by Karen Lunde
Hieronymus Bosch painted nightmares and left them for us to interpret. Demons eating humans. Fish walking on legs. A man pinned to a giant lute. Bosch’s canvases are crowded, chaotic, and somehow impossible to look away from, even five centuries later.
That’s exactly why Julie Blonshteyn chose him.
“His work is incredibly vivid, strange, and imaginative,” said Blonshteyn, a public services specialist at Lacey Timberland Library. “It almost feels surreal in a way that still resonates today.”
On April 7, Blonshteyn will host a free screening of a 2016 documentary from Exhibition on Screen, The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch. The event, which runs from 2-4 p.m. at the Lacey Timberland Library, is part of The Painted Screen, a monthly series she created to explore the lives and legacies of visual artists through film.
Blonshteyn launched The Painted Screen after noticing that the library’s Kanopy catalog — a free streaming service available to cardholders — contained a rich collection of films focused on art and artists. All available with public performance rights at no cost.
“When I started exploring that catalog more deeply, I discovered a real treasure trove,” she said. “I saw an opportunity to expand that idea by focusing specifically on the intersection of film and visual art. I’ve always loved art and deeply value the role artists play in how we understand the world, so creating a series like this felt very meaningful to me.”
Blonshteyn’s idea for the series was met with enthusiasm by the library. “I’m incredibly lucky to work in a library that’s open to new ideas,” she said.
The series opened with Loving Vincent, a fully oil-animated film about Van Gogh, to a strong turnout from the community. A Frida Kahlo documentary followed. Blonshteyn drew on her background running an arthouse cinema, where she hosted similar exhibition-style film events. Audiences, she said, showed up curious and stayed engaged.
Bosch may seem like a leap for a South Sound library audience, but Blonshteyn doesn’t see it that way. One of her goals with the series is introducing artists who feel unexpected and finding the entry point that makes them approachable.
“I’ve found that audiences are more curious and open than we sometimes give them credit for,” she said.
The documentary, directed by David Bickerstaff, takes a close look at who Bosch actually was: a deeply religious 15th-century Dutch painter working at the edge of the medieval and Renaissance worlds. It asks why his strange imagery still haunts us now. Blonshteyn has her own answer.
“I think Bosch’s work resonates right now because it reflects something deeply human about living in uncertain or overwhelming times,” she said. “His paintings are chaotic, surreal, sometimes unsettling, but also incredibly imaginative and alive. There’s a sense of anxiety, absurdity, even dark humor that mirrors how a lot of people experience the world today.”
After the screening, Blonshteyn will facilitate a discussion, something she considers as central to the series as the films themselves. “There’s something really special and powerful about sitting in a room together, watching something strange or beautiful, and then talking about it,” she said. “That sense of connection is what makes these programs meaningful.”
The series was gaining real momentum. Blonshteyn had developed a full slate of upcoming films focused on artists including Rembrandt, Cézanne, Degas, Caravaggio, Vermeer, and more. She also hoped to include Comic Book Confidential, a documentary on North American comic book artists.
But its future is now uncertain. Timberland Regional Library is in the midst of a serious financial crisis, facing a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall for 2026. “Unfortunately, due to recent budget cuts and staff layoffs, the future of the series is uncertain,” Blonshteyn said. “I truly hope it will be able to continue in some form, because the response from the community has been so positive and meaningful.”
For now, the April 7 screening of The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch is on. And for anyone who’s been feeling like the world has gotten a little too strange to process, Bosch, of all people, might have something to say about that through his surreal art.
Photos courtesy Timberland Regional Library.
WHAT:
The Painted Screen — The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch
WHEN:
2-4 p.m., Tuesday, April 7
WHERE:
Lacey Timberland Library, 500 College St. SE, Lacey
COST:
Free
LEARN MORE:
timberland.bibliocommons.com/events/693c511f94297d36009f9738