Small Works! at Carriage Barn Arts Center

The Small Works! art exhibition at the Carriage Barn Arts Center runs through December 21 and highlights small scale art. The work on view by 50 artists, mainly from Connecticut and New York, range from delicate drawings, paintings, and photographs to finely crafted sculpture and ceramics. The juror of the exhibition is Lee Findlay Potter, Director of the David Findlay Jr. Gallery in New York, which specializes American painting and sculpture from the late 19th century to the present. Lee is the fifth generation of art dealers in her family and her father David Findlay is a long-time resident of New Canaan.

Birds, by Isadora Lecuona Machado

Miniature works for the show were thoughtfully selected to provide a a historical and educational context for some of the contemporary art in the show. The history of miniature art goes back to the earliest periods of artistic production. The exhibition includes miniature manuscripts and Old Master prints, thereby tracing the evolution of such intimate gem-like works that require close examination. An early illuminated manuscript leaf exemplifies the painstaking attention to detail in medieval and early Renaissance devotional works. Two later examples of the highly sophisticated art of printmaking from the 1600s are Wenceslaus Hollar's masterful etchings. Hollar, a leading 17th century Bohemian printmaker, made a notable series of tiny etchings after the Renaissance sketches in the renowned collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, who intended to catalogue his drawings.

These early examples of miniature art are juxtaposed with contemporary works to provide a deeper understanding of their changing functions and meanings over time. The painting on an antique book cover by New York artist Holland Cunningham is contrasted with an early printed mathematical manuscript dated 1734 that has tiny decorative illustrations. Italian Renaissance paintings provide the inspiration for David Barnett's assemblages in shadow boxes, notably the Madonna whose head with a golden halo is placed on a body made up of mechanical parts. Another re-interpretation of a Renaissance painting is Isadora Machado's intricate pen drawing of the Mona Lisa. Machado's elaborate and patterned drawings of moths and birds have the luminescent and decorative quality of early stained glass windows. Robbii Wessen's assemblages of found organic and mechanical elements recall the imaginative objects from Renaissance cabinets of curiosity. Other such fanciful creations include the ceramic Pot Heads by Connie Nichols, literally tiny pots with whimsical heads on top.

The exhibition transitions to a group of abstract works, beginning with some examples of the recently deceased Sal Sirugo (1920-2013), who has been called "a hidden treasure of the Abstract Expressionist movement". Sirugo began creating highly original works in the late 1940s, but while many of his Abstract Expressionist contemporaries worked on huge canvases, he preferred to work in more modest dimensions. His miniature ink drawings on paper have a mysterious, meditative quality that draw the viewer into his unique way of seeing.

To accompany this show, there will be a Children's Art Workshop led by Nancy Scranton on December 7 and 14. The Gallery hours are Wed.-Sat., 10 am - 3 pm; Sunday, 1 - 5 pm. The gallery is located in Waveny Park, New Canaan. For more information, visit www.carriagebarn.org

September Workshops at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Located in Norwalk on  299 West Ave., the Center for Contemporary Printmaking has organized a series of workshops for  advanced participants as well as beginners.  On September 5-7 for example, Large Prints from a small press will be featured and participants will explore monoprinting methods that defy the size limitations of our presses. Participants create painterly and stencil-raised plates that can be fixed or repositioned. Chine collé techniques will expand the range of imagery and color in the one-of-a-kind prints. Rinsed prints will be demonstrated. All levels.

On September 13-14, Jeanine Espito will show how handmade paper is one of the  most versatile materials around, yet it has not been fully explored as a sculpture medium.  In this workshop you will learn how to make and use handmade paper to create sculpture.  You will learn what kinds of pulp can be used, how to control it and work with it “in the air” and how to dry it.  You will explore a wide variety of techniques including draping, layering, casting over armatures, imbedding, sewing, etc.  The focus of this class will be on learning the basics of handmade paper sculpture and experimenting with as many techniques as possible in the 2 days.  Some prior knowledge of basic papermaking is suggested but not required. All levels.

