Tag: CT Travel

Wreathmaking at Woodcock Nature Center in Wilton

Wreaths are considered to be iconic symbols of the season by many people. At the Woodcock Nature Center in Wilton a series of “Ladies Nights” for wreath making are being offered this year on Tuesday – Friday, Dec. 2nd – 5th and Dec. 9th – 12th with two sessions each night at 6:30-8:15 pm OR 8:30-10:15 pm.

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All you have to do is to gather a group of friends for 1.5 hours of decorating, preceded or followed by socializing in the Center’s warm and cozy pavilion. Relax in front of the fireplace! Bring your finest delectables and libations!
Using a wonderful array of natural dried flowers, grasses, nuts, fruits, berries and cones, you will leave with an incredible balsam fir holiday wreath. All materials are included in this Ladies-Night-Out event, the proceeds from which benefit the Woodcock Nature Center.

Program Fees – $55 to start for a beautiful balsam wreath. Our wreaths are the same generous size as in year’s past. Upgrades will be available the night you come but please pre-order any wreath larger than 18″. All decorating materials are included in the price of your wreath. PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED and is not refundable for this fundraising event. Registration is only available online at http://woodcocknaturecenter.org.

The Woodcock Nature Center is also offering two family days of wreath making on December 6 and 13 from Noon-4pm. Family Days are open house, so come anytime (plan to arrive no later than 3 pm). The cost is $40 per wreath with an additional $10 discount on the first wreath for any mom who is also coming to Ladies’ Night. No reservations are required (however, if you are planning to come with a large group, please let them know ahead of time so they can plan space and materials accordingly).There will be hot cocoa served!

The Woodcock Nature Center is located on 56 Deer Run Road in Wilton. For more information 203-762-7280. For more holiday information on Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County www.visitwesternct.com

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Westport’s Holiday House Tour and Twilight Soiree

The Westport Historical Society’s Holiday House Tour’s theme for this year is “Rooms with a View”. The tour will be held on Saturday, December 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and it will be followed from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. by the Twilight Soiree hosted by Lillian August’s flagship Norwalk store.

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This year’s five-house lineup in Westport and Weston will showcase homes owned or designed by well-known local interior designers and architects. The homes are diverse and include a Nantucket-style cottage at Compo Beach with a roof-top deck overlooking the water, as well as a hilltop Francophile’s chateau offering sweeping vistas.

Three of the houses are owned by interior designers, so this will be a good opportunity to see how the professionals decorate for the Christmas and Hanukkah seasons. A pianist will play at one of the homes, and several will be serving hot cider, hot chocolate, and holiday sweets.

Houses to be featured are:

Interior designer Olga Adler’s Saugatuck Shores residence: Rebuilt in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, this property went from a “tired rambler with multiple-personality disorder,” as Adler put it, to “a clean-lined, modern beach house with touches of global chic and a twist of Bohemia.”

Artist Kerri Rosenthal’s colorful mod colonial: Constructed in the late 1990s by award-winning builder Scott Buddenhagen, this home serves as a gallery for Rosenthal’s art. She works with D2 Interieurs as a color consultant, and their work has been featured in New England Home and At Home magazines this year.
1920s house designed by Frazier Forman Peters: One of Westport’s best-known and most original builders, Peters used native field stone and other textured materials to complement the landscape around his houses. This one is notable for the green Welsh quarry tiles on the fireplace and window sills, as well as for the pecky cypress ceilings in several of the rooms.

Designer Donna Gordon’s chateau in bucolic Weston ridge-top setting: A collaboration by award-winning architect, Judith Larson, with interior design by Gordon. Details, furnishings, and antiques reflect the owners many travels to France.

A Compo Beach house designed by Peter Cadoux Architects, built by Tiefenthaler Construction, and decor by Lillian August: This cherished family retreat built in 2011 on property that has been in the same family for three generations, was featured on the cover of East Coast Design Magazine in Spring 2012.

