Crissy Varnell, a manager at the Chattanooga Public Library, has a notebook she keeps handy for jotting down ideas.
As the pandemic wore on in 2020, Varnell began a notebook entry that would later become a project pitch to her supervisors.
She envisioned a regular forum where adults could come to the downtown library to sample hobbies and learn about interesting topics, an idea that eventually hatched into what has become the Curiosity Club.
"(During COVID-19) people were suddenly able to explore curiosities that they may not have allowed themselves to (consider) before," said Varnell, who is director of the library's Makerspace, an educational lab on the fourth floor of the library.
"When you look back to those (pandemic) times ... the more we stayed productive, the less we had to think about what was going on around us," Varnell added in an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
In Varnell's first notes on the topic, the list of proposed hobbies and topics to be featured in Curiosity Club sessions included dissection, forensic analysis, crystal collecting, death issues, dream analysis and insect pinning.
Today, scores of library patrons meet bi-monthly to immerse themselves in everything from wine tasting to building with Lego bricks. Hundreds of patrons have participated since the classes went live about two years ago. (In alternating months, the library staff goes off-site to hold craft workshops in different neighborhoods.)
Typically, the Curiosity Club sessions start with a lecture from an expert, followed by a hands-on experience. Attendance averages 30 to 70 people.
Varnell, who worked at the Creative Discovery Museum prior to her six-year stint at the library, said in the early months of COVID-19, people everywhere were sampling new hobbies. For example, baking sourdough bread became a national pastime.
"How many people started making sourdough starters?" she said. "That was happening everywhere."
Once her idea got greenlighted, the first Curiosity Club event was a wine-tasting seminar. Things have only taken off since then. Other sessions have included:
— Dissection: People gathered to dissect owl pellets to make art from undigested critter bones.
— Cosplay 101: Patrons arrived to make costumes and dress up as characters from books, movies or video games.
— Crystal clear: An expert on crystals lectured on the natural wonders.
— Lego modeling: Patrons gathered several times to build a giant model of the Titanic. Some even wrote their names on interior Lego bricks. (This year patrons will build a Lego Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal.)
— Tincture cures: Visitors learned about natural remedies.
— Indigo dyeing: Patrons discovered the ancient joys of dyeing fabric.
The list goes on.
"People come to these, pens in hand ready to learn," Varnell said.
At the end of the Titanic project, the patrons stood as one and applauded the staff for the experience.
"As a public servant, it was beautiful, but we are not in it for the self-gratification," Varnell said. "The library is serving (people) in a way that it was meant to."
"Life Stories" publishes on Mondays. Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645.