Tag: Litchfield Hills CT

Celebrate Green Corn in Litchfield Hills

The Institute for American Indian Studies Museum and Research Center in Washington CT is hosting it’s Annual Green Corn Festival on Saturday, August 2 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm on the grounds of the Museum located on 38 Curtis Road. The event will be held rain or shine. Adults: $10; children: $6.

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Green Corn Festivals are held all over Native America between May and October. The events are both a celebration and a religious ceremony. They celebrate the ripening of the first corn of the year depending on geographic location. The whole idea is to give thanks to the Creator, the Great Spirit, for the corn, the rain and sun that nurture it.

Traditionally corn has been an integral part of the annual cycle of life for Native American People and this Festival celebrates the first corn of the season. Fun filled activities for the whole family including drumming, dancing, face painting, kids’ crafts, and more make this event memorable.

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Highlights of the event include exciting Native American ceremonies including traditional Eastern Woodland song & dance with the Native Nation Dancers, Schaghticoke, Objiwa and Lumbee, dancing both Northern and Southern Traditional styles. A highlight this year will be the all female drumming group, Spirit of Thunderheart of Schaghticoke, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Cree and Cherokee ancestry; other performers include musician Allan Madahbee, Ojibwa; Storyteller Janis Us, Mohawk-Shinnecock descent, and Abenaki Chef and Author, Dale Carson.

A favorite of young and old alike are the Native American folktales told by storyteller, Janis Us of Mohawk-Shinnecock descent. Kids will enjoy Native American inspired crafts and facepainting.

Two not to be missed features of the Festival are the crafts for sale by local Native American artisans and a taste of traditional cooking including Pow-wow style food for sale in the outdoor Algonkian Village hosted by Dale Carson, of Abenaki descent.

About the Institute for American Indian Studies Museum and Research Center
The focus of the Institute has always been stewardship and preservation. In 1991, the name was changed to the Institute for American Indian Studies. With the name change there was a shift in focus to include education in conjunction with research.

The ethnographic collection of the Institute for American Indian Studies contains over 6,000 cultural items. While focusing on the Eastern Woodlands Peoples, the collection represents indigenous communities throughout the western hemisphere. Items vary in raw material composition – textiles, wood, stone, clay, glass, shell and semi-precious jewels – function and style from moccasins, rugs, baskets and leggings to containers, weaponry, personal accessories, recreational objects and fine art.

The Research & Collections Building is artifact-friendly with a climate controlled vault and spacious laboratory. It is home to an abundance of collections, both ethnographic and archaeological. It also houses both an education and research library, containing over 2,000 books and journals and is open only by appointment (860-868-0518 ext.109).

For Museum hours and other special events visit: http://www.birdstone.org. For information on Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com

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Summer exhibitions at the Mattatuck Museum Waterbury

This summer, the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury Connecticut is presenting an art show called Haven and Inspiration that runs through August 24. This fascinating exhibition traces the evolution of the Kent Connecticut Art Colony.

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Haven and Inspiration explores the wide range of artistic styles and subjects produced by the art colony’s founding members: Rex Brasher (1869-1960) Eliot Candee Clark (1883-1980), Carl Hirschberg (1854-1923), Francis Luis Mora (1874-1940), G. Laurence Nelson (1887-1978), Spencer Baird Nichols (1875-1950), Robert Nisbet (1879-1961), Willard Paddock (1873-1956) and Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940). Of all the villages in Connecticut, Kent attracted the most permanent colony of artists and developed the only artists’ organization that exists to this day. It remains, until now, however, the one least examined.

Building upon the scholarship of Robert Michael Austin, whose publication, Artists of the Litchfield Hills devotes a chapter to the Kent Art Colony, this exhibition focuses on the period 1910 to 1930. Robert Nisbet moved to Kent in 1910; shortly after, like-minded artists who started as visitors became neighbors. By the summer of 1922, there were enough artists in Kent for them to consider organizing into a group. While landscape was the primary subject, they also painted portraits, genre scenes and still lifes.