Tour-goers can visit the houses in any order they wish. Maps will be provided with tickets, and docents will be on hand to discuss furnishings and design elements.

The Twilight Soiree will feature savory hors d’oeuvres prepared by Garelick & Herbs, wine, holiday music, and an opportunity to take part in a silent auction. Up for grabs will be an America’s Cup Cruise, getaways to a Cape Cod vacation home and a mountain ski house, antique French pottery, and a painting by Weston artist Kerri Rosenthal, whose home and studio are part of the tour. Guests will also enjoy 10% off on purchases of Lillian August furnishings, with an additional 10% benefiting the Westport Historical Society.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.westporthistory.org, call (203) 222-1424, or stop in at Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place, across from Town Hall.

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Holiday Stroll & Dec. Fun at Litchfield History Museum

The Litchfield History Museum is offering a special Holiday Stroll on Sunday, November 30 from 2:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. This festive event will include a holiday stroll of this historic town as well as materials to make your own holiday ornaments!

In addition to the festivities, this will be the last day to view this year’s excellent exhibition, “Join the Brave Throng: Poster Art of WWI and the other exhibits at the Litchfield History Museum and the Tapping Reeve House & Law School.

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Although the museums will be closed after November 30, the Litchfield History Museum has several interesting programs planned for the month of December that includes a lecture on December 7 of the hidden history of Litchfield County at 1 p.m. This lecture traces the past of the area that is hidden in plain sight. Among the all-but-forgotten stories is the 1886 fire that roared down West Street in Litchfield causing hotel guests to flee their rooms at the Mansion House. In Bantam, the Art Deco chairs offered by the Warren McArthur Corporation caught the attention of the War Department who asked the company to make seats for bombers in World War II. With these and other hidden tales author Peter C. Vermilyea explores the little-known history of Litchfield Hills.

On December 10 at 7 p.m. there will be an archives workshop that will review the best ways to store cherished heirlooms. Basic storage techniques ranging from museum-quality archival practices to simple and affordable solutions, tips on displaying your fabric treasures, and just some good old-fashioned do’s and don’ts will be reviewed to help you store your treasures for generations. Free for members, $10 for non-members.

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On December 17, the Leather Apron Book Club will hold a meeting from 3:30- 5 p.m. The group will be reading Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen. This is the story of 13-year-old Samuel who must help to save his family, taken prisoner by the British during the Revolutionary War. Following a discussion of the book, we’ll play a game or make a craft related to the story. Register by December 12 and get a copy of the book! This is best for kids 8 and up. The cost is $10 for members and $15 for non-members.

For more information visit http://litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.

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Bethel Salutes the holidays

Downtown Bethel is saluting the holidays with a series of special events sure to please holiday gift buyers and browsers. To kick off the season, Bethel has decorated and lit their gorgeous holiday tree. On Saturday, November 29, Bethel is inviting kids to meet Santa from a 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bethel Municipal Center. Pose for photos with Santa then browse the items displayed by local artisans and vendors at the Santa Village Marketplace.

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Also on November 29, the Bethel Chamber is sponsoring a Run Santa Run 5K where participants can opt to run as Santa, an elf, a holiday tree or even a present! The 5K Run / Walk starts at 11:00 a.m.Kids Fun Run starts at 10:15 a.m.

Along with the 5K, Santa’s Village Marketplace will be setup inside the Bethel Municipal Center. A great way to start your holiday shopping. After the 5K, Santa will be inside for you to visit with and have your picture taken.

Beginning on December 4, each Thursday in December will be the Bethel Wine and Shop event that begins at 4 p.m. and lasts until the closing time of shop participants. This is the first annual wine and shop event and participants can purchase a passport for $25 for shopping and dining purposes. More than a dozen merchants will serve you wine when you show your passport. And, when shopping is over, use your passport at several restaurants in town for special dining offers.

For details call the Bethel Chamber at 203-743-6500. For additional information visit http://bethelchamber.com or call 203-743-6500.

