Tag: Litchifeld Hills

Open Your Eyes Studio Tour & Showcase in Litchfield Hills

L. Petrocine - Wetlands
L. Petrocine – Wetlands

Artists in the Litchfield Hills are opening their doors to the public this summer on June 22 and 23 free of charge. In the Open your eyes Studio Tour sponsored by the Northwest CT Arts Council, twenty-nine artists and eight performers in New Milford and Kent will open their studios to the public.

Artists will open their creative spaces to the public on Saturday and Sunday along the tour route to show their work and discuss their creative processes. The artists’ media represented on the tour include painting, printmaking, sculpting, photography, metal sculpture, woodworking, wool spinning, dying & weaving, installation work, bookmaking, digital art, drawing, ceramics, and jewelry. The artists are Terri Tibbatts, Bill Merklein, Silver Sun Studio, Michael Everett, Linda Petrocine, Peter Kirkiles, Alison Palmer, Peter Kukresh, Lauri Zarin, Scott Bricher, Naya Bricher, Mary Terrizzi, Ed Martinez, Deborah Chabrian, Jill Scholsohn, Richard Stalter, Susan Grisell, Barbara Dull, Stephen Dull, Elizabeth Mullins, Susan Millins, Kathleen L’Hommedieu, Peter Catchpole, Patrick Purcell, Chris Osborne, Joel Spector, Anda Styler, Lynn WEllings, and Diane Dubreuil.

Tibbatts
Tibbatts

Performers for the Showcase on Saturday, June 22 from 5 – 9 pm on the New Milford Green will include TheatreWorks New Milford, musician Tom Hooker Hanford, Artists in Motion (dance), composer/pianist Sharon Ruchman, Larry Hunt from Masque Theatre, Buzz Turner on acoustic guitar, Rebecca Moore Dance, and True Jensen who perform rock and R & B cover music.

Jill Scholsohn
Jill Scholsohn

For more information about Open Your Eyes Studio Tour & Showcase go to OpenYourEyesTour.org or contact the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council at (860) 618-0075 or mcartsnwct@gmail.com.

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Mother’s Day Ideas for Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County

Mothers Day is a holiday celebrating mothers and motherhood that was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in West Virginia. She then went on a campaign to make it a recognized holiday in the US and was successful in establishing it in 1914. Today, Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world.

A perfect treat for moms is going to the theater. Several theaters in Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County are offering specials just for mom.

Downtown Cabaret Theatre
Downtown Cabaret Theatre

The Downtown Cabaret Theatre (http://dtcab.com) for example located on 263 Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport is offering a free ticket for mom to a special performance now through May 12th of 8-Track or Wizard of Odds, or both shows! For details call the Box Office 203-576-1636 (Offer not available online).

Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse

In the heart of Westport located in a state of the theater, the Westport Country Playhouse on 25 Powers Court in Westport is offering a complimentary glass of Prosecco on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12, before the 3 p.m. matinee performance of The Dining Room, a witty and heartfelt story of the American family and its vanishing traditions, directed by Mark Lamos. For tickets and more information visit www.westportplayhouse.org or call the box office at 203.227.4177.

Infinity Hall
Infinity Hall

In the unspoiled village of Norfolk in the Litchfield Hills, Infinity Hall on 20 Greenwoods Road (Rte. 44) is offering a 5-star brunch, lunch or dinner for mom with the chef serving delicious specials as well as all the items from their popular menu. To make the day memorable Infinity Hall is hosting a 2 p.m. matinee featuring Brian Miller, Musician, Magician and Mind Reader and a 7:30 p.m. concert starring country singer Iris DeMent. Please note that show tickets will be sold separately. Visit http://www.InfinityHall.com or call 860-542-5531 for reservations and tickets.

Landmarks Theatre
Landmarks Theatre

In Thomaston, on Main Street, in the historic Thomaston Opera House, Landmarks Theatre (www.landmarkcommunitytheatre.org) is offering a buy one ticket at the regular admission price of $23 and get one ticket free for mom on May 10 -12 for Mother’s Day. The Landmarks Theatre spring musical production, sure to delight mom is Guys & Dolls. Shows on May 10 and 11 are at 8 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on May 12. Get your tickets by calling the Box Office (860) 283-6250 or go online http://www.landmarkcommunitytheatre.org. Don’t miss this much-loved Broadway musical!