There will be a three day workshop on Sept. 19-21 with Carolyn Muskat that will focus on aluminum plate lithos.  This workshop will be an intensive introduction to some of the possibilities within lithography.  One of the more challenging of the printmaking mediums, lithography offers the artist an almost unlimited range of mark-making. Working on aluminum plates, we will cover various drawing and image-making methods, processing with greener, more eco-friendly materials, and printing, including printing in color and registration. Whether you have never tried this exciting medium before, or you want to update your litho skills, this class is for you.  All levels.

To round out the month, Ron Pokrasso will run a five day workshop from September 22- 26 that covers a wide range of techniques possible in the monotype process. Through demonstrations, portfolio presentations, lectures and extensive hands on work time participants will come away with a wealth of information and many new tools for their working process. Using all non-toxic water based Akua products, learn to modify, mix, and layer inks with additive and subtractive approaches, including ink rolling methods, the use of stencils and templates, the reworking of the ghost, contact monotype, viscosity, plate and paper registration, chine colle and collage, drawing, and multiple plate projects. The approach is open as each participant’s individual style will help to dictate the direction of the workshop. All levels.

For more information visit http://www.contemprints.org.  For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound at The Bruce Museum

Found in estuaries around the world, oysters play a significant role in ecosystems and economies. These bivalve mollusks have sustained Native Americans and created waterside cultures. The Long Island Sound’s native oyster, the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), is a keystone species in the local environment, providing critical habitat and food for many other species, recycling nutrients, cleaning the water as it feeds, and driving an industry. Its value lies in these worthy attributes rather than in its potential for jewels. Like other true oysters, the Eastern oyster rarely produces a pearl. If it does make one, the pearl lacks the lustrous quality of those produced by pearl oysters, which are in a different family.

The Bruce Museum celebrates the Eastern oyster in the exhibition Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound, running through March 23, 2014.

The exhibition will explore the science and history of the Eastern oyster in Long Island Sound, examining how its nutritional and commercial values have made the Eastern oyster a popular commodity for residents along the Sound for eons.

 Native Americans harvested oysters from mile-long natural beds and collected individual oysters that were up to a foot long. By the early 1800s, the natural beds had become depleted and oysters were cultivated on artificial beds.

The oyster industry was a powerful force in the local economy by the end of the 19th century. However, overfishing, pollution, natural disasters, and disease brought about a decline and the industry was seriously threatened through the early to mid-20th century.

In recent years, the oyster trade has experienced resurgence as a result of improved aquaculture techniques and oysters’ popularity among food connoisseurs who enjoy their distinctive flavor, which varies with each local environment.

Organized with the assistance of scientists and historians and developed in cooperation with the Town of Greenwich Shellfish Commission, Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound features hands-on, interactive displays, videos, specimens of bivalves from around the world, and historical objects that appeal to all ages. Objects from the Bruce Museum collection are supplemented by loans of shells, oystering tools, food-related items, and boat models from local collectors including oysterman Norm Bloom and institutions such as the Yale Peabody Museum, Rowayton Historical Society, National Gallery of Art, Grand Central Oyster Bar, and Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Milford Laboratory.

Complementing the exhibition will be a science lecture series in the fall and a history lecture series in the winter in addition to a variety of programs suitable for all ages.

About the Bruce Museum

Explore Art and Science at the Bruce Museum, located at One Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm; 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.  For additional information, call the Bruce Museum at (203) 869-0376 or visit the website at www.brucemuseum.org.  For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Mix it Up Exhibit at Sharon Historical Society in Litchfield Hills through Feb. 27

The second annual winter “Mix It Up” show hosted by the Sharon Historical Society in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut will juxtapose portraits by seven contemporary artists with five portraits from the museum collection by well-known folk artist Ammi Phillips (1788-1865). The exhibit at the Sharon Historical Society located on Main Street runs through February 27th.

