Connecticut Travel

A long awaited tradition in Fairfield County, the Holiday Express is opening on December 1, 2017 and running through January 7, 2018 at the Fairfield Museum and History Center located on 370 Beach Road in Fairfield. This year features even more tracks and set-ups where the trains can zip around and weave their magical spell. Kids and adults alike will delight in the magic of the train show.

A Fairfield Museum holiday tradition! Kids and adults alike will delight in the magic of this wondrous display of model trains winding around a spectacularly decorated tree and through beautiful holiday scenery. Holiday Express Schedule is Weekends: December 1 – January 7: 10am – 4pm and Weekdays: Monday – Thurs. 10 am – 1 pm., NEW! Open late on Fridays, 10am – 7pm, Monday, December 26 – 28, 10am – 4pm. December 29 10am – 7pm Closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Check the website for special family fun events held throughout the month of December.

The Stamford Nature Center and Museum located at 39 Scofieldtown Road has a new winter display that runs through February 3 that highlights Gerberich Gadgets: the Best of Springs, Sprockets, and Pulleys!

Remember those crazy contraptions that would spin, rock, and play music – and they were made from tag sale treasures and overlooked common objects?

Yes, the ingenious inventions of sculptor – and SM&NC favorite – Steve Gerberich will return to the Stamford Museum Galleries for a totally re-imagined Holiday Exhibition. Gerberich has gathered his most outstanding and outlandish large-scale kinetic sculptures and installations for a showing of the “Best of Springs, Sprockets & Pulleys.”

Working with old machine parts, kitchen utensils, furniture scraps, lighting fixtures, medical supplies, toys, and carnival figurines, Gerberich mixes the aesthetics of contemporary sculpture with the scientific principles of simple mechanical motion. It’s crazy fun!

Museum galleries are open Monday-Saturday, 9am – 5pm; Sunday 11am – 5pm.

Visit the Railroad Station in New Milford Thursdays through Sundays, December 21st – 31st, for a special annual event: electric model trains running through model villages . . . and you may take a turn running them!

In addition to the trains, there is a holiday art exhibit on display. Artwork includes original oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel paintings, as well as fine art photography, woodturning, sculpture, art glass, and jewelry. Give the gift of art. Prices range widely for a beautiful selection of unique one-of-a-kind hand crafted gifts.

Gallery 25 at New Milford Art Depot is a co-op style gallery exhibiting some of the best local fine art and artisan creations. The gallery is staffed by member artists and is affiliated with the New Milford Commission on the Arts.

This new, spacious center of creativity is located at the historic Railroad Station, 11 Railroad St. New Milford CT. Hours are Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, noon to 5 PM* and by appointment. (*please note Friday and Saturday noon – 8PM holiday hours through Dec. 31). Admission is free. Ample parking is available. For more information please call 860-355-6009 or http://newmilfordgallery25.blogspot.com.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum located on 258 Main Street in Ridgefield is hosting a new show through April 22, 2018 by Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley titled Your Turn, an architectural environment for two that shapes the occupants’ behavior.

In a series of performances Schweder and Shelley will physically occupy the structure for extended periods during which they will negotiate the sharing of nine basic amenities while engaging the public with their daily routines and conversations. Schweder and Shelley’s collaboration is primarily based on balance: not only the balance needed to successfully work in a partnership, but also the social balance needed to share resources limited by the confines of their construction. Their practice conflates architectural form and function with performance art, coaxing meaning out of both the practical and the absurd.

Schweder and Shelley’s unique collaboration of over a decade has coalesced into what they call “performance architecture,” a new genre in which the two artists design, construct, and then physically occupy structures, blurring the boundaries between architecture, sculpture, design, and performance, exploring both the nature of social space and the way architecture influences human behavior.
For their exhibition at The Aldrich, they will construct a twenty-four-foot-high living environment, which they will inhabit as both the authors and living subjects of the work. An adjacent gallery will present the first survey of their reverse paintings on Mylar, which not only act as preliminary renderings for their projects, but also as autonomous works that reinforce the formal aspects of their practice.

