Tag: CT event

Stepping Stones Museum for Children Announces 2014 Around the World Program

Exposure to the world’s diverse cultures and customs provides priceless educational opportunities for our children. Through the Stepping Stone Museum for Children’s highly popular and award-winning Around the World programming, families can explore the world without leaving Norwalk through cultural programs brought to life.

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The Stepping Stones Museum for Children is proud to announce the 12 Around the World “destinations” selected for each month of 2014. Frequent Around the World participants will be able to achieve “World Traveler” status and attend an exclusive end-of-the-year event in December 2014.

Since 2009, Stepping Stones has been transporting children and parents to 12 different parts of the world each year. Each month, museum guests get an extensive look at a different country’s customs through their engaging, interactive Around the World Performance Series events featuring youth performers and professional artists and musicians and their Around the World Creative Kids offering hands-on cultural craft activities.

Throughout the month, the designated country is represented on the museum’s walls with a map display and travel guide, in the Multimedia Gallery with a short film and interactive digital media floor games broadcast at various times each day and in the Family and Teacher Resource Center with the Around the World Bookshelf offering children’s books about the featured country. School vacation weeks are dedicated to Around the World programs and include special crafts, story times and activities.

From the program’s inception, participants have been receiving a keepsake Around the World “passport” that is stamped to keep track of each destination they have “visited.” Stepping Stones registers each child’s passport to keep track of his or her participation. If a child “visits” at least 6 countries during the year, he or she will receive “World Traveler” status and will be invited to the special World Travelers’ event in December 2014.

Experiencing the world’s diverse cultures can be enriching and rewarding. Below is the 2014 roster of countries that will be “explored” at the Stepping Stones Museum for Children located on 303 West Avenue, exit 14N or 15S off I-95 in Norwalk. Museum hours are Labor Day through Memorial Day, Tuesday—Sunday and holiday Mondays from 10 am-5pm; and Memorial Day through Labor Day, Monday-Sunday from 10 am-5 pm. Admission is $15 for adults and children and $10 for seniors. Children under 1 are free. To learn more, call 203 899 0606 or visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org

2014 Around The World Performance Series Schedule:

January 18, 2014
Ballet Los Pampas – Argentina

February 15, 2014
Soro Bindi – Ghana

March 8, 2014
Inca Son – Peru

April 19, 2014
Kahana Hula – Samoa

May 3, 2014
Rossijanochka Folk Dance Troupe – Russia

June 21, 2014
Didgequest – Australia

July 26, 2014
Music and Dance of the Scottish Highlands – Scotland
August 16, 2014
Surcari – Chile

September (Date TBA)
Greek Mythology – Greece

October 25, 2014
The Catskill Puppet Theater presents The Lion’s Whiskers – Ethiopia

November 8, 2014
Shane Long – United States (Native Americans)

December 13, 2014
ABBA Girlz – Sweden

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Closer: The Graphic Art of Chuck Close at The Bruce Museum

The Bruce Museum in Greenwich is presenting Closer: The Graphic Art of Chuck Close in the main Love, Newman Wild Galleries through January 5, 2013 with a portion on view in the Lecture Gallery through January 26.

With a body of work composed almost entirely of portraits, the American artist Chuck Close has been astounding us with his artistic verisimilitude for more than four decades. His prints, especially, are adventures in problem solving: working from the particularities of each print medium – woodcut, etching, silkscreen, linocut, aquatint, pulp-paper multiple – he gives his imagination free rein to reconceive their aesthetic possibilities. Although a spirit of experimentation characterizes Close’s work across all media, it is particularly evident in the wide-ranging scope of his printed production.

Chuck Close announced his arrival on the contemporary art scene with his large-scale, black-and-white airbrushed heads, paintings based on photographs he had transferred to canvas by means of a grid. Recognition came quickly: his work was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, in 1969, followed by a solo exhibition at New York’s Bykert Gallery in 1970 and a one-man show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1971. In 1972 he created the first print of his professional career, a mezzotint, which began a life-long engagement with the aesthetics and technology of printmaking. The collaborative nature of this work has been vital to the artist’s creative process: working with master printers, Close alters one or several variables to create endless permutations in a wide variety of print techniques, usually recycling past portraits of himself, his family, and his friends.

The Bruce Museum is also sponsoring a lecture on Dec. 12 beginning at 7:30 p.m. It is titled Closer: The Art of Chuck Close in the Context of the 1970s that is being led by Kenneth Silver, PHD, Professor of Art History, New York University, Adjunct Curator of Art, Bruce Museum. There will be a dessert reception for both lectures from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. and reservations are required. Visit www.brucemuseum.org to make reservations.