Aung San Suu Kyi, by Robert A. Parker

This year’s “Mix It Up” exhibit is designed to challenge the viewer to visually travel from early nineteenth century folk portraits of local Sharon residents painted by Phillips to contemporary portraits painted by Sharon (and other local) artists.

Robert Louis Stevenson, by Duncan Hannah

Phillips, known locally by various monikers including the “Kent Limner”, painted in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut in the mid-1830s. By that time he was well established as an artist of some note, painting his first portraits probably as early as 1809/1810 in the area of Pittsfield, MA. Phillips painted at least five residents of the town of Sharon, Calvin and Phoebe Dowd Day, John Cotton Smith, and Ira and Melissa Williams. It is extremely likely that there are more Phillips’ portraits of Sharon residents in private collections, unsigned and/or unidentified. 

Midwinter Saint, by Richard T. Scott

In this exhibit all five Phillips portraits in the museum collection will be hung side-by-side with contemporary works by Duncan Hannah, Pieter Lefferts, Patty Mullins, Robert Andrew Parker, Warren Prindle, Richard T. Scott, and Peter Steiner. The exhibit hopes to challenge the viewer to evaluate the meaning of portraiture beyond the realm of “work of art”, and into the role of portrait as visual entrée into the historic record.

Phoebe Dowd Gay, by Ammi Phillip, ca. 1835

The Sharon Historical Society and Museum is located at 18 Main Street, Sharon, Connecticut 06069. For more information, call 860-364-5688 or visit http://www.sharonhist.org/.  

Museum Hours are Wednesday & Saturday from 10AM - 2PM, Thursday & Friday from 10AM - 4PM and by appointment.

For information on what to see and do in Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com

Art Auction in Norwalk Connecticut

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking has announced that Ron Pokrasso is the Honorary Chair of MONOTHON2013. Pokrasso is an originator of the printmaking event "Monothon" at the Printmaking Center of the College of Santa Fe in 1986 and brought it to  Norwalk's Center for Contemporary Printmaking in 1999, where it has been held annually.

This year Monothon2013's  live auction and party will be held on November 16 from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. at the Lillian August Flagship Store in Norwalk.  The Silent Auction will be in the “Dream House”, a grouping of showrooms at Lillian August. There  will be a feature wall (salon style gallery) designated for framed Live Auction artwork.  The gala event provides a memorable way of viewing outstanding art while mingling with friends and fellow art lovers.

Live auction artwork includes offerings by: Ron Pokrasso as well as Roz Chast, Sandi Haber Fifield, Emily Mason, James Rosenquist, Ammanda Seelye Salzman, Donald Sultan, Deborah Weiss and other prominent artists. New this year is a drawing for three nights to Bordeaux, France for two couples.

Parking for this event is at 32 Knight Street, Norwalk.  The Lillian August Flagship Store has the huge parking lot in front, a large lot to the right of the building, and overflow parking at St. Philip Church, across Route 1 on France Street.  Tickets $50/person. Advance tickets: 203-899-7999. For more information visit http://contemprints.org.

To coincide with the show, the CCP members are opening an exhibit called New Works on Paper on November 7.  This show will run though January 1.  Works on Paper will be displayed at the Avenue Gallery on Main Street in Norwalk.

Get Real at the Bruce Museum

Martin Lewis (American, 1881-1962) Above the Yards, Weehawken, 1918 Aquatint and etching, 17 ½ x 23 ¼”

Collection of Dr. Dorrance T. Kelly ©Estate of Martin Lewis

Highlighting the work of nine American artists who at the beginning of the twentieth century were inspired by the world around them to realistically depict everyday scenes, the Bruce Museum presents the new exhibition Telling American History: Realism from the Print Collection of Dr. Dorrance T. Kelly from August 31 through December 1, 2013.