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Another exhibition at the Mattatuck, The Way We Worked that runs through August 3 explores how ork became a central element in American culture by tracing the many changes that affected the workforce and work environments. The exhibition draws from the Archives’ rich photographic collections, covering more than 150 years to tell this compelling story. Why, where, and how do we work? What value does work have to individuals and communities? What does our work tell others about us?

Included in this exhibit are paintings by Anna Held Audette and Duvian Montoya. Audette is a contemporary woman artist who paints industrial ruins and abandoned machinery and Montoya’s painting’s act as a personal journal of observations made during his travels, childhood, and life experiences.

A third exhibition that runs through August 31 and is titled Steel Garden showcases the work of Sculptor Babette Bloch. Considered a is a pioneer in the use of laser-cut and water jet-cut stainless steel in creating works of art, Bloch’s sculptures explore form and the interplay between object and light, reflect their environments, and expand the ways in which stainless steel is used in contemporary art.
Bloch’s works of art embrace her eclectic tastes, her pleasure in aesthetics and her technical curiosity. Drawing on several traditions in American art, she creates works that touch on Modernist abstraction, the cut outs and collage found in Pop art, and the long-standing practice of storytelling in art. In cutting, shaping, burnishing, and grinding stainless steel, Bloch has developed the material’s natural properties of brightness and reflectivity while making the dense metal seem nearly weightless and ethereal.

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A not to be missed continuing exhibition, Fancy This: The Gilded Age of Fashion displays beautiful, rarely seen costume pieces from the Mattatuck’s collection. Many of these delicate objects have not been on view for decades. Guest curator Mary Daniel is the winner of the 2013 Summer Fling “Curator for the Day” auction prize and has been working with the Museum’s curatorial department to organize this exhibition which also includes accessories such as shoes, purses, fans and gloves.

The Mattatuck Museum is located on 144 West Main Street, Waterbury CT. The museum is open Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sundays from 12 noon to 5 p.m. and open late the first Thursday of the Month until 7:30 p.m. For additional information https://www.mattatuckmuseum.org.

For information about the Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com

JanetLeave a comment

Railway Post Office Dog Day at the Danbury Railway Museum

On Saturday, July 19, the Danbury Railway Museum will host a celebration
honoring the legacy of Owney, the Railway Post Office dog. A centerpiece
of the day will be the museum’s fully-restored Pennsylvania Railroad
circa-1910 Railway Post Office (RPO) car. The museum at 120 White Street
is open from 10am to 4pm. Admission for this event is $8.00 (under 3 is
free) which includes a train ride, access to all activities, and a free hot
dog!

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Owney was a stray dog which found its way into the Albany, NY post office
in 1888 and was soon adopted by the Railway Mail Service clerks and became
the mascot of this elite government service. He traveled throughout the
state, and then all over the country, in the RPO cars, eventually venturing
around the world as a U.S. Post Office Department “emissary” in 1895. In
2011, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp to honor him. Owney
has been preserved and is on display at the National Postal Museum in
Washington, DC. Visitors to the museum on the 19th will hear the true
story of Owney, the mascot of the U.S. Railway Mail Service, and can tour
the lovingly-restored RPO car.

The “Railyard Local” – a short train ride in a 1920’s passenger coach or a
vintage caboose pulled by a 1947 GE “44-Tonner” or ALCo RS-1 locomotive –
will take visitors through the historic rail yard and past over 60 vintage
railroad cars and locomotives, including a Boston & Maine steam locomotive
built in 1907. Riders will have an opportunity to “go for a spin” on the
operating turntable. Trains depart hourly from 10:30 to 2:30. Of course,
the fascinating exhibits inside the restored 1903 Danbury station will be
open, along with a fully-stocked gift shop. The model train layouts inside
will also be operating.

The Danbury Railway Museum is a non-profit organization, staffed solely by
volunteers, and is dedicated to the preservation of, and education about,
railroad history. The museum is located in the restored 1903 Danbury
Station and rail yard at 120 White Street, Danbury, CT. For further
information, visit the Web site at http://www.danburyrail.org, email to
info@danburyrail.org, or call the museum at 203-778-8337.