Closer: The Graphic Art of Chuck Close is accompanied by a generously illustrated catalogue by the same title. A lecture series and film series will also complement the exhibition.

About the Bruce Museum
Explore Art and Science at the Bruce Museum, located at One Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for students up to 22 years, $6 for seniors and free for members and children under 5 years. Individual admission is free on Tuesday. Free on-site parking is available and the Museum is accessible to individuals with disabilities. For additional information, call the Bruce Museum at 203 869-0376 or visit the website at www.brucemuseum.org.

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Gregory James – Holiday Show

Gregory James Gallery – Fine Art & the Art of Framing located at 93 Park Lane road (route 202), New Milford, Connecticut, is pleased to announce its annual Holiday Art Show. The exhibit opens Saturday, December 14, and runs through Saturday, January 26, 2013.

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The holiday show will feature Southbury, CT painter Thomas Adkins. Adkins recently painted a series of Lake Waramaug scenes. The gallery is also pleased to exhibit several of Washington, CT artist Vincent Giarrano’s genre paintings of contemporary life. Other gallery artists will included Scott Zuckerman of West Cornwall, CT, Christopher Magadini of Croton-on-Hudson, NY, Aviary sculptor Bill Rice of Warren, CT, and many others. Gregory James Gallery’s Holiday Art Show is a great opportunity to give someone the gift of an original work of art. The offerings are a perfect way to begin a new or enhance an established collection.

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For more information, please call Gregory James Mullen at 860-354-3436, or visit their website: www.gregoryjamesgallery.com. The gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10-6, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday 10-5, and Sunday 11-4 or by appointment.

For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

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Hotchkiss Fyler House Opens for Holiday House Tours

The elegant Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum, located at 192 Main Street, is decorated for the holiday season and will open for tours beginning December 14 and continuing to December 29th, Wednesdays through Sundays.

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Museum staff members will offer guided tours of the house which was built in 1900 and home to the Hotchkiss and Fyler families for more than half a century. The house has been maintained as a museum since 1956 when the last family member, Gertrude Fyler Hotchkiss, bequeathed the property to the Torrington Historical Society.

Much of the Christmas decoration is done in turn-of-the-century style with lavish displays of greenery, garlands, wreaths and flowers adorning the staircase, chandeliers, and mantles. This year, several local floral artists have created custom arrangements to set off the home’s rich interior of mahogany woodwork and stenciled walls. Seven Christmas trees, a number of them decorated by private individuals using vintage ornaments from their own collections, are displayed over the first and second floors of the house. Visitors can also view antique toys from the Torrington Historical Society’s collection, arranged beneath the trees.

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The dining room table will be set for Christmas dinner with the linens, china, and crystal that belonged to Gertrude Fyler Hotchkiss.

Guided tours of the Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum will be available Wednesdays through Sundays, 12 noon to 4 p.m., with tours on the half hour and the last tour each day at 3:30 p.m. The house is closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and on December 25th. Admission is $7 for adults, free for members and children under age 12. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call the Society at 860-482-8260 pr visit www.torringtonhistoricalsociety.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

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Celebrate the holidays PT Barnum Style!

During December, Bridgeport’s Barnum Museum is offering a limited, yet glorious, series of Victorian Christmas events as part of the Celebrate the Season programming.

On Wednesday, December 11, at 11 a.m. the musuem is hosting a reading of The Night Before Christmas by Sonya Finch Bridgeport’s First Lady. Mrs. Finch will read Clement Clarke Moore’s timeless holiday tale, the enchantingThe Night Before Christmas, under the twinkling lights of a Victorian Christmas tree. Children attending the nearby Early Learning Lab at Housatonic Community College have been invited, but the public is also encouraged to bring their pre-school children for a $2 suggested donation to participate in this traditional way to ring in the holidays.

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If you are a fan of Tom Thumb, don’t miss Eric Lehman’s Tom Thumb Lecture on Sunday, December 15, at 2 p.m. . Attendees will get a first look at Eric D. Lehman’s new biography of Bridgeport’s own Charles Stratton, Becoming Tom Thumb. Lehman tells the full story of this iconic figure for the first time. The book details his triumphs on the New York stage, his epic celebrity wedding, his meetings with Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria, and his around-the-world tour, drawing on newly available primary sources and interviews. From the mansions of Paris to the deserts of Australia, Stratton’s unique brand of Yankee comedy not only earned him the accolades of millions of fans, it helped move little people out of the side show and into the lime light. Eric D. Lehman teaches travel literature, history, and creative writing at the University of Bridgeport. He is the author of seven books about Connecticut, including A History of Connecticut Food andInsiders’ Guide to Connecticut. Admission $5.

