Mother’s Day is More Important than Ever @ Tina’s Baskets & Woven Art

Celebrating Mother’s Day goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of mother goddesses. Like Mother’s Day, the art of basket weaving goes back to time immemorial. Tina Puckett, owner of Tina’s Baskets and Woven Art @ Whiting Mills in Winsted, believes that this year, celebrating Mother’s Day is more important than ever. “Today’s mothers are taking on multiple roles and responsibilities as caregivers, mentors, breadwinners, and volunteers in their community. For me, Mother’s Day is a way to honor your mom, or a mother figure in your life, like an aunt, grandmother, daughter or friend for the important work they do every day,” says Puckett.

Take Mom on a Road trip to Tinas Baskets this May!

If you are looking for a thoughtful Mother’s Day gift, head to the working art studio of Tina Puckett, a nationally and internationally award-winning artist, whose woven work is far from ordinary. Each piece is inspired by Tina’s imagination and woven with hand-dyed reeds into beautiful dynamic shapes in delightful color combinations that won’t be found anywhere else. What enhances the character of each piece is the addition of the Bittersweet Vine foraged by Tina in the woods near her home in northwest Connecticut. The natural beauty of bittersweet inspires each custom piece and often dictates the form a basket or sculpture will take.

A wonderful selection of baskets and more

Puckett’s highly collectible baskets and woven art pieces are functional and unusual, with heirloom qualities making them an unforgettable gift for Mother’s Day that will be used and cherished for years to come. If you can’t make it to the working art studio, head to the website @ http://www.tinasbaskets.com.

If you are looking to take Mom or that special someone on a road trip, head to Tina’s working art studio in Winsted and make a day of it. Tina’s Baskets and Woven Art Studio is located in Room 305 @ Whiting Mills at 100 Whiting Street in Winsted. The Studio is open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you need a special appointment or want to inquire about custom work, please text 860-309-6934 or email tina@tinasbaskets.com.

Whimsical Wall Hangings

About Tina’s Baskets
Tina Puckett is a nationally awarded weaver of baskets and woven art that is the owner of Tina’s Baskets which is located at Whiting Mills in Winsted, Connecticut. Tina has been weaving since 1981 using hand-dyed reeds, bittersweet, and a variety of objects like beads or seagrass. Her work is showcased at a variety of galleries across the United States as well as at her gallery/studio where you will often find her weaving on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Custom orders are accepted and appointments can be arranged by texting 860-309-6934.

New Exhibits Open at the Silvermine Galleries

On Sunday, September 23 there will be an opening reception from 2pm to 4pm at the Silvermine Galleries located on 1037 Silvermine Rd. in New Canaan. This new exhibit will run from September 23 through November 3. The Gallery is open Wednesday – Saturday: 12p.m. – 5 pm; Sunday: 1 – 5 pm. For additional information visit www.silvermineart.org or www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.

The art show will consist of four superlative artists and includes the work of

Camille Eskell: “Ezekiel Project”

“Dry Bones: Aurora” by New Canaan artist, Camille Eskell from her exhibit “The Ezekiel Project”

A new series of work reflecting the uncertainty, vulnerability and hope for restoring today’s cultural climate in 2- and 3-D media. The series title also alludes to the artists family name before it was Anglicized in the early 1900’s to better fit into American society. Close examination reveals hints of lace designs in her artwork, an emblem of a long-held family business.

“Creature Wood” by New York City artist, Mikhail Gubin from his exhibit “Splintery Configurations”

Mikhail Gubin: “Splintery Configurations”

The works in this new exhibit are all united by one idea, the use of recycled materials, and unified through the use of collage. The artist focuses the viewer’s attention on the issue of caring towards nature and to the earth’s dwindling resources and how it is manifested in our daily life.

“Untitled” by Easthampton, NY artist, Susan Halls from her exhibit “Head to Head”

Susan Halls: “Head to Head”

The scrutinizing ceramics faces fill the gallery with a continuous seam of small sculptures that penetrate the space and force the viewer to confront each piece as if they were looking at a criminal line up. The observer becomes the observed, the faces invite and repel, and hopefully, disturb. No one sculpture is larger than the hand, and the intimate sale draws the viewer in close.

Joan Wheeler: “Time Like a River”

This new exhibit of works consists of figurative, narrative oil paintings exploring mankind’s relationship with the natural world. The paintings reflect the cyclical seasons and interconnectedness of events over time. The title refers to the artist’s belief that events and relationships of today flow by us and become the past, while the events of the future inevitably flow towards us.

Kent Singers Concert Celebrates Spring

Kent Singers

The Kent Singers return for the Spring Concert of the 39th season on April 15, 2012, at St. Andrew’s Church in Kent, and on April 22 at St. Mark’s Bridgewater. Both concerts are scheduled for 3 p.m.

The highly acclaimed group features singers from throughout Northwest Connecticut performing mostly four-part classical compositions. They have built a reputation for presenting some of the finest choral music. They are all volunteers, including Music Director, Mark Brooks.

The April 2012 concert features a mixed theme of Easter, Love and new life in Spring. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Motet 3, “Jesu, meine Freude” (Jesu, my great pleasure), sung in English, reflects the Easter theme. Bach wrote six motets and this one, Motet 3, is unique amongst all the others as it is a “Chorale” motet, using popular hymns of his day with texts from the Eighth Chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Bach’s musical genius rested on a theological foundation and he has been referred to as “The Fifth Evangelist.”

The remainder of the program will be songs of new life, spring and love featuring great poets John Donne, Ronsard, Octavio Paz, Joseph Machlis, George Herbert, Robert Bridges and James Agee, with music by Dominick Argento, David Dickau, Hans Hassler, Orlando diLasso, Eric Whitacre, Williametta Spencer, Norman Dello Joio, William Bolcom and Samuel Barber.

The Kent Singers have performed in Kent, New Preston, Bridgewater, Sharon, Sherman, Washington and New Haven. They have expanded from a single concert in the fall and spring to five concerts per year.

The next performance will be the Faure Requiem with the Sherman Ensemble on June 10 at the Kent School Chapel in Kent, Conn.

Tickets for the April concerts are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and young adults, and children under 12, free. For more information call 860-619-8110, email info@kentsingers.org, or visit www.kentsingers.org.