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Hollister House – Twilight in the Garden

Horticultural enthusiasts and bon vivants are cordially invited to savor the enchantment of Twilight in the Garden in the cool of the evening from 6 to 8 pm on Saturday, July 12, 2014 at Hollister House Garden. In a remarkable setting of charming views in all directions and the company of like-minded gardeners and friends, Twilight in the Garden guests can enjoy the garden with a glass of wine and cheese and hors d’oeuvres.

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An exciting aspect of the garden this year is the new rill, a very narrow, 28-foot long water channel on the upper lawn behind the house. The rill is a classic but uncommon element of landscape design that places the sound and movement of water into the garden.

Stars of this very English garden at its early-summer peak are an exuberant abundance of daylilies, hydrangeas and old-fashioned phlox, plus various other happy plants spilling onto walkways, tumbling over walls and climbing up arches. Dahlias add masses of color and also offer quiet moments in certain places in the garden that are surrounded by a profusion of texture and form.

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A 36-year labor of love by Washington resident George Schoellkopf, gardener extraordinaire and respected Early American antiques dealer, the romantic Hollister House Garden is beautifully situated on a gently sloping hillside behind a rambling 18th century farmhouse. The garden ‘s intimate outdoor spaces, bordered by dramatic hedges and the natural landscape, are lavishly planted with both familiar and exotic species in often surprising color combinations and open onto stunning vistas. Like many great gardens, it continues to be a work in progress. Hollister House Garden is one of only 16 exceptional gardens currently designated a Preservation Project by the Garden Conservancy, whose mission is to identify and preserve important and historically significant gardens across America for the education and enjoyment of the public.

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Hollister House in 2010 achieved its prestigious listing on the National Register of Historic Places and the property was also named a Town Landmark Site by the Town of Washington.

The Twilight in the Garden party is priced at $30 per person, or for HHG members at $25 person. Reservations must be made in advance either on the Special Events page of the website a www.hollisterhousegarden.org or by phone at 860-868-2200. Hollister House Garden is open to visitors every Saturday through September. For June, July and August, hours are 8 to 10 am and 3 to 6 pm; September hours are 10 am to noon and 2 to 5 pm. Directions to the garden’s 300 Nettleton Hollow Road location are also available on the website.

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Summer Stroll in New Preston on July 5

The summer stroll taking place on July 5 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the riverside village of New Preston is offering more activities this year than ever before. “Downtown” on this quaint Main Street (Rte. 45) will feature a a barbecue with hot dogs in front of Nine Main. The Smithy will be serving fresh, local lemonade and cookies, and Dawn Hill & Upstairs Antiques will host a sparkling Prosecco Porch Party with nibbles.

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Across the street in “Midtown” you can feast courtesy of the White Horse Country Pub. “Audrey” the vintage English taxi, there will there with bite size nibbles of British Raj chicken salad on chili dusted tortilla chips, and Key Lime and Raspberry Margarita pie bites. Pergola & J. Seitz & Co will be pouring a variety of beverages including refreshing Japanese grapefruit chuhai.

On the “Uptown” side, there will be Candy Bags at Sweets, Pamplemousse Royale at DK Shulman, and trays of Focaccia courtesy of Oliva Restaurant, while Privet House supplies the adult libations and New Preston Kitchen Goods sparkles with a summery white Sangria.

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A live band, The Social Gents Club, will perform on the corner of Main Street & East Shore Road, next to Dawn Hill Antiques. County Wines and Spirits, just down the road, will host an in-store cheese tasting.

Privet House and Vol.1 will throw open the doors of their two story shop stocked full of antiques and great finds for summer entertaining. Pergola will be offering their usual great mix of everything for the garden, and treasures from their last trip to Kyoto. D.K Schulman, will feature the best of summer gift ideas plus stationery and cards. J. Seitz will offer 25% off selected Men’s, Women’s and Infant clothing during Stroll hours.

