George Krimsky, Class of 1960: The Cold War at The Gunnery and Beyond

On Monday, May 22 the Gunn Museum in Washington is hosting a free program at 6:30 p.m. in the Wykeham Room of the Gunn Library located on 5 Wykehem Road that relates to the Cold War.

The highlight of this program will explore the research of the Gunnery's Gunn Scholar, Dana Ross, a student from Moscow, Russia which stretched from Moscow University and the KGB archives to Mr. Krimsky's personal archives.

Tracing the Cold War through the reminiscences of Gunnery alumni and faculty, a Russian general, a prominent Soviet dissident's daughter, the Gunnery archives, and interviews with Mr. Krimsky, Ms. Ross has used Mr. Krimsky's story as the subject around which to build her thesis. 

Before his death in January 2017, Mr. Krimsky generously shared the considerable archive of materials from his Associated Press posting in Moscow from 1974 -1977 when he became the first western journalist expelled from the Soviet Union after the initiation of detente by US President Nixon's visit to the USSR in 1973. 

If WWII and the Cold War history is of interest to you, plan a visit to the Brookfield Historical Society that has just opened a WWII exhibit. Some of the items displayed in this exhibit are on loan from the Gunn Museum. The Brookfield Historical Society is  open Saturdays from 12 noon to 4 p.m. and is located on 165 Whisconier Road. 

Fairy Festival @ Bellamy Ferriday House May 20

Calling all fairies, elves, gnomes, pixies, leprechauns, woodland and mystical creatures – as well as regular folk – for a day of enchantment and delight at Connecticut Landmarks' Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden! Get your passport to the land of magic, art, and music and join us at the maypole on Saturday, May 20th from noon to 4 pm (rain date: May 21st).

Enjoy tea with a fairy godmother, and stroll along the woodland walk to build a fairy house. Visit the vendors at the craft fair and see the craft fairies. Make ribbon rings, fairy globes, magic writing, and then participate in a fairy and wizard parade! Sprinkle fairy dust on cookies at Tinkerbell's cottage, pony rides and enjoy the entertainment in the fairy ring theater. All for one admission price!

Create your own fairy house to enter in our fairy house competition. Prizes will be awarded for both adults and children. Entry forms must be submitted by May 13th and completed houses may be delivered on Thursday or Friday, May 18th or 19th from 10 am to 5 pm.

Food & drinks will be available for purchase from the Soroptimists of Greater Waterbury. Admission is $10 per adult, $5 children (6 -12), under 6 free. Registration required for fairy house contest. For more information, call 203.266.7596 or email bellamy.ferriday@ctlandmarks.org.

New Canaan's Glass House exhibits a series of paintings

The Glass House  located on 199 Elm Street in New Canaan proudly presents Julian Schnabel: "Paintings that I hope Philip and David would like," an intimate survey showcasing Julian Schnabel's prolific painting career. Over the course of the exhibition period, the Painting Gallery panels will rotate three times to present paintings selected by the artist. Each rotation will feature six works from different periods of the artist's career.

Wax Paintings from the 1970s will be on view from May 1st to June 5th. Gathered from private collections, this rotation offers a glimpse into Schnabel's early investigations into painting. The six works on display at the Glass House were all created before his first solo exhibition in New York City at Mary Boone Gallery in 1979. These works reveal themes that permeate throughout the artist's oeuvre. Upon close examination, the pearlescent layers of wax and modeling paste reveal the hand of the artist, who was building up the surface to accept his own version of a new painted language. Schnabel also notched into the surface of his paintings and built out of the surface to further illustrate the notion of time passing as it does. The titles of several of these early works - Accattone, Procession (for Jean Vigo), Shoeshine (for Vittorio de Sica) indicate a strong interest in European cinema, hinting at the artist's future development as a filmmaker.

The second rotation, Paintings after 2000, on view from June 8th to July 10th, feature works from the artist's collection from different series: Nothing Paintings, Weather Paintings and Landscape Paintings. The Nothing Paintings were made on images printed on polyester. The Landscape Paintings were made on found materials bought in Mexico. Reminiscent of aerial photography, the Weather Paintings are mysterious images photographically printed as an aerial view of the land, creating a disorienting sense of sight so that the viewer feels suspended above rather than being on the ground.

The third and last rotation, Paintings from the 1980s and 1990s, feature works from the Glass House's Permanent Collection. Collected by both Philip Johnson and David Whitney, these works are on view from July 13th to August 14th.