On Wednesday, December 18, at 12 p.m. Kathleen Maher, the Museum’s Executive Director will present Celebrate the Season. This presentation will take participants on a fascinating journey back in time to holiday festivities of bygone days. Maher will present the evolution of the tales and traditions of a Victorian age Christmas. $2 suggested donation.
The Barnum Museum is located on 820 Main Street in Bridgeport in the People’s United Bank Gallery, entry located at the back of the historic building, or McLevy Green on Dec. 5. Call for more information 203-331-1104 ext.100, M-F, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

The Barnum Museum Holiday schedule:
Sat, Dec. 21 through Weds, Dec. 25 – The Barnum Museum will be closed
Thurs. & Fri., Dec. 26 & 27 – Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Weds. Jan. 1 – The Barnum Museum will be closed
Thurs. & Fri., Jan. 2 & 3 – Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The back exhibition hall of the museum, featuring artifacts that belonged to P.T. Barnum, Tom Thumb and others, is open for viewing and exploration on Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. To learn more about The Barnum Museum’s current programs visit http://www.barnum-museum.org. You can also visit the museum on Facebook, view past programs at www.barnummuseumexhibitions.org or communicate on Twitter @BarnumMuseum.

The original Barnum Institute building is owned by the City of Bridgeport and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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BETHLEHEM (CT) OFFERS A FESTIVE START TO THE HOLIDAY SEASON

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They call this little town in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut “Christmas Town” with good reason. Bethlehem’s Christmas Town Festival scheduled for December 6 and 7, celebrates its 33rd birthday this year as one of New England’s favorite ways to kick off the season. Wherever you turn, special treats are waiting, from the town green to the post office to the Abbey of Regina Laudis and the 1754 Bellamy-Ferriday House. Some of the unique attractions continue when the festival is over.
Vendors and More On the Green

The quaint town green, centered with a giant tree, is home to over 70 vendors with unique gift items, wreaths and delicious foods for sale. Strolling carolers and musicians help keep things lively, Santa will be waiting at the firehouse to pose for pictures with young friends, and everyone is invited to climb aboard for hayrides offered in front of First Church. Collectors can garner this year’s unique limited edition Christmas Town pewter ornament, sold only during the Festival.

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Bethlehem’s beautiful eighteenth century Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden will be festively decorated and open for tours and holiday cheer during festival hours. Guides will offer house tours and there will be hot cider and a scavenger hunt for children. The home is located at 9 Main Street North, information can be found at www.ctlandmarks.org

Hours for the Christmas Town Festival are Friday, December 6 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday, December 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, see http://www.christmastownfestival.com or phone 203-266-7510, ext. 300.

Christmas Town Mailings at the Post Office

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The Bethlehem post office is busy in December serving the many who come every year to mail holiday cards with their unique postmarks. Visitors can select favorites among the “Christmas Cachet” designs, hand-stamp and mail these unique greetings to friends and family. The idea of the special stamps dates to 1938, when a local Postmaster, the late Earl Johnson, designed a “cachet,” a special rubber stamp featuring a tree and lettering that said “From the Little Town of Bethlehem, Christmas Greetings.” New cachets have been added almost every year since. Over 70 designs are now available and nearly 200,000 cards are mailed each year from this small post office. Located at 34 East Street, the post office will have extended hours during the festival, Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Precious Crèches at the Abbey

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One of Bethlehem’s not-to-be-missed jewels is open all month for visitors. The museum-quality eighteenth century Neapolitan crèche on view in a vintage barn at the Abbey of Regina Laudis includes hundreds of beautiful hand-carved figures. Made of wood, terra cotta, and porcelain, the figures portray the Holy Family, angels, the Three Kings, merchants and peddlers, children, peasants and farm animals. This fabulous gift from artist and philanthropist Loretta Hines Howard is similar to the one Howard donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is prominently displayed every Christmas.

A second Crèche, The Lauren Ford Crèche, created by a favorite Connecticut artist, is displayed in a farm shed near the Lower Abbey Chapel. This charming rustic Nativity scene displays figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph dressed in typical New England garb.

The Monastic Art Shop on the property offers crafts, cheeses, jams, herbal teas, flavored vinegars, herbs and honey, and all created on site by the Abbey’s residents.

The Abbey of Regina Laudis, located at 249 Flanders Road, is open to visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.abbeyofreginalaudis.org

For more information about holiday activities and a free copy of UNWIND, a full-color, 152-page booklet detailing what to do and see, and where to stay, shop and dine in Fairfield County and the Litchfield Hills of Western Connecticut, contact the Western Connecticut Visitors Bureau, PO Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759, (860) 567-4506, or visit their web site at www.visitwesternct.com

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