A Pet Parade to celebrate the fourth in Litchfield Hills

The Litchfield History Museum located in the heart of this bucolic village is celebrating July 4th  with a Pet Parade and Turn-of-the-Century Fest! 

This is your chance to show off your favorite pet and to celebrate Independence Day at the Litchfield Historical Society's annual Pet Parade and Turn-of-the-Century Festival on Monday, July 4th from 2:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Visitors are welcome to join the festivities with or without pets.

After the parade, enjoy ice cream, donated by Peaches N' Cream, at Turn-of-the-Century Fest and then try your skills at old-fashioned lawn games  on the Green. Fest participants will have the opportunity to compete in egg and spoon races, a tug of war, a sunflower seed spitting contest, and three-legged races. 

Better yet, this event is free and open to the public. Pets of any kind are welcome, but all pets must be either on a leash or in a cage and, where applicable, must come with a rabies certificate.

Registration begins at 2:15 pm and the celebration kicks off at 2:30 pm. For more information or to register, please call us at (860) 567-4501 or email registration@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.

For more area information www.litchfieldhills.com

The Aldrich - Site Lines: Four Solo Exhibitions Engaging Place

The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting a new show from May 1- February 5, 2017 called Site Lines: Four Solo Exhibitions Engaging Place. This series of exhibitions will also feature David Brooks, Peter Liversidge, and Virginia Overton, presenting site-specific commissions, ranging from sculpture to drawing and performance-based works.

Kim Jones, Untitled (Big Wheel), 1973-1985-1999
Courtesy of the artist and ZENO X GALLERY, Antwerp

The exhibitions will encompass both the monumental and the ephemeral, intersecting, interconnecting, or mirroring the Museum's interior galleries and two-acre sculpture garden, as well as the surrounding community. The artists will utilize materials found on or indigenous to the grounds and the area, offering a response to "site" that underscores the institution's material history and its visual condition by transforming scale and circumstance.

The works will seek to "frame" the interiority of the galleries against the natural landscape while also accentuating the Museum's unique architectural features, such as a pitched roofline, paned windows, and a room-scale camera obscura.

Viewers will be able to respond to works from multiple vantage points as they move around the Museum's galleries, grounds, and the environs. Gravel Mirror (1968), a work by the influential artist and writer Robert Smithson, incorporated gravel found on the grounds of The Aldrich, and was a significant touchstone for the development of this exhibition series.

A free opening reception for Site Lines will be held on Sunday, May 1, from 2 to 5 pm, and will offer visitors the opportunity to meet the artists, take exhibition tours, participate in family activities, and purchase gourmet farm-to-museum boxed lunches prepared by Ridgefield's own No. 109 Cheese & Wine. The Aldrich is located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT. For more information, call 203.438.4519 or visit aldrichart.org . For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

The Museum 

Founded by Larry Aldrich in 1964, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is dedicated to fostering the work of innovative artists whose ideas and interpretations of the world around us serve as a platform to encourage creative thinking. It is the only museum in Connecticut devoted to contemporary art, and throughout its fifty- year history has engaged its community with thought-provoking exhibitions and public programs.

The Museum's education and public programs are designed to connect visitors of all ages to contemporary art through innovative learning approaches in hands-on workshops, tours, and presentations led by artists, curators, Museum educators, and experts in related fields. Area schools are served by curriculum-aligned on-site and in-school programs, as well as teachers' professional development training.

Summer Fun @ Beardsley Zoo - the penguins are here!

Get ready to meet Squirt, Sal, South and Tubbs -- four African Black-Footed Penguins that are spending their summer at the Beardsley  Zoo located on 1875 Noble Ave. in Bridgeport Connecticut. They will be on exhibit from May 7 through Sept. 30 -- so make plans to stop by and see them. They are charming and fun to watch.

Photo courtesy of Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park.

The Penguins will be in a temporary exhibit across from the Zoo's Peacock Cafe. Their Education Department is planning Wild Adventure Animal Shows, Animal Bytes storytelling and scavenger hunts -- all designed to help you learn, and care, about penguins.

These medium sized penguins, that weigh between two and three pounds are found along the African shore and considered to be endangered. Overfishing of their prey, oil spills and guanaco are just some of the reasons why this species of penguin is in decline. 