Julian Schnabel: "Paintings I hope Philip and David would like" was organized by Irene Shum, Curator and Collections Manager. Shum states, "After Frank Stella, Julian Schnabel is the most represented artist in the collection, so it was important for the Glass House to present Julian's work more fully. Putting the works in the Glass House Collection within the context of his career allows the public to develop a deeper appreciation of both the artist and the collection. The artist's creative process is revealed." Paintings were installed by the Artist.

Outdoor Crafts Festival @ Bruce Museum May 20 & 21

This year marks the 32nd. annual Outdoor Crafts Festival hosted by the Bruce Museum located on One Museum Drive in Greenwich Connecticut.  The annual outdoor crafts festival will be held this year on May 20 and 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bruce Museum.  This crafts show represents the upper tier of the crafts world and lures art lovers from around the country.

Fair goers will find more than 75 craft artists from all over the country, many of them new to the show this year. Artists and craft artists will be on hand to show and discuss their work. Fine contemporary crafts, including ceramics, fiber, jewelry, glass, wood, metal, paper arts and leather, will all be available for purchase. There will also be family craft activities, live music and delicious food.

The admission is $8 per person and children under 5 and members of the Bruce Museum are free.

For a free monthly newsletter on things to do and see and travel tips  visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Tony Matelli: Figure @ Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is presenting Tony Matelli: Figure, a monumental sculpture, as part of the Main Street Sculpture series, which offers an opportunity for artists to create site-specific work for The Aldrich’s most public site, the front lawn through October 22, 2017.

Matelli will debut his singular, larger-than-life-size outdoor figurative sculpture on May 6, 2017. This work is part of Matelli’s Garden Sculptures series, initiated in 2015, in which he defaces garden statuary of classical or religious icons and subverts material expectation. Based on ancient Greek and Roman statuary and poised atop a cast concrete pedestal, the statue will be sandblasted to expose the concrete’s aggregate innards, forcing decay on presumably permanent concrete. Matelli then stages trompe l’oeil edibles—such as immaculately ripened melons, avocados, blackberries, and asparagus, as well as ready-to-eat cocktail shrimp, crab claws, and sausages—upon the weathered ruins of symbolic effigies, such as those of Jesus, Buddha, and Hermes. These flawlessly painted cast-bronze perishables, presented in an eternal state of freshness, balance upon the intentionally eroded and debased concrete figure’s creases, folds, and at its feet. In doing so, Matelli stages opposing entropic forces, the synthetically preserved, and the forcibly decayed.

Spanning sculpture and painting, Matelli’s hyperreal practice embodies the human condition. Suspended in changing physical states or transformative stages of existence, his work concerns the very circumstance of actuality, joining the ordinary with the speculative in order to assess cultural worth: what people keep or abandon, what appears to be in or out of place, and what seems pleasing or distasteful. Often provocative and hallucinatory, Matelli’s work expresses excess, neglect, decomposition, and regeneration, the upturned and the adrift, the romantic and the surreal. At The Aldrich, Matelli’s colossal sculpture of a familiar mythological figure may read as a modern memento mori, or as a devotional offering to a saccharine present, cast against a corrosive past. Ridgefield, a Revolutionary-era Colonial town with a landmarked Main Street, is a befitting location for this tragicomic siting, as Matelli’s ancient giant testifies to history as theatrical backdrop.

Tony Matelli (b. 1971, Chicago) received his BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in 1993 and his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1995. Recent solo exhibitions include the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; the Davis Museum, MA; Künsterlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. A mid-career survey, Tony Matelli: A Human Echo, premiered at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark in 2012 and traveled to the Bergen Kunstmuseum, Norway in 2013. His work is in numerous public collections including the FLAG Art Foundation, NY; ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark; and the National Centre of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, among others. He lives and works in New York City.

For a free monthly newsletter on things to do and see and travel tips  visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Spring on the Farm May 20 & 21 in Stamford

The Stamford Museum and Nature Center located on 39 Scofieldtown Rd, in Stamford is celebrating  Spring on their farm on May 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and you are invited!

 There are many activities that are sure to delight such as watching the Center's flock of sheep get their annual haircut during a traditional shearing session and learning what happens with their woolly coats. Festival goers will see  firsthand how to turn wool into felt or yarn, among a variety of other hands-on demonstrations.

To add to the fun there will be a multitude of activities for all ages from face painting and crafts to live music with Jay and Ray, a plant and herb sale for gardeners and even hayrides around the grounds. The Museum's galleries will be open and visitors are invited to view "Powerful yet Fragile: Connecticut's Waterways," a fascinating photography exhibition that touches on the importance of water.

The works of members of the Loft Artists Association will be featured in "Art on the Meadow" and available for purchase. Another special highlight is the display by the  Yama Ki Bonsai Society that will be presenting a boutique exhibition of the ancient art of bonsai with more than 75 unique bonsai trees.