Another idea is to give a gift of music to your mom by attending the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra’s multi media experience of Gustav Mahler’s Titan. “The World According to Gustav,” is a biographical examination of the composer’s life featuring excerpts from Das Klagende Lied and Songs of a Wayfarer. The second half of the concert will be Symphony no. 1 (Titan). This musical evening for moms takes place on Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. at the NVCC Fine Arts Center in Waterbury at a discounted price of $24 for moms on $30 seats. Tickets are available online at: http://www.waterburysymphony.org (For discount, type in the word “mother” when asked for discount code) or by calling 203-574-4283.

Special Treats

Bruce Museum
Bruce Museum

For Mother’s Day, the Bruce Museum Store (http://brucemuseum.org) located in Greenwich and featured in the March 2013 issue of Connecticut Magazine as ‘Best Boutique’ among museum shops – has a wonderful selection of gifts that are perfect for every mom including cards, candles, scarves, hats, stationery, books, accessories, collectibles and jewelry. Just in time for Mother’s Day, the Bruce Museum Store is offering 25% off on all jewelry for the entire month of May in celebration of Mom. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; 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.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children
Stepping Stones Museum for Children

In Norwalk, Mom’s will enjoy free admission on Sunday, May 12 to the Stepping Stones Museum for Children (www.steppingstonesmuseum.org) located in Mathews Park, 303 West Avenue. Stepping Stones Museum for Children is an award-winning, private, non -profit 501(c)(3) children’s museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children and families. Located on five acres in Mathews Park, the recently expanded LEED Gold certified museum encompasses five hands-on galleries, a state-of-the-art multimedia theater, Family and Teacher Resource Center, cafe and retail store. Museum hours are 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 visit steppingstonesmuseum.org or call 203 899 0606.

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Also in Norwalk, the Gift Shop at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk (www.maritimeaquarium.org) on Water Street is offering 25% off sale in their gift shop on fine jewelry by local artists May 10 – 12 only. When visiting the Aquarium don’t miss the special exhibit of the meerkats that scamper and play endlessly. The museum is open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily.

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The Imagination Nation in Bristol (www.imaginemuseum.org) on 1 Pleasant Street is offering mom’s free admission on Sunday, May 12 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Kids can craft a fabric flower in the Imagine That! art area to give to mom as a wonderful keepsake for her special day. Admission is $7 per person, children under 1 are always free and mom’s on Mother’s Day!

American Clock and Watch Museum
American Clock and Watch Museum

If you have “time” on mother’s day, head to Bristol’s American Clock & Watch Museum where all moms will be celebrated by receiving free admission! This museum is filled with a collection of exquisite timepieces that tell the story of the state and region’s rich clock making heritage. While visiting the museum don’t miss, the special 2013 exhibit “Art Deco Timepieces: Treasures of the Jazz Age”. The museum is located at 100 Maple Street, in Bristol. For more information call the museum 860-583-6070 http://www.clockandwatchmuseum.org.

New England Carousel Museum
New England Carousel Museum

At the New England Carousel Museum on 95 Riverside Ave. in Bristol, mother’s accompanied by kids pay half price all day. During the Golden Age of the carousel, postcards were very popular. Visitors to the museum are invited to print a postcard to give to mom as a memorable remembrance and to come for a ride on the carousel! For more information visit http://www.thecarouselmuseum.org.

Beardsley Zoo
Beardsley Zoo

On May 12 bring mom to the zoo… Beardsley Zoo that is in Bridgeport on 1875 Noble Ave. The ticket is on the Zoo – moms get in free because Connecticut’s only zoo wants to thank all moms working so hard throughout the year on their special day. Enjoy this special day visiting their animals or having lunch in the Peacock Pavilion. When visiting don’t miss the newest mom at the Zoo, Cupcake, the Nigerian Dwarf goat that just gave birth to two kids! http://www.BeardsleyZoo.org.