One of their distinctions is a pink patch above their eyes that is actually a gland that helps them adapt to changing temperatures. The hotter the penguin gets, the pinker the gland turns.  These penguins are also known for their unusual call that sounds like a donkey that is braying. Each individual penguin also has a black stripe with black spots on their chest and, much like fingerprints, no two are the same.

Check out our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LitchfieldHills.FairfieldCounty.CT. 

The 7th Annual OPEN YOUR EYES Studio Tour 2016 in Litchfield and Thomaston, CT

The Northwest Connecticut Arts Council is presenting the sixth annual Open Your Eyes Studio Tour on June 25 and 26, 2016 in the towns of Litchfield,Bantam, Northfield and Thomaston, CT. The 2016 tour will feature 25 artists and artisans who have their studios in Litchfield, Bantam, Northfield and Thomaston. Participating visual artists and artisans will open their creative spaces and show their processes to the public during the days of the tour. Free Ticket Packets can be ordered through the website and include a map, directions sheets, and convenient sign-in stickers.

Bantam Tileworks

The Studio Tour on June 25 and 26 are free to the public. This year's tour artists include painters, photographers, sculptors, collage and multi-media artists, ceramicists, textile artists, jewelers, a mask maker, illustrators, metal and glass artists, and woodworkers. The artists and artisans are: Richard Heys, Jennifer Sabella, Anne Marie Papineau, Suzan Scott, Susan Wakeen, Jill Davenport, Arif Imse, Joe Yeno, Alex Bouteneff, Carol T. Moore, Amber Maida, Cynthia Zinser, Jessica Jane Russell, Albert Coffill, Bantam Tile Works, Trisha Haulenbeek, Alessandro Morosani, Doreen Breen, Claudia Duhamel, Robin McCahill, Ten to One Artists Group, Will Cummings and Mindscape Industries Artists.

Coffill - Spring Reflection

Free tickets are available online.  The free ticket system helps the art council determine how many people go on the tour and which studios are visited. The free ticket packet includes: your anonymous ticket stickers for signing into each studio, your map and brochure with artist and tour information and driving directions.  Tickets will also be available the day of the tour at Info Stations in Litchfield and Thomaston.  For more information visit the Art Council's website. For more area event information www.litchfieldhills.com

Susan Wakeen at Work

Summer Fun @ Norwalk Art Festival

Once again this year the Norwalk Arts Festival is taking place in Mathews Park located on 295 West Ave. in Norwalk on June 25 and 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine. Festival goers can expect to find more than 125 artisans showing one-of-a-kind ceramics, paintings, jewelry, photography and other fine arts and crafts.

Juried exhibitors specializing in wood, wearable and decorative fiber, photography, metalwork, sculpture, mixed media, glass, ceramics and jewelry will share their unique talents and artwork at this nationally recognized event held in Mathews Park surrounding the Lockwood-Mathews Museum on West Avenue in Norwalk, Connecticut. All pieces exhibited will be available for purchase.

A highlight of this event the opportunity to interact directly with highly-skilled artists who come from all over the country. In addition, the Norwalk Arts Festival also includes includes fun, educational activities for children and an international food court. 

Live music performances will be provided throughout the weekend by various musicians including Norwalk’s own Edward Wright, Annalisa Ewald, Sarah Golley and a featured recital by Rebecca Christopherson’s TESS and Suzuki students on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Hands-on art activities for all ages are offered free of charge in the Children’s Art Workshop area provided by Jerry’s Artarama and the Norwalk Arts Commission. The Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum will offer mini-tours and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking (CCP) galleries will be open, where the annual “Foot Prints” exhibit is currently on view, as will Stepping Stones Museum for Children.

Admission to the Norwalk Art Festival is free. Patrons will have an opportunity to visit the museums and CCP as well as the playground and take a self-guided tour of the historic Pine Island Cemetery. There is a separate admission entry to the museums. 

Mathews Park is located at 295 West Avenue and is easily reached off exits 14N and 15S off I-95. The Park is a short walk or shuttle ride from the Metro-North Railroad South Norwalk station. Parking is free in Mathews Park and across the street. There is also parking available in the South Norwalk garages, from which visitors can take the beautiful river front stroll to the park.

For additional information, visit http://www.norwalkartfestival.org.  For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.