Connecticut Travel

The Norwalk Historical Society has announced a new exhibit set up in Town House on the Norwalk Historical Society’s Mill House Historic Park that will be on display through July, 2018. This exhibition, Preserving and Observing is part of the continuing celebration of Norwalk’s heritage, and features 80+ pieces of art on paper highlighting the City’s significant art collection. Mill Hill Historic Park is located on 2 East Wall Street in Norwalk.

The exhibit curated by Sophia Gevas, is comprised of paintings and works on paper drawn from the four separate collections that comprise the Norwalk Collection: the City of Norwalk, the Lockwood family, the Norwalk Historical Society and the Norwalk-Village Green Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

The 80 plus featured works created by artists who lived and worked in Norwalk is presented “Salon Style” in the recently restored 1835 Town House at Mill Hill. The exhibit is a survey presented in groupings of Portraits, Still-lifes, Scenes of Working Life and Nature. The art work on display captures significant aspects and insights about city life through the ages.

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On Saturday, September 9 from 2:00 – 3:30 the Wilton Historical Society located on 224 Danbury Road will be offering a session for adults about how to make a simple farmer’s cheese from goat’s milk.

Goat milk cheese, often referred to as chèvre, is available in a wide range of tastes, textures, and firmness, and can be fresh or aged. For most of United States history, dairy goats were utilized by small family farms as a personal source of milk cheese, and during World War II, dairy goat production increased as a component of Victory Gardens.

The workshop will be led by Museum Educator Lola Chen, who will talk about the history of goat’s milk cheeses, and help participants make a scrumptious, tangy soft cheese, flavored with herbs.

Wilton Historical Society members $20; Non-members $25. Please register: info@wiltonhistorical.org or call 203-762-7257. Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT 06897 www.wiltonhistorical.org

Did You Know?
Goats were introduced to North America in the 16th century by Spanish colonists. For hundreds of years the humble Spanish goat was a source of milk and meat, but goats did not become an agricultural commodity the way sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens did. Many of the original Spanish goats became feral and populated parts of what would become the United States.

Twenty new paintings by Connecticut artist Jan Dilenschneider will be featured at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in an exhibition entitled, Eco Visions, that runs through October 5, 2017, with a reception on Sept. 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m. The exhibition will be curated by Gail Ingis. Ms. Dilenschneider’s works have been successfully featured for the last four years at the prestigious Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier in the historic Le Marais district in Paris. Ms. Dilenschneider is the only living American artist to have her work on display at the Grand Palais in Paris. In the past year her exhibitions have been featured at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Sill House Gallery and at the Bellarmine Museum in Fairfield, Conn, where she broke attendance records. Each of these exhibitions were solo shows.

The prestigious French newspaper Le Figaro reviewed the 2015 exhibition, Nature at its Most Melodically Colorful and said, “Dilenschneider expresses her artistic sensibility unhampered by the trends and tyrannies of the art market. She wields her brush with wild passion and tremulous elation, bringing trees, flowers, grass and reeds to calm majestic life.”

“I love to highlight the beauty of nature through my paintings of vegetation, clear waters and their beautiful colors” said Dilenschneider. “Through my paintings, I encourage the viewer to fall in love with nature all over again and consider ecology at all times.”

About Dilenschneider’s Work

Dilenschneider received her training at The Ohio State University, The National Academy of Design in New York, the North Shore Art League in Illinois, and the Silvermine Arts Center in Connecticut.

“One of the most exciting moments of my life was when I was entering a painting in a juried show and Roy Lichtenstein helped me put the hooks and wire on the back,” said Dilenschneider. “He was the juror and gave me first prize for The Mourners. I was 17 years old.”

Dilenschneider has painted all her life but she is relatively new to the art scene, when it comes to its marketing aspect, as she began selling her work in the spring of 2013. “My everyday surroundings in Connecticut by the sea are a vast a resource of inspiration,” says Dilenschneider. “I am continually influenced by shore grasses bending in the breeze, blue skies reflected in the cool water, and extraordinary trees silhouetted against green lawns.”

Although the French magazine LUX, among others, called her work “the new Impressionism,” Jan considers herself an Expressionist who loves the Impressionists’ palette. Dilenschneider’s most recent work combines landscapes and abstract images. One can see in them her gradual merging of the abstract into the landscape canvases.

