Category: Connecticut Travel

A new exhibit, “Two the Point” Pairs Works by Joel Spector and Banjie Getsinger Nicholas At Gregory James Gallery on 93 Park Lane Rd. in New Milford is running through June 7. This show brings together two established local artists who share a passion for the medieval medium of silverpoint. Though tied together by their interest in this delicate and unforgiving art form, and the fact that they both chose to make their home in Litchfield County, the artists have disparate focal points for their work and are not limited to the medium.

Banjie Getsinger Nicholas has lived most of her life in rural northwest Connecticut, drawing inspiration from the natural landscape that surrounds her. Her art is based on her observation of birds, plants and insects and informed by her work as a licensed wild bird rehabilitator for 20 years.

In 2012, she published “Silver Linings,” a beginner’s guide to silverpoint, which requires the artist to draw a thin sterling silver wire held in a stylus across a ground that is abrasive enough to remove and hold small amounts of the silver. Nicholas prefers to work with natural materials and creates her silverpoint drawings and egg tempera paintings on traditional gesso panel, which is composed of marble dust and rabbit skin glue sanded to smooth finish. This ground has been used by egg tempera painters since the 12th century and is also ideal for silverpoint. In her book, she noted the delicate strokes produced when working in silverpoint reveal the hand of the artist. The intimacy and detail of the medium draw the viewer closer.

Joel Spector is an award-winning portraitist whose subjects range from close family and friends to CEOs and celebrities who have commissioned his work. Born in Havana, Cuba, he arrived in the United States at the age of 12 with his sister, Dorana. The two settled in New York City with an aunt and were later joined by their parents, who had manufactured women’s apparel in Cuba.
Spector knew from an early age that he wanted to be an illustrator. He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and attended the Art Students League. Before he even finished his degree, he found work as an illustrator for Women’s Wear Daily, the Daily News Record and other trade journals. He also began freelancing as an illustrator for department stores and fashion designers, including Christian Dior Menswear.

While working on an advertising campaign for Bill Blass Menswear, he met his wife, Rowena, a menswear designer. The couple moved from New York to New Milford in 1990 and raised four children there. When the fashion industry shifted from illustration to photography, Spector made the natural progression to general illustrator and enjoyed a successful freelance career. In 2008, he turned his attention to portraiture. He studied under Aaron Shikler, who is perhaps best known for his iconic White House portrait of President John F. Kennedy.

A few years ago, he began working in silverpoint, which he sometimes combines with watercolor or pastel to add a tint of color to a subject’s lips, cheeks or eyes. An exacting art form, silverpoint demands confidence, especially if one is sketching a live subject, as Spector does.

The Gregory James Gallery is located at 93 Park Lane Road (Route 202) in New Milford, about 100 feet from the intersection of Route 109. For more information, please call (860) 354-3436 or visit www.gregoryjamesgallery.com. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

In the days prior to the digital photography revolution and advanced image enhancing programs such as Lightroom and Photoshop, photography was an expensive and labor intensive endeavor best left to the professionals.

Geralene Valentine and Jay Misencik have created a vintage photography video and slideshow presentation of the work of Jay’s uncle, Ed Brinsko, a legend in the world of The Post Publishing Company. In 1931, Brinsko began to work for this company and his career spanned 43 years. Like the best of the early to late 20th century newspaper photographers, Brinsko had to carry heavy cameras and rolls and rolls of film in order to capture the perfect shot and then had to spend hours developing images in a dark room.

This presentation is called ReVisit Bridgeport…photographs by Ed Brinsko and highlights the images that were the high points of Brinsko’s career. This photography collection is a treasure trove of images that are important to Bridgeport’s history. The collection includes images of Malcolm X, Jane Fonda, President John F. Kennedy, Gregory Peck, Bob Hope, Bette Davis, Lena Horne and Ed Sullivan to name a few. In addition to photos of luminaries, many newsworthy historic events that happened over the years in Bridgeport from fires and parades to community events and occasions such as the Barnum Festival were shot.

On Saturday, May 16 from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. there will be a photo/video presentation of approximately 150 images, narrated by Mike Daly, Editorial Page Editor of the Connecticut Post at the Bridgeport Public Library located on 3455 Madison Ave. in Bridgeport. For additional information contact misencik.images@gmail.com. This event is being presented by the Bridgeport Community Historical Society.

Seven Fairfield County historical organizations have banded together to continue the tradition with the Second Annual Great Letterboxing History Hunt. The event begins on Friday, May 15 and ends with a festive family get-together at the Wilton Historical Society on Sunday, May 31 from 3-4 p.m. Letterboxing, which originated on the moors of Dartmoor, England in the 1850’s, is an outdoor walking or hiking activity that combines elements of orienteering, stamp art and puzzle-solving in a treasure hunt-style quest. This is a wonderful family activity, offering a chance to learn about reading maps, following clues, and local history.

The event is a collaboration between the Fairfield Museum and History Center, the Historical Society of Easton, the New Canaan Historical Society, the Norwalk Historical Society, Ridgefield’s Keeler Tavern Museum, the Weston Historical Society, the Westport Historical Society, and the Wilton Historical Society. Complete information about the Great Letterboxing History Hunt can be found at the event’s “host” — the Wilton Historical Society — at www.wiltonhistorical.org . Contacts, addresses, and links for each of the historical organizations, plus downloadable maps and clues will be posted.

All you need to get started is a nifty signature stamp and an ink pad. Anytime during the weeks of May 15 – May 31, get your stamp and ink pad, go to one of the historical societies listed, pick up the official Letterboxing History Hunt Map and clues there, or print one out at www.wiltonhistorical.org, and you are on your way!

