Connecticut Travel

The Stamford Museum and Nature Center located on 39 Scofieldtown Rd, in Stamford is celebrating Spring on their farm on May 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and you are invited!

There are many activities that are sure to delight such as watching the Center’s flock of sheep get their annual haircut during a traditional shearing session and learning what happens with their woolly coats. Festival goers will see firsthand how to turn wool into felt or yarn, among a variety of other hands-on demonstrations.

To add to the fun there will be a multitude of activities for all ages from face painting and crafts to live music with Jay and Ray, a plant and herb sale for gardeners and even hayrides around the grounds. The Museum’s galleries will be open and visitors are invited to view “Powerful yet Fragile: Connecticut’s Waterways,” a fascinating photography exhibition that touches on the importance of water.

The works of members of the Loft Artists Association will be featured in “Art on the Meadow” and available for purchase. Another special highlight is the display by the Yama Ki Bonsai Society that will be presenting a boutique exhibition of the ancient art of bonsai with more than 75 unique bonsai trees.

If all this works up your appetite, not to worry, there will be an assortment of local food trucks offering a variety of cuisines.
Daily admission to this event is $5 for members and $10 for non-members.

When Kasha and David Furman founded Cricket Hill Garden in 1989, it was one of the first nurseries in the United States to focus on rare Chinese tree peonies. These special plants have blossoms that are among the largest, most colorful and most fragrant of all flowers. They cultivated over 500 different hybrid peonies, choosing the hardiest, most vigorous and fragrant to propagate and sell. Over the years a rocky, wooded hillside has been transformed into a six-acre peony display garden they call Peony Heaven. The family, now including son Dan Furman, enjoys sharing the beauty of the garden in peak bloom in May and June.

This year the visitors are invited to join peony lovers from near and far at Peony Heaven to see a rare collection of mature peonies in a lovely, peaceful setting. Some of the tree peonies in the display garden are reaching an impressive size and age, with many plants now over 25 years old. The tree peonies will begin to bloom the week of May 15th. Expect a good show of tree peonies to about May 31st. Cricket Hill anticipates that the herbaceous and intersectional peonies will bloom as they usually do, starting near the third week of May. Call them at (860) 283-1042 or email info@crickethillgarden.com for bloom updates.

Cricket Hill, located on 670 Walnut Hill Rd. in Thomaston is hosting a special garden event on Sunday, May 14th, May 21st and May 28th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A highlight of the day is when Dan Furman leads a garden walk to discuss what they are growing and what is in bloom. Be sure to bring your walking shoes for the spectacular tour of the hillside garden that takes place from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The garden and nursery is open through June 18th, Tuesday-Sunday, from 10am-5pm. They are closed on Mondays. The exception will be Memorial Day Monday, which is always a good bloom day! After June 18, the garden and nursery is open by appointment only, please call ahead before visiting in late June and during the summer.

This May the Ives Concert Park located on 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury is hosting two fun-filled events to kick off the season.

If you like fine craft brews, good BBQ and music, don’t miss the Brews & BBQ event on Saturday, May 13 plus music from the Spin Doctors!
When this legendary New York quartet released “If The River Was Whiskey” on May 14th through Ruf Records, casual fans will discover the secret past the hardcore have never forgotten. To the wider world, the Doctors might be the multi-million-selling icons behind hits like Two Princes and Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong, not to mention the classic Pocket Full Of Kryptonite. But in 2013, Chris Barron (vocals), Aaron Comess (drums), Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Mark White (bass) are reconnecting with the flat-broke twenty-somethings who scraped for dollars at the sharp end of the Big Apple blues circuit. The Spin Doctors have come full-circle.

On Memorial Day weekend, May 27, 28 and 29 the Ives Concert Park will host Art at the Ives, a juried fine art and craft festival weekend. Last year more than 60 artists from all over the country showed and sold their work at the festival. This three-day event will feature high-quality original works in a diverse scope of art forms representing every major category. Food and music, along with art classes, demonstrations and children’s events, will also be included. The event will take place rain or shine with gates open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday.