The artists will occupy opposing sides of the monolith with nine amenities (including a bed, a desk, an easy chair, a kitchen, a sink, and an enclosed composting toilet), each of which will slide on steel tracks from one side of the structure to the other. So, when Shelley is sleeping in the bed, Schweder cannot sleep; when Schweder is writing at the desk, Shelley cannot use it. The sharing of the amenities is based on both a pre-planned schedule and spontaneous negotiation. For the performance periods the artists will wear identical jumpsuits, bring all necessary supplies with them, and occupy the structure twenty-four hours a day. The artists’ lives, while within the structure, will be on public view when the Museum is open, and visitors are free—in fact, are encouraged by the artists—to engage them in conversation. When awake, Schweder and Shelley will each read, work, prepare meals, and complete acts of simple daily hygiene.

Before you know it, the holidays will be here. A Connecticut photographer has just the right thing to put on your gift list, a beautiful coffee table book called “A Connecticut Christmas.” The book is available on https://www.carynbdavis.com/

Caryn B. Davis of Chester, spent two years running around the state during Christmas time capturing just the right images. The book has some 400 photos for you to see. Christmas time in Connecticut is the stuff of books and movies, because it is just so beautiful here.

This photographic holiday journey celebrates the holiday in grand classic New England style. Images depict traditions, beauty, and the spirit of the season from beautifully decorated country inns and classic village greens to spectacular private homes and festivals that take place celebrating the season throughout the state of Connecticut. Essays that accompany the images explain the traditions and festivities that take place during this magical time of year.

About the author:

Caryn B. Davis began her career in the visual arts thirty years ago as a cameraperson, editor, and producer of documentaries. She has been a professional photographer since 2000, specializing in architectural photography.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum located on 258 Main Street in Ridgefield is pleased to present Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley: Your Turn, an architectural environment for two that shapes the occupants’ behavior. In a series of performances Schweder and Shelley will physically occupy the structure for extended periods during which they will negotiate the sharing of nine basic amenities while engaging the public with their daily routines and conversations. Schweder and Shelley’s collaboration is primarily based on balance: not only the balance needed to successfully work in a partnership, but also the social balance needed to share resources limited by the confines of their construction. Their practice conflates architectural form and function with performance art, coaxing meaning out of both the practical and the absurd. The exhibition will be on view through April 22, 2018.

Schweder and Shelley’s unique collaboration of over a decade has coalesced into what they call “performance architecture,” a new genre in which the two artists design, construct, and then physically occupy structures, blurring the boundaries between architecture, sculpture, design, and performance, exploring both the nature of social space and the way architecture influences human behavior. For their exhibition at The Aldrich, they will construct a twenty-four-foot-high living environment, which they will inhabit as both the authors and living subjects of the work. An adjacent gallery will present the first survey of their reverse paintings on Mylar, which not only act as preliminary renderings for their projects, but also as autonomous works that reinforce the formal aspects of their practice.

The artists will occupy opposing sides of the monolith with nine amenities (including a bed, a desk, an easy chair, a kitchen, a sink, and an enclosed composting toilet), each of which will slide on steel tracks from one side of the structure to the other. So, when Shelley is sleeping in the bed, Schweder cannot sleep; when Schweder is writing at the desk, Shelley cannot use it. The sharing of the amenities is based on both a pre-planned schedule and spontaneous negotiation. For the performance periods the artists will wear identical jumpsuits, bring all necessary supplies with them, and occupy the structure twenty-four hours a day. The artists’ lives, while within the structure, will be on public view when the Museum is open, and visitors are free—in fact, are encouraged by the artists—to engage them in conversation. When awake, Schweder and Shelley will each read, work, prepare meals, and complete acts of simple daily hygiene.

Alex Schweder received a BA from the Pratt Institute School of Architecture, an MArch from Princeton University School of Architecture, and a PhD from the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, UK. Recent exhibitions include the 2014 Venice Biennale, the Tel Aviv Art Museum, the 2013 Moscow Biennial, the 2013 Lisbon Architecture Biennial, and the Tate Britain. He has been an artist in residence at the Kohler Company and the Chinati Foundation, and was awarded the Rome Prize in Architecture at The American Academy in Rome.
Ward Shelley received a BFA from Eckard College and an MA from New York University. Solo exhibitions of his work include Pierogi Gallery, NY; Massimo Carasi Gallery, Milan; Center for Contemporary Art and Launch Projects, Santa Fe; and Socrates Sculpture Park, NY. He has received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, an award from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, two fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a fellowship from The American Academy in Rome.

The Aldrich is open: Sun. noon – 5. Mon. 10-5, Wed. – Sat. 10 – 5. Closed Tuesday.