Connecticut Travel

The much anticipated Great Trains Holiday Exhibit: An Interactive Wonderland is open through January 18 at the Wilton Historical Society. Dressed for the holidays, the Society’s historic 18th and 19th century buildings are transformed into a train-lovers delight with eight different train layouts winding through tiny towns with many different kinds of buildings, tunnels, cable cars, and two working Ferris Wheels!

New this year: a Wilton-themed HO layout; expanded “O” gauge layout; and a working Lego train set. The interactive display enchants visitors of all ages with lots of buttons to push and knowledgeable “train engineers” on hand to “talk trains”. In a special train room for the youngest guests, there are buttons galore plus Thomas the Tank Engine and a Brio set for hands-on fun.

The Great Trains Holiday Exhibit will runs through Monday, January 18, 2016 on Thursdays – Saturdays, 10-4; Sundays 12-4; and Wednesdays by appointment. Admission is free for members of the Society, and $10 for non-member adults. Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road/Route 7, Wilton, CT 06897 More information at www.wiltonhistorical.org

For more holiday event information visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.

Let 23 large model lighthouses light your way through the galleries of The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk and then vote for your favorite through January 18 at the Aquarium’s 14th annual holiday “Festival of Lighthouses Contest.” Seeing the lighthouses is free with Aquarium admission.

This all-new display, open through Jan. 18, works like a juried art show except that thousands of Maritime Aquarium visitors are the jury. Guests follow the homemade beacons through the Aquarium and cast a vote for their favorite. The lighthouse that gets the most total votes wins $1,500. There are cash awards for five runners-up too.

This year’s 23 lighthouses were built by local artists looking for a challenge, by hobbyists with a vision and by students fulfilling a school assignment. Some lighthouses are modeled after actual lighthouses; others are wildly whimsical.

Entering the annual contest seems to be an addiction for some: 17 of this year’s 23 entrants are return competitors; many of them are “regulars.” Three have won the contest more than once. Rules of the “Festival of Lighthouses Contest” are kept to a minimum to allow for maximum creativity. Lighthouses must be 3 to 6 feet tall and have a working light, and may not include animal remains, such as shells. Beyond that, it’s up to the creators’ imaginations.

Contestants this year are from both near (Norwalk, Darien, Stamford and Bridgeport) and far (Monroe, West Haven and Shelton in Connecticut, and Cortlandt Manor, Katonah, White Plains, Yonkers, New Rochelle and Hartsdale in New York).
Besides the contest’s $1,500 top award, other prizes are: $750 for second place, $375 for third; $300 for fourth; $225 for fifth; and $150 for sixth. Winners will be announced at an evening reception on Jan. 21.

The 2015 “Festival of Lighthouses Contest” is free with Maritime Aquarium general admission, which is $19.95 for adults, $17.95 for youths (13-17) & seniors (65+), and $12.95 for children ages 3-12. For more details about Maritime Aquarium exhibits, IMAX® movies and programs, call (203) 852-0700 or go online to www.maritimeaquarium.org. For more event information on Fairfield County www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

The Mattatuck Museum is pleased to celebrate the holiday season with a concert featuring renowned tenor Michéal Castaldo and guest soprano Marissa Famiglietti on Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.

Michéal Castaldo, a classical crossover tenor and light Italian opera singer, songwriter and composer, is an Italian-born Canadian who currently resides in New York. Castaldo studied voice with Maestro Pisapia, a protégé of the great Italian operatic tenor, Enrico Caruso. He also studied at Oakwood Collegiate Institute in Toronto and Berklee College of Music in Boston. Opening and performing with Castaldo is Waterbury native Marissa Famiglietti. Ms. Famiglietti has been featured as a guest artist with the Concert Pops of Long Island and has been heard on tour throughout the East Coast as duet partner to renowned tenor and recording artist Michael Amante. She is a graduate of the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music programs at the esteemed Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where she was featured in numerous leading operatic roles.

A limited number of tickets will be available at the door so purchase your tickets early. Before December 18, tickets are $15 for Members, $20 for Non-Members. On or after December 18, tickets are $25 for Members and $30 for Non-Members. VIP (1st or 2nd rows) are $35 each. Cash bar. Light food and one drink are included in admission. Full payment must be received by December 18 for the discounted price. To register contact (203) 753-0381 x 130 or email informationdesk@mattatuckmuseum.org.

Located in the heart of downtown Waterbury’s architectural district, the Mattatuck Museum is a vibrant destination known locally and regionally as a community-centered institution of American art and history. The Mattatuck Museum hosts numerous changing exhibitions each year as well as a permanent collection, which features 300 years of work by American artists. Explore the region’s history through interactive displays in the history exhibit and examine the intriguing Button Gallery featuring 10,000 buttons from all over the world.