There is also a special twist to this year’s BBQ festival. Every Tuesday from April 18th – May 2nd, Ethan and Lou on i95 will sample delicious pulled pork from 3 contestants and will pick a winner! At the end of the competition all 3 finalists will compete at Brews & BBQ for the chance to become Connecticut’s Amateur BBQ Champion — promising attendees some delicious BBQ to sample!

For a free monthly newsletter on things to do and see and travel tips on Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County visit www.litchfieldhills.com

With the arrival of spring, ramps begin to emerge from cool hillsides. Ramps are wild leeks (Allium tricoccum), with a garlicky, onion-like flavor, foraged from shaded, woody areas across the eastern United States, used by Native Americans. Also known as spring onions, ramson, wood leek and wild garlic, ramps could be used in Colonial cooking in place of scallions or onions , and prized during their brief season, which is only a few weeks long. At the Wilton Historical Society on Saturday, May 20 from 11:00 – 12:30, the Colonial Cookery and Customs for Kids session will feature the preparation of a cheese soufflé with ramps. Museum Educator Lola Chen will be talking with the children about ramps, foraging for food, and how to master a soufflé.

The Colonial Cookery and Customs for Kids workshop at the Wilton Historical Society teaches kids a “reciept” (recipe) used in the Connecticut region. While the food is prepared, they hear about Colonial manners, morals and way of life. The monthly workshops feature relatively simple dishes made with local, seasonal ingredients, adapted for modern kitchens. All participants will sample their own cooking and take home recipe cards – as well as any leftovers!

The children will learn how a Colonial kitchen would have operated, in order to appreciate the modern conveniences we take for granted. Previous sessions have made bannock cakes, pease porridge, pickles, an amulet of green peas, apple tansey, fairy butter, pumpkin bread, cranberry shortbread, New Year’s “cakes”, and New England chowder. Suggested for ages 6 – 12.

The cost for this event for Members is $10; the cost for Non-members is $15. Space is limited so please register by contacting info@wiltonhistorical.org or call 203-762-7257. The Wilton Historical Society is located on 224 Danbury Road/Rt. 7, Wilton, CT

Did You Know?
Antonin Carâme’s invention of the classic soufflé in the early 1820s was made possible by new ovens, which were heated by air drafts instead of by coal. This new technology provided the more even cooking temperature needed for a soufflé to rise properly and stay risen. Initially, Carême made his soufflés in stiff pastry casings that were not eaten. Their straight sides were the inspiration for our current soufflé dishes. Splendid Table

he Bruce Museum on One Museum Dr.in Greenwich and the Hôtel de Caumont Centre d’Art in Aix-en-Provence, France, are mounting a major monographic exhibition of the art of the French Impressionist Alfred Sisley (1839 – 1899). The first retrospective in the United States in over twenty years of this purest of all the major Impressionists, the show is comprised of about 50 of Sisley’s paintings from private collections and major museums in Europe and North America. The Bruce Museum will premiere the exhibition and be the only venue in the United States. This show will run through May 21, 2017.

A friend of Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Sisley initially worked in the naturalistic landscape tradition of the Barbizon School but increasingly adopted a proto-Impressionistic style, creating a body of work that has an impressive internal consistency and cumulative authority.

Throughout his career, Sisley adhered to the style of divided light and color, momentary effects of illumination, and an acute responsiveness to atmosphere that are the signature attributes of Impressionism. He dutifully painted en plein air in all manner of weather, recording his favorite sites in the environs of Paris – Bougival, Louveciennes, Marly-le-Roi, Saint-Mammès – in exhaustive detail, in all seasons, and under ever-changing skies. Born in Paris to British parents, Sisley studied the landscape paintings of Constable and Turner before enrolling in Charles Gleyre’s studio where he met Monet and Renoir.