Be sure to get a fun signature stamp before you start out! Make your own unique stamp or get an unusual one at the Wilton Historical Society. The Betts Store is offering Yellow Owl Workshop’s DYI “Carve-A- Stamp Kit” as well as some of their unusual stamps, all made in the USA.

Participants who stamp their official Map at all eight locations will be eligible for a prize, and will be entered in a drawing for a wonderful grand prize. All prizes will be awarded at the Wilton Historical Society closing get-together from 3-4 on Sunday, May 31. (Don’t forget to bring your fully stamped map!) A fun, family event, there will be refreshments and live music with Leigh Richards on acoustic guitar.

A Brief History of Letterboxing, from Letterboxing.Info from Silent Doug:

“According to legend, letterboxing began in southwestern England in 1854 when a Victorian gentleman named James Perrott hid his calling card in a jar in a remote area by Cranmere Pool on the moors of Dartmoor (the setting of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles). Perrot was a guide on the moor, and he encouraged his clients to leave their cards in the jar, as well. Eventually, visitors began leaving a self-addressed post card or note in the jar, hoping for them to be returned by mail by the next visitor (thus the origin of the term “letterboxing”. “Letterbox” is a British term for what we in the U.S. know as a mailbox). This practice ended in time, however, and the current custom of using rubber stamps and logbooks came into use.”

Letterboxing did not begin in the United States until 1998, when an article in Smithsonian prompted interest. In Connecticut, there are letterboxes and clues at all 32 State Forests!

It is hard to believe that 2015 marks the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment in the United States. To commemorate this landmark event that extended the right to vote to women, the Litchfield Historical Society will be presenting a new temporary exhibition examining the topic.

Ballots for Both! The Fight for Equal Voting Rights will explore the battle for woman suffrage in Litchfield and the state of Connecticut. The exhibit will also look at the larger movement in the state, the pro- and anti-suffrage organizations in Litchfield during the 1910s, activities of the groups, and local leaders. Also featured will be a selection of objects on loan from the Museum of Connecticut History.

In addition to this major exhibit, “The Lure of the Litchfield Hills will be on view through November 2015. This exhibit details the Colonial Revival period in Litchfield and the impact it had on this town in the 19th and 20th centuries. It traces the way residents embraced their ancestral past, developed the community to how it looks today, and experienced a time of change in architecture, fashion, and home decoration.

In addition to these two special exhibitions, The Litchfield Historical Society has been busy this winter adding new objects to view in their permanent gallery, which tells the story of Litchfield’s history through different periods. Cases feature history of Litchfield’s districts of Bantam, Morris, East Litchfield, and Northfield.

The Litchfield History Museum and the Tapping Reeve House & Law School are open Tuesday-Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5 adults, $3 seniors and students, Free for children under 14 and Law School students. For additional information, please visit www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org or call us at (860) 567-4501.

The Fairfield Museum and History Center located on 370 Beach Road in Fairfield has organized two special exhibitions that are sure to please art lovers.

The 7th annual juried photography exhibition, IMAGES runs through July 19 and showcases the exceptional work of talented regional photographers. The IMAGES photography competition offers a wonderful venue to highlight the work of up-and-coming regional photographers.The exhibition features roughly fifty photographs, usually picked from about 1,000 submissions, of photographers active in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Photos are judged in the following categories: landscape, portrait, architecture, nature and abstract to be displayed in this show. This is a juried show with a jury that is made up of prominent photographers including Howard Schatz, Suzanne Chamlin, LaTanya S. Autry, and Jeremy Frost.

The Fairfield History Center has also launched a second exhibition called, Howard Schatz: 25 Years of Photographs. The exhibition celebrates the remarkable twenty-five year career of Connecticut-based photographer Howard Schatz. This exhibition displays highlights of his work. Schatz is primarily known for his dynamic and intimate portraits of the human body, and his photographs make up a veritable catalog of body types and personalities, from newborns and mothers, to athletes and bodies underwater. His photographs have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Life, among others, as well as displayed in museums and galleries worldwide. This exhibition runs through August 31, 2015.

For more information visit http://www.fairfieldhistory.org

On Saturday, May 9 at 8 pm, the Torrington Symphony Orchestra will present, “Viva Italia II,” at the Warner Theatre’s Nancy Marine Studio Theatre.

Conducted by Maurice Steinberg, “Viva Italia II” features Italian composers and melodies performed by guest soloists Christi McLain and Jerron Jorgenson.

Soprano Christi McLain made her New England debut with Connecticut Lyric Opera and was selected as a finalist for Connecticut Concert Opera’s American Opera Idol competition. Before relocating to CT, Christi McLain received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance from Arizona State University. Dr. McLain has performed throughout Europe including Germany, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg. This spring, she will be joining the Hartford Opera Theatre.

A native of South Dakota, tenor Jerron Jorgensen performs, conducts, and arranges for a number of organizations in the Hartford metropolitan area. Jerron is pursuing doctoral studies at The Hartt School of Music, where he is also honored to serve as a Teaching Fellow in voice. In addition, Jerron presides as the Director of Music at First Congregational Church of Granby, and Music Director for the Connecticut Yankee Chorale in Torrington.

The Torrington Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1961 and has been an active part of the musical community ever since. The 45-plus Torrington Symphony amateur and professional musicians are drawn from 25 Connecticut towns, New York and Massachusetts.
Tickets are $22. Children 12 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Warner Theatre Box Office at 860-489-7180 or online at http://www.warnertheatre.org