Lake Compounce
Lake Compounce

Opening day for Lake Compounce Theme Park (www.lakecompounce.com/) is Saturday, May 11th. On Sunday May 12th, moms will enjoy a little extra special attention in honor of Mother’s Day. Buy one, get one free tickets are available online only for the entire weekend, so mom can enjoy a free day in the park when she comes with anyone else who pays regular adult admission. In addition, moms get to enjoy a special ‘Relaxation Station’ for their comfort and pampering.

Winvian
Winvian

Winvian (www.winvian.com) in Morris Connecticut is offering a Mother’s Day Brunch from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Winvian’s garden is the centerpiece of Chef Eddy’s fresh and spontaneous restaurant offerings that will be a special treat from moms. The brunch is a three course prix-fixe menu at $90 per person, tax and tip is additional, reservations requested.

Terston, Kent
Terston, Kent

The week of May 6th-12th Terston (www.terston.com/) on Rte. 7 in Kent and the David Gavin Salon will offer a special in recognition of Mother’s Day. Make a clothing purchase of $50 to receive a free specially selected scarf. (one per customer while supplies last). In addition, Terston customers can experience an introduction to the David Gavin Salon expertise – Carissa and Jennifer will be available for complimentary quick consults for customers visiting the store. When booking an appointment, for a future date, new clients to the salon will receive 20% off a hair cut and/or color. In addition, all David Gavin luxurious and nourishing hair products will be 10% off for the week. Terston is located on 27 North Main Street in Kent CT.

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Twined Art at the Institute for American Indian Studies

The exhibition Woven from Milk Weed by Wabanaki Artist Vera Longtoe Sheehan opens at the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington Connecticut runs through May 31, 2013. There is no charge for this exhibition. The Museum is open Monday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 12 noon to 5pm. The last admission is at 4:30 pm.

Idle_No_More_Bag_001

Vera Longtoe Sheehan is a fiber artist who follows in the footsteps of her ancestors. When she was young, her father started teaching her how to harvest and process plants to make cordage. He also taught her the various techniques that she uses to make twined bags, baskets and textiles.

Vera combines her tribal and family knowledge with many years of researching Wabanaki history, culture and tradition to create her one of a kind twined woven items. She uses both hand-rolled and commercially rolled plant fiber cordage. Each of the hand items can take hours, days, weeks or even months to complete.

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Her twined art is environmentally friendly because it is made from plants, which are quick growing, renewable resources. She is currently teaching her children to twine, so that this endangered art form is not lost. Some of her twined bags, baskets and textiles have appeared in films and literature.

The artist and her family reside in Vermont. She offers a variety of programs for schools, museums and historic sites.

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“Meet the Artist” Reception is Sunday, April 7th from 1pm -3pm. The reception includes refreshments at 2pm.

For more information about the Institute for American Indian Studies located on 38 Curtis Rd. in Washington CT call 860-868-0518 or visit www.iaismuseum.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com.

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The Beauty of Botanical Illustrations in Litchfield Hills

Betsy Rogers-Knox has been drawing and painting since childhood. Her interest in botanical illustration began in Boulder, Colorado where she worked for a botanist and learned by close observation to appreciate the intricate beauty of Colorado wildflowers. This interest led her to the botanical illustration program at the New York Botanical Garden. Her final project included paintings of historic plants from the gardens of the Bellamy Ferriday House in Bethlehem, Connecticut.

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Betsy is enchanted by the full lifecycle of the plants she portrays in watercolor, and typically observes a plant for a full year before beginning a composition. Published work includes cover designs for Herb Quarterly magazine, the illustrations for the bookHerbs, Leaves of Magic and White Flower Farm’s catalog, as well as over thirty greeting card designs internationally distributed by Renaissance Greeting Card Company and Sunrise Publications.

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She has exhibited extensively including the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., London’s Kew Gardens, the Horticultural Society of New York, and the New York Botanical Garden. In April 2013 she will show several works at the Royal Horticultural Show in London. Betsy also teaches drawing and watercolor painting to both adults and children from her studio in Bethlehem. Her website is www.betsyrogersknox.com.