Planning a barbecue? New Preston Kitchen Goods has everything you need and Dawn Hill Antiques is featuring The Grilling Book, published by Bon Appetit and photographed on location in Sharon, CT., plus a beautiful collection of celadon pottery by Frances Palmer. Upstairs Antiques welcomes a new addition, Antique Wicker and Garden, be sure to visit their cozy room filled with comfy 1920’s wicker that is ready for a porch or garden room.

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Norfolk Chamber Music Festival Announces its 2014 Season

Located in the heart of the Litchfield Hills, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, presented by the Yale School of Music, celebrates its 73rd season this year with performances and residencies of internationally esteemed ensembles and chamber musicians alongside students and young professionals from around the world.

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From June 14 to August 16 Norfolk will host a roster of outstanding ensembles including: the Artis Quartet, the Brentano Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Leschetizky Trio (Vienna), the Yale Choral Artists, and San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
In 2014 the Norfolk Festival is proud to honor its patroness, Ellen Battell Stoeckel, who passed away seventy-five years ago, in 1939. It was her dream that resulted in the glorious Music Shed, and it was her wish that after she died, music would continue in the small village of Norfolk, CT through a summer school for the Yale School of Music.

Norfolk director Paul Hawkshaw says, “In keeping with Ellen Battell Stoeckel’s wishes, our mission at Norfolk is to cultivate the performance and teaching of chamber music at the highest level. We always want our audiences, students, and performing artists to have fun exploring the chamber music repertoire, and this year we are especially fortunate to have a truly international group of performers for our audiences to enjoy.”

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Something new for Norfolk will this year’s festival on Saturday, June 14. To honor Ellen Battell Stoeckel, and as a fund raising event for its educational programs, the Norfolk Festival is presenting an evening of classic big band music from the 30’s and 40’s, with dancing in the Music Shed. The Shed will be transformed into a supper club for the evening, with music provided by the Flipside Big Band directed by Thomas Duffy.

The following weekend is a choral program by the Yale Choral Artists, a new ensemble of 24 professional singers from around the country under the direction of the Yale Glee Club’s Jeffrey Douma. The Choral Artists will perform a program of new music inspired by early works: J.S. Bach’s motet Singet dem Herrn will be coupled with a new work by Sven-David Sandstrom; a work by Thomas Tallis will be paired with a new, Tallis-inspired piece by Ted Hearne; and a work by Josquin des Pres will be coupled with a new Josquin-inspired piece by Hannah Lash.

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From July 4 to August 9 Norfolk will host a six-week Chamber Music Session. Among the twelve concerts each Friday and Saturday night in July and August will be a concert of string sextets pairing the Dvořák Sextet, Op 48, with Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht; and a program of chamber music to celebrate the Fourth of July including works by Leonard Bernstein, Charles Griffes and Dvořák. Of special note is a program on July 11 honoring clarinetist Keith Wilson who was Director of the Norfolk Festival from 1960 to 1982. Richard Stoltzman will perform works by Hindemith, Peter Sculthorpe and Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet.

On Friday, August 15 San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Nicholas McGegan (OBE) will return to Norfolk with a program of vocal and instrumental works by Corelli, Handel and Rameau. Soprano Celine Ricci and countertenor Robin Blaze join the orchestra in scenes from Handel’s opera Teseo.

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The Norfolk Festival, under the leadership of Paul Hawkshaw since 2004, includes a New Music Workshop led by composer Martin Bresnick and guitarist/composer Benjamin Verdery and special guest Bryce Dessner of the ‘indie’ band The National, a Lecture series, a Young Artists’ Performance Series (Thursday nights and Saturday mornings; free admission), Festival Artist concerts (Friday and Saturday nights), and a Family Day on July 13. This year’s festival concludes on August 16 with a performance of works for chorus and orchestra from the Renaissance to the contemporary by the
Norfolk Festival Chorus and Orchestra directed by Simon Carrington.

For tickets and information contact The Music Shed, 20 Litchfield Rd. (Rtes. 44 and 272) Norfolk by phone: 203-432-1966 or visit the website www.norfolkmusic.org. For information on where to dine and stay in the Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com

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