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Clare Romano & John Ross: 70 Years of Printmaking at Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The fall exhibition, featuring a sampling from the extensive collection of original prints by Clare Romano and John Ross, at The Center for Contemporary Printmaking (CCP), 299 West Ave., in Mathews Park, Norwalk, runs through Sunday, December 14, 2014.
Gallery visitors have the opportunity to view original prints made by these preeminent printmaking artists, educators, and authors—husband and wife, each with their own acclaimed individual careers—who have made the fine art of printmaking, with a particular emphasis on the art of the collagraph, their life’s work.

John Ross, "Duomo"
John Ross, “Duomo”

Clare Romano and John Ross had a major influence on the art printmaking and printmaking students. For many, their text, “The Complete Printmaker”, represented the next wave in printmaking. The exhibition showcases landscapes and cityscapes, lithographs, etchings, silkscreens, woodcuts, letterpress and, of course, collagraphs. Visitors will discover novel and innovative images using silk aquatint, asymmetrically cut plates, and the combination of intaglio and relief on the same plate.

The Center has scheduled an Artists Talk and Book Signing with John and Tim Ross for December 10 from 7 to 8:30 pm. Clare Romano and John Ross wrote and illustrated a number of books together, the first entitled Manhattan Island (1957) and the most important publication, The Complete Printmaker, originally published in 1972 is now in its second edition with Artist/Printmaker and Educator Tim Ross joining his parents as co-author. The Complete Printmaker is still used as a printmaking text in college classrooms today.

Clare Romano, "Silver Canyon"
Clare Romano, “Silver Canyon”

Normal hours are Tuesday through Sunday 9 am to 5 pm. The gallery is closed on Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Admission is free, and the gallery is handicapped accessible. For more information visit http://www.contemprints.org.

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Antarctic Photography Exhibition Opens at the Bruce Museum

A new exhibition is opening on October 28 at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich called Antarctic Photography: Selections from Gondwana: Images of an Ancient Land. This exhibition features a selection of large-format photographs by Diane Tuft, a New York-based mixed-media artist and photographer.

Wind Formation, Victoria Lower Glacier. Photograph by Diane Tuft
Wind Formation, Victoria Lower Glacier. Photograph by Diane Tuft

In 2012, Tuft traveled to Antarctica after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. Her images chronicle the extraordinary results of that expedition with stunning photographs that capture Antarctica’s raw, untouched splendor with colors, textures, and compositions that verge on the surreal.

The exhibition will also include a few specimens, on loan from Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, representing some of the amazing life forms recently found in the Antarctic waters.

Snow Folds, Scott Base Pressure Ridges Photograph by Diane Tuft
Snow Folds, Scott Base Pressure Ridges
Photograph by Diane Tuft

The selected images are highlights of Tuft’s 2014 book Gondwana: Images of an Ancient Land,named for the mega continent that once contained what is now Antarctica, and present her vision of the continent as a living abstract reflection of hundreds of millions of years of Earth’s history. This exhibition runs through February 1, 2015. For more information about the Bruce Museum visit https://brucemuseum.org. The museum is open Tuesday – Sunday 10 am – 5 pm. Doors close 1/2 hour before closing, Last admission 4:30 pm . For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Diane Tuft

Diane Tuft is a New York-based mixed-media artist who has focused primarily on photography since 1998. She earned a degree in mathematics at the University of Connecticut before continuing her studies in art at Pratt Institute in New York. She has always been fascinated by the mystery of what exists beyond the visible; capturing this through her camera—often traveling to the world s most remote places to do so—has been a guiding principle of her work. Tuft has had solo exhibitions at Marlborough Gallery, Ameringer-Yohe Gallery, and Pace Gallery in New York City, as well as The Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah. Tuft’s work can be found in the permanent collection of The Whitney Museum of American Art and The International Center of Photography in New York City, as well as numerous private collections and museums throughout the country.

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