The show features more than 40 original fine art prints including lithographs and etchings that chronicle daily life – the bustle of urban streets, boisterous moments of leisure, modern modes of transportation, and bucolic rural images – by leading artists who approached their subject matter through the lens of realism: George Bellows (1882-1925), Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), Edward Hopper (1882-1967), Martin Lewis (1881-1962), Reginald Marsh (1898-1954), John Sloan (1871-1951), Benton Murdoch Spruance (1904-1967), Stow Wengenroth (1906-1978), and Grant Wood (1891-1942).

The artworks present visitors with a snapshot of America from 1905 through 1967. Each print featured in the exhibition was chosen for its subject matter and artistic merit and placed together they present windows into scenes of America's past. Set amid a backdrop of events such as World War I, the Great Depression, New Deal programs, and World War II, the country was experiencing changes in its cultural, geographic, and demographic nature. The nation experienced a great upheaval as citizens and immigrants alike flocked to urban areas in hopes of greater economic prospects. At the same time, advances in technology and transportation were transforming rural regions.

Martin Lewis - Misty Night, Danbury, 1949

Drawn from different areas of the country, the artists shared a similar goal of creating artwork that was available to all. They embraced realism, using it to capture images of modern American society as it quickly changed around them.   This distinguished their work from the traditional, idealized and romanticized work of European art. By illustrating everyday scenes, the artists featured in this show created connections for the average American and invited them to become part of the artistic dialog,because their images appealed through accessible subject matter and to the pocketbook of the everyday person.

A fully illustrated catalogue of the show will be available in the Bruce Museum Store. A series of public programs will be offered to complement the show, including Monday morning lectures, hands-on printmaking workshops for adults and students, a program for families with toddlers and one for seniors suffering from memory loss, as well as school tours.

   

Wengenroth Grand Central, Lithograph, 1949

About the Bruce Museum

Explore Art and Science at the Bruce Museum, located at One Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm; 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. For additional information, call the Bruce Museum at (203) 869-0376 or visit the website at www.brucemuseum.org.

For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Barns and Farms Art Exhibit at The Silo at Hunt HIll Farm

February - Eric Sloane

The Silo Gallery at Hunt Hill Farm located in the Litchfield Hills on 44 Upland Rd. in New Milford Connecticut is hosting an opening reception on Friday, August 2 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. for the new Barns and Farms Exhibit that will be on display through October 5. Tosto, Laurence Neufeld, son and nephew of the Neufelds, and Art Kerber, of Millerton's Green River Gallery who is offering a selection of Eric Sloane paintings, will be greeting guests at the reception. The artwork in the gallery is available for purchase, and Tosto will also be accepting future commissions.

This exhibit that is hung in the hayloft gallery at The Silo features the work of some of the areas best known artists: Eric Sloane and Woldemar Neufeld. Also on display will be works from Kate Neufeld, Woldemar's sister, and by Merryall resident Frank Tosto.

Woldemar Neufeld

 The artists, each in their own style, have documented buildings, vistas and the history of their era. While the Neufelds and Sloane are deceased, Tosto carries on the tradition of recording the landscapes of our time for posterity.

This exhibit shows that barns are are more than just buildings. They are a witness to centuries of change. In this era of sustainable agriculture, part of the mission at Hunt Hill Farm is their focus on teaching future generations the importance of farming and barns through active adaptive usage of our historic buildings.

Frank Tosto

The Barns and Farm exhibit will be augmented in September by the addition of Barn Again, a retired Smithsonian Institution Main Street exhibit, now in the hands of Hunt Hill Farm.

The Silo Gallery and Store are open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, please call Liba Furhman at (860) 355-0300 or visit www.hunthillfarmtrust.org.

For area information www.litchfieldhills.com.

About The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm

Drawing on the creative legacy of Skitch and Ruth Henderson, the Henderson Cultural Center at Hunt Hill Farm, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, is a vibrant and unique regional resource, offering the public opportunities to explore music, art, cuisine, and permanently protected historic open space.