Little biographical information about his life has survived so his art must speak for itself, and does so with haunting beauty. The magic with which he was able to capture light sparkling on water, winter sun on snow, and trees rustled by a breeze create some of the most memorable Impressionist images.

Events Connected to this event:

Monday, February 27, 10:00 – 11:00 AM. Monday Morning Lecture Series. Laura Dickey Corey, PhD candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, will speak about Mary Cassatt’s continuing ties to the US, in her art, life, and art advising, even while taking up permanent residence in France. Free and open to the public.
Monday, March 6, 10:00 – 11:00 AM. Monday Morning Lecture Series. Heidi Hirschl, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA, will speak about Degas: Impressions, which will consider Degas’s engagement in printmaking through the creation of Impressionist landscape monotypes. Free and open to the public.. Free and open to the public.
Graduate Student Symposium and Young Scholar Day

March 5, 1:00 – 4:00 PM. “Framing Nature” Graduate Student Symposium. MA/PhD students will present interdisciplinary papers that engage the multifaceted ways that artists and architects frame nature in their work. Advance registration through Eventbrite suggested: Free for Bruce members, and students and educators with ID, $10 for non-members. At the door: $10 Bruce members, and students and educators with ID, $20 non-members.

Film Series. The Great Artists: Their Lives, Times and Works – The Impressionists
Wednesdays from 10:30-11:45 AM. Free and open to the public. No reservations required. This film series chronicles the life, times and works of each featured artist and explores their stylistic trademarks. The programs also place each artist in historical context, highlighting the events that inspired his work and providing a clearer understanding of the creative process. The five programs in this collection provide an in-depth look into the fascinating world of the Impressionists and their art.
April 5: Manet
April 12: Pissarro
April 19: Monet
April 26: Degas
May 3: Renoir

The Glass House located on 199 Elm Street in New Canaan proudly presents Julian Schnabel: “Paintings that I hope Philip and David would like,” an intimate survey showcasing Julian Schnabel’s prolific painting career. Over the course of the exhibition period, the Painting Gallery panels will rotate three times to present paintings selected by the artist. Each rotation will feature six works from different periods of the artist’s career.

Wax Paintings from the 1970s will be on view from May 1st to June 5th. Gathered from private collections, this rotation offers a glimpse into Schnabel’s early investigations into painting. The six works on display at the Glass House were all created before his first solo exhibition in New York City at Mary Boone Gallery in 1979. These works reveal themes that permeate throughout the artist’s oeuvre. Upon close examination, the pearlescent layers of wax and modeling paste reveal the hand of the artist, who was building up the surface to accept his own version of a new painted language. Schnabel also notched into the surface of his paintings and built out of the surface to further illustrate the notion of time passing as it does. The titles of several of these early works – Accattone, Procession (for Jean Vigo), Shoeshine (for Vittorio de Sica) indicate a strong interest in European cinema, hinting at the artist’s future development as a filmmaker.

The second rotation, Paintings after 2000, on view from June 8th to July 10th, feature works from the artist’s collection from different series: Nothing Paintings, Weather Paintings and Landscape Paintings. The Nothing Paintings were made on images printed on polyester. The Landscape Paintings were made on found materials bought in Mexico. Reminiscent of aerial photography, the Weather Paintings are mysterious images photographically printed as an aerial view of the land, creating a disorienting sense of sight so that the viewer feels suspended above rather than being on the ground.

The third and last rotation, Paintings from the 1980s and 1990s, feature works from the Glass House’s Permanent Collection. Collected by both Philip Johnson and David Whitney, these works are on view from July 13th to August 14th.
Julian Schnabel: “Paintings I hope Philip and David would like” was organized by Irene Shum, Curator and Collections Manager. Shum states, “After Frank Stella, Julian Schnabel is the most represented artist in the collection, so it was important for the Glass House to present Julian’s work more fully. Putting the works in the Glass House Collection within the context of his career allows the public to develop a deeper appreciation of both the artist and the collection. The artist’s creative process is revealed.” Paintings were installed by the Artist.