The French Magazine, LE MAG, wrote of Dilenschneider’s work, “Dilenschneider avoids figuration and abstraction, instead painting highly charged landscapes with strong lines and bold sometimes clashing colors. But the result is so harmonious that viewers want nothing more than to lose themselves in the contemplation of the glorious nature before them, and to make sure that it remains as stunning for generations.”

Entrance Details
The exhibition will be part of the tours’ general admission and schedule: Wed. through Sun., 12-4 p.m. 45 minute tour: $10 Adults, $ 8 seniors, $6 children 8-18 years old; 90 minute tour: $20 adults, $18 seniors, $16 children 8-18 years old. Tours and reception tickets will be available online, through the Museum’s website, or by calling 203-838-9799 ext. 4. Walk-ins will be welcomed, subject to availability. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. For more information on schedules and programs please visit http://www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.

The Sharon Historical Society located on 18 Main Street in the historic village of Sharon has organized an exhibition and sale of art by members of the Sharon Woman’s Club through September 8, 2017.

The Sharon Woman’s Club was organized in 1910 with the purpose to stimulate and encourage all efforts toward intellectual and social betterment in the home and in the community. The organization’s motto is “In Good Things, Unity; In Small Things, Liberty; In All Things, Charity.” The Club has consistently responded to the needs in our community throughout its history, compiling an impressive and enviable catalog of civic, educational and cultural contributions and accomplishments.

There is a wide range of subject matter in a variety of media created over the past two years by the talented members of this organization. Artworks will be available for purchase. All purchases support the Sharon Historical Society & Museum’s mission.

The Gallery @the SHS is located in the Sharon Historical Society & Museum at 18 Main Street in Sharon, CT. Museum hours are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from noon to 4:00 PM, Saturday from 10:00AM to 2:00PM and by appointment. For more information and directions to The Gallery @the SHS, call (860) 364-5688.

Time is running out to see flamingos in their only Connecticut location this summer: The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. The Aquarium’s exclusive summer exhibit of the popular birds ends on Labor Day (Sept. 4). The flamingos have been standing – often, on one leg – in the aviary on the Aquarium’s riverfront courtyard since Memorial Day weekend. The exhibit is free with Aquarium admission.

Displayed at The Maritime Aquarium are six Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis), a larger species – 4 to 5 feet tall – native to southern South America. They’re distinguished from other flamingo species by their paler plumage, by the downward half of their bills being black, and by their greyish legs with notably pink “knees.” (Although, technically, what looks like their knees are really their “ankles.”)

Chilean flamingos are considered to be “Near Threatened,” with humans representing their main threat because of hunting, egg harvesting and by the loss of – and changes to – their natural habitats. After Labor Day, the Aquarium’s birds will return to a zoo in Louisiana.

Get details about all of the Aquarium’s summer offerings – including cruises onto Long Island Sound, a new expanded jellyfish area, and the IMAX movie “Amazon Adventure” – at www.maritimeaquarium.org.

As the summer season begins to come to an end, the country fair and festival season is just beginning. Once again, this year, the bucolic village of Colebrook located in the far northwest corner of the Litchfield Hills is hosting their annual Labor Day Weekend Festival on Sat. Sept. 2 from 9 am to 4 pm. Colebrook is an architectural gem; the heart of this village located at the crossroads of Rtes. 182A and 183 is a perfectly preserved reminder of Connecticut’s architectural past.

The Colebrook Fair began as an event of the school children at the old Center School, a two-room schoolhouse once located at the foot of Schoolhouse Road. The year was 1943, and the country was embroiled in the sad events and worries of World War II. Ruth Bushnell, the teacher of the 5th through 8th grades, came up with the idea of a children’s fair to instill a sense of happiness when happiness was in short supply and, 73 years later, the Colebrook Fair is still providing family fun with lots of smiles.

This year, fair goers will enjoy unique crafters, a variety of vendors, great food, raffles, a flea market and more. Kids can compete in pie eating or frog jumping contests, a pet show or the “make-your-own” Cardboard Boat Regatta.

The frog jumping contest dates back to the first fair held in Colebrook and kids have fun competing in several categories in this time-honored tradition. To round out the fun, kids will enjoy, face painting, a petting zoo, pony rides, games, the Fire Department’s “touch-a-truck” and smokehouse.

The 5th Annual Car Show will feature an incredible array of antique and classic vehicles. There are several awards categories and cars run the gamut from antiques, muscle and classics to imports, trucks and, new and cool!

For additional information visit the website of the fair.