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A selection of the work of Betsy Rogers Knox will appear in the Gallery of the Oliver Wolcott Library located on 160 South Street, Litchfield, CT. through April 26 2013. For more information call 860-567-8030. or visit www.owlibrary.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

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The Artist in Venice at Darren Winston, Bookseller

On Saturday, April 6, from 2 to 4 p.m., bookseller and gallerist Darren Winston located in Sharon Connecticut in the Litchfield Hills will host a reading and book-signing by Adam Van Doren to celebrate the publication of The Artist in Venice, at Darren Winston, Bookseller (81 Main Street, Sharon, Connecticut). A selection of paintings by Van Doren, including pieces featured in the book, will be on display from April 2–28.

Van Doren’s new book showcases not only his virtuosity as a painter but also his writing talent. He first went to Venice to paint in 1986, to escape the “barren and cheerless” New York winter. He left as an architecture student and came back a painter—and “Venice was responsible.” The Artist in Venice presents twenty-five glorious watercolor paintings of that city, accompanied by sketches, maps, and the artist’s insightful narrative and history.

In the introduction to the book, the writer Simon Winchester observes: “Adam Van Doren has a way with light. His painterly calling-card is, in its essence, illumination. It is opalescence, iridescence, brilliance.” Publisher’s Weekly says of the book: “Architect and artist Van Doren offers a love letter to Venice in this elegant and slender volume, and he sings his praise to the city through majestic prose and 25 beautiful watercolor paintings.”

Adam Van Doren was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1962 and is of the distinguished New York literary and artistic family that includes his grandfather Mark Van Doren—the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and celebrated Columbia professor—and his great-uncle Carl Van Doren, the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian. His great-aunt Irita Van Doren was the editor of the Books section of The Herald Tribune for forty years, and his grandmother Dorothy Van Doren was a novelist and editor at The Nation. His mother is a painter and was integral in cultivating his artistic sensibilities.

Van Doren studied at Columbia University and the National Academy of Design. He has exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., among other institutions, and his work is included in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Princeton University Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), the Yale University Art Gallery, The Addison Gallery of American Art, and The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of American Art, among others. Van Doren has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome and an instructor at the Institute of Classical Architecture in New York. He is an Associate Fellow and former Lustman Fund Lecturer at Yale University. He maintains a studio in Manhattan, where he exhibits annually.

Although he was raised in New York, Van Doren and his family have deep connections to the Litchfield Hills in northwest Connecticut. While growing up he spent summers in Cornwall Hollow on the old farm owned by his grandparents, and now he splits his time between that property (in a new house he designed and had built there) and his home in Manhattan. In a recent interview he remembered stories of how his grandfather and uncle had to travel from Manhattan for five hours in a Model-T to reach the farm in Connecticut. “I can only imagine what it was like,” he said. “It might have meant they didn’t come up too often. They went for the summer and stayed there.” Van Doren returns to Darren Winston, Bookseller following the bookstore-gallery’s popular October 2011 exhibit of his paintings, which garnered favorable coverage in The New York Times.

For more information about Darren Winston, Bookseller, please call (860) 364-1890 or e-mail darrenwinston@gmail.com. The shop’s hours are Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment, and the website is www.darrenwinstonbookseller.com. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com.

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Native American Drum Making Workshop at The Institute for American Indian Studies

The most important Native American instrument was and still is the drum. Most Native Americans prefer to use drums made from traditional materials made by a master drum maker or make their own. This is because of the strong spiritual associations of the drum….it is the heartbeat of Mother Earth.

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Indigenous peoples made several kinds of drums; log drum, water drum and the most common, the hand drum. Hand drums could be single or double-headed. In the northeast region they were traditionally made using a wooden base and an animal hide; typically deer or elk.

The drum is considered to be the first musical instrument used by humans; historians believe the drum has been virtually every culture known to mankind. The original purpose was for communicating over long distances as a type of signal.

On Saturday, February 23 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Allan Madahbee, Ojibway artist and musician, will instruct participants in making their own single-face drum while sharing the importance of the drum in Native American culture. This workshop is recommended for cildren ages 12 and up. The workshop fee is $150; $125 IAIS Members. Reservations and a $50 nonrefundable deposit is required by calling 860-868-0518. The museum is located on 38 Curtis Rd. in Washington Connecticut. For additional information www.iaismuseum.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

About The Institute for American Indian Studies

IAIS is a Not-For-Profit organization. We do not receive monies from the State, Town of Washington nor any other museum or gaming facility. We reply on membership, programs and contributions for support.

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