
Saturdays 10am-2pm
and by appointment.

Our Little Free Library outdoor boxes at both sites are open 24/7 and are regularly restocked.

Please call 610-869-4712 or email to set up visits outside our regularly scheduled hours. 
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We are currently seeking volunteers for both locations: email us to enquire. We look forward to hearing from you!

DIRECTIONS
to Street Road here. 
to The Little Free Library here.

A word about 'here':
We acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands of the Lenape, original people of the mid-Atlantic area, forced west by British and US governments. Most Delaware Indian tribe descendants are now located in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario. Lenni Lenapes in Pennsylvania are not officially recognized as tribes by the United States, though an estimated 5000 Lenape Nation descendants live in the Delaware River area. We pay respects to the Lenape people both past and present. Please consider the many legacies of violence, displacement and settlement that form part of our collective histories. While increased public recognition of these legacies and processes of redress such as Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission are positive steps, concrete focus on return of land and land rights remains a distant horizon.
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