If all this works up your appetite, not to worry, there will be an assortment of local food trucks offering a variety of cuisines.

Daily admission to this event is $5 for members and $10 for non-members.

For a free monthly newsletter on things to do and see and travel tips  visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

A scavenger hunt in Plymouth thru May 15!

The Plymouth Library is inviting families to go on a town wide historic quest of Plymouth through May 15, 2017.  Here is how it works... Families can spend time together exploring Plymouth, Terryville and Pequabuck!

Visit at least 5 of the 20 stops, take a selfie at each and email or post it to our Facebook event page. Download a copy of a PDF and check off where you have been. Once you have completed the scavenger hunt you can bring this PDF in, with check marks next to where you went, and receive both a prize and a ticket to enter to win a family-oriented basket. If you visit all 20 places you can get an additional entry into the drawing! You have until Monday, May 15, 2017 to turn the PDF in to the Library located on 238 Main Street in Terryville to receive an incentive prize and a ticket for the drawing. You will be entering to win a basket full of family-oriented fun items!

Some of the stops include the following:
A Time in History Mural: Located on the wall in the lower parking lot of the Terryville Public Library. This mural was made possible by The Main Street Community Foundation, Art in Motion, Plymouth Beautification Committee and kind volunteers. Come inside the library to grab a separate “I Spy” just about the mural itself.

Tory Den: Located about one mile down the Tunxis Trail. The Tunxis Trail can be accessed about 1/2 mile north of St. Matthew’s Cemetery on East Plymouth Road. Tory’s Den is a cave that was a hideout for the “Tories” or those loyal to England during the Revolutionary War.

Plymouth Library: Located at 692 Main St Plymouth. The Plymouth Library hours are Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Wednesday evenings 6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Lock Museum of America: Located at 230 Main St Terryville, the Lock Museum of America is open seasonally from May 1st through October 31st. Tuesday through Friday 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., or weekends by appointment. Call Thomas Hennessy Jr. to schedule a visit - 860-480-4408. Admission is $3 (if you cannot pay the admission fee this can be counted as completed just by taking a selfie outside of the museum). The Museum houses an extensive lock collection that includes a Cannon Ball Safe, 30 early era time locks, Safe Escutcheon Plates, a large number of British Safe Locks, Door Locks, Padlocks, Handcuffs and Keys, and more. The museum is directly across from the original site of the Eagle Lock Company, founded in 1854.

Plymouth Reservoir Recreation Area: The recreation center located on North Street in Plymouth includes the Festa Forest Trails (map available at the Terryville Public Library). The Festa Forest Trails feature caves, stone walls, a natural swing and some beautiful views of fall foliage and the North Street reservoir.

Terryville High School Nature Trail: Located behind the Terryville High School, this blazed nature trail loops around a pond.

Hancock Brook Lake: Hancock Brook Lake is a flood control area managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Located in the southern part of Plymouth, it totals 721 acres, including a 40-acre reservoir that is ideal for kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. Herons and beavers can often be seen here. Access to the reservoir is from the south end of the property at the dam off of Greystone Road.

Walking Tour of Plymouth Center: Take a stroll in the village of Plymouth Center, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The self-guided walk features the Burying Ground (with gravestones of 38 soldiers from the Revolutionary War), a house where George Washington stayed on his way to meet the Comte de Rochambeau, the Greek Revival Congregational Church built in 1838, a house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Plymouth Land Trust’s new Carriage Shop Trail. A map of the “Walking Tour” as well as information about many of the places listed in this pamphlet can be found by going to http://www.plymouthct.us/, then clicking on Community and Interesting Places.

Toll House: The Plymouth Historical Society is located at 572 Main Street. It has two buildings, the Toll House Museum and the Alley House Museum. The maroon painted toll house was built in the early 1800s and was the home of the tollkeeper on the Hartford - Litchfield Turnpike. Inside the toll house is the completely restored 1852 Woodruff and Beach steam engine. It powered the Shelton and Tuttle carriage shop on Main Street in the mid-1800s. This is the only engine of its kind in the United States.

Alley House: The Alley House museum, a white Greek Revival house built by Augustus Shelton in the mid-1800s, contains a collection of Plymouth memorabilia, including items from the Civil War.

Plymouth Land Trust: The Plymouth Land Trust, Inc. is a local, non-profit organization formed to permanently protect land in Plymouth, Connecticut for its natural, recreational, scientific, scenic, historical, or agricultural value. The Land Trust is not a town agency. It depends on volunteers who want to make a difference and care about conserving land for future generations. There are a few locations open to the public for recreational uses. There are trails on North St, Armbruster Rd and Washington Rd. The website www.plymouthlandtrust.org has many more details.