For more information on all of the museum’s programs, events, and exhibits visit the website at mattatuckmuseum.org or call (203) 753-0381. The Mattatuck Museum is operated with support from the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development/CT Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and is a member of the Connecticut Art Trail, a group of 18 world-class museums and historic sites (arttrail.org). Located on the green in Waterbury, CT at 144 West Main Street, the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Convenient, free parking is located behind the museum in the lots on Park Place.

For more area information www.litchfieldhills.com

The Mattatuck Museum is pleased to host renowned photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron on Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. for an insider’s look at the exhibition Love, Andy: Highlights from the Andy Warhol Museum followed by a presentation about a selection of iconic portrait photographs Montgomery Barron took in the early 1980s of New York artists, gallerists, art dealers and critics, and other personalities. This program is free with admission.

The presentation also includes an introduction to some of the major photography projects she has been involved with in recent years. Immediately following the talk, Jeannette will be available for a signing of her recent book, Scene, a compilation of her iconic photographs of New York artists, including Jean Michel-Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol. For more information about Jeannette please visit www.jeannettemontgomerybarron.com.

Jeannette Montgomery Barron was born in 1956 in Atlanta, Georgia and studied at the International Center of Photography in New York. She is known for her portraits of the New York art world in the 1980s, which were published in 1989 by Edition Bischofberger, Zurich in Jeannette Montgomery Barron. A collection of her still life photographs entitled Photographs and Poems, a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winning poet Jorie Graham was published by Scalo in 1998. In 2004, Mirrors was published by Holzwarth Editions and includes a text by the celebrated author Edmund White. In 2006, Holzwarth Editions also published her book, Session with Keith Haring, twenty photographs taken by Montgomery Barron in Haring’s studio one afternoon in 1985.

In My Mother’s Clothes, Montgomery Barron created a poignant and enduring portrait of her late mother through still life images of her cherished clothing, shoes, and personal possessions. As her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s progressed, robbing her of any remembered past, Montgomery Barron began this unique visual album as a way of both sparking her mother’s memories, and coping with her own sense of loss. Her works are in numerous public and corporate collections, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Kunsthaus, Zurich and The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. She has shown internationally at Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Scalo, New York and Zurich, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, ClampArt, New York and Magazzino D’Arte Moderna, Rome.

Located in the heart of downtown Waterbury’s architectural district, the Mattatuck Museum is a vibrant destination known locally and regionally as a community-centered institution of American art and history. The Mattatuck Museum hosts numerous changing exhibitions each year as well as a permanent collection, which features 300 years of work by American artists. Explore the region’s history through interactive displays in the history exhibit and examine the intriguing Button Gallery featuring 10,000 buttons from all over the world.

For more information on all of the museum’s programs, events, and exhibits visit the website at mattatuckmuseum.org or call (203) 753-0381. The Mattatuck Museum is operated with support from the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development/CT Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and is a member of the Connecticut Art Trail, a group of 18 world-class museums and historic sites (arttrail.org). Located on the green in Waterbury, CT at 144 West Main Street, the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Convenient, free parking is located behind the museum in the lots on Park Place.

For more area information on Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com

The Institute for American Indian Studies located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington, is holding a very special story telling event on Saturday, December 12 beginning at 12:30 p.m. featuring Janis Us of Mohawk/Shinnecock descent.

It has been said that one can better understand a culture through its literature whether it is written or unwritten. Storytelling was, and still, is an integral part of the Native American tradition. It is what breathes life into the culture. As the days grow shorter and the winds blow colder gather with IAIS to listen to delightful and heartwarming traditional Native American stories as told by Janis Us. Please call for reservations. $8 Adults; $10 Children.

For more information about what to see and do in Litchfield Hills visit www.litchfieldhills.com

On December 13 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. the Westport Historical Society is presenting a special program for kids and their families where they can express their oneness with people everywhere at this interactive Family Holiday Concert.

The sing-along, presented by Mary Ann Hall’s Music for Children & Beyond™ program, will feature Christmas, Hanukkah and other songs of the season accompanied by faculty from MFC on guitar, harp, keyboard and flute. The intimate setting of the WHS’s Sheffer Gallery will allow guest families and performers to enjoy an up-close and beautiful sharing of holiday songs.

This year’s tenth edition of MFC’s holiday concerts at the Westport Historical Society will celebrate the themes of peace, gratitude and kindness. The mission of this event is to develop musicianship and a life long enjoyment of music by “connecting the ART of the music with the HEART of the child.

Tickets are $15 for families, $5 per person, free for kids 2 and under, reservations are strongly suggested, call 203-222-1424.