Blue Trails in Plymouth: There are over 10 miles of hiking trails in Plymouth that are part of the statewide Blue Trail system maintained by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association (www.ctwoodlands.orghttp://www.ctwoodlands.org). The trails include the Mattatuck Trail, the Whitestone Cliffs Trail, and the Tunxis Trail. The Mattatuck Trail runs through the southern portion of Town for 7.7 miles. This trail can be accessed at Marino Pond off of Wolcott Road, from Town Hill Road, at the end of Todd Hollow Road, and on Carter Road.

Buttermilk Falls: Buttermilk Falls is a lovely series of cascades off of Lane Hill Road. They are easily accessible by following the blue-marked Mattatuck Trail from a pulloff on the side of the road. During the winter, Lane Hill Road is closed, but the trail is only 500 feet from where the road is closed, so the falls can be enjoyed year round.

Water Wheel: Located at 264 Main St. The water wheel is the oldest water wheel in the United States with original parts. The wheel was built in the 1830s.

Lake Winfield: Parking available off of Holt Street or Seymour Road. Lake Winfield is one of Plymouth's most popular recreational facilities. It has a 9-acre pond for fishing, canoeing, and kayaking, encircled by a 0.8 mile walking path. There is also a playscape, picnic gazebo, horseshoe pit, bocce court, and tennis courts.

Plymouth Skate Park: Located behind the Plymouth Town Hall at 80 Main St Terryville, CT. Skaters and bikers now have a place to go to have fun while in a safe environment.

Disc Golf: Located on the Terryville High School grounds is a 9 hole disc golf course. What is Disc golf? Visit pdga.com (Professional Disc Golf Association) to learn more. The first hole of the course is located to the left of the track at the start of the soccer field.

Baldwin Park: Baldwin Park is on Main Street in downtown Terryville, across from the Lyceum. It is the site of the summer concert series sponsored by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. There are many interesting trees in the Park, including a Copper Beech planted in 1995 for Plymouth's Bicentennial, a rare Kentucky coffee tree, and a pin oak that was grown from an acorn from the Constitution Oak on the Plymouth Green. There are also a few historical markers on location (or nearby) including the Veteran’s Memorial, and Dorence Atwater Monument.

Horseshoe Falls: The best place to view the falls is from the bridge on Canal St (Ted Knight Bridge). In 1851, Eli Terry built a dam on the Pequabuck River to supply water power for a new factory, the Terryville Manufacturing Company. Water from the pond was diverted down a canal to turn a water wheel that generated 35 horsepower at full speed. In 1864, the factory became the Eagle Bit and Buckle Company, manufacturers of harness bits and buckles for the Union Army during the Civil War. Eventually, locks for mailbag pouches were made here. Later, a sawmill occupied the site, and by 1908, it was a woodturning plant.

A duo of walking tours in Litchfield & new exhibit

The Litchfield History Museum located on 7 South Street in the heart of Litchfield is offering a series of four themed walking tours of this iconic New England town on May 13, June 10 and July 1.  Each of these themed walking tours begins at 10 a.m. and starts at the Litchfield History Museum. The cost is $5 to participate for non members and registration is appreciated at registration@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. Each walking tour lasts about one hour. 

The Litchfield History Museum is opening its new exhibit for the season, Thoughts, Words, and Deeds: Exploring the Litchfield Female Academy, that will be on view through November 27, 2017 at the Litchfield History Museum. The exhibit introduces Miss Sarah Pierce's school and highlights newly discovered information about the students and their legacies.

If you have admired the colonial architecture found in Litchfield be sure not to miss the second tour, Architectural Litchfield that is planned for May 13. This tour explores the questions of why the center of Litchfield have such a large green and so many white homes? Take a walk with the Litchfield Historical Society's Curator of Education, Kate Zullo, and learn how the history and stories of old Litchfield are preserved in the architecture of the town. The walk will begin at the Litchfield History Museum and cover North and South Streets. 

The Social Lives of the Litchfield Female Academy  and Litchfield Law School Students will be the highlight of the walking tour planned for June 10.  Participants will join an educator for a tour about the social lives of students who attended the Litchfield Law School and Litchfield Female Academy. Participants will hear  about their activities, social events, and even romances between students...and even the several marriages that took place!

The final walking tour will be held on July 1 and will explore Revolutionary Litchfield. Guests are invited to join an education staff member for a walking tour through Litchfield's Revolutionary history! Litchfield was a hotbed of activity during the Revolutionary War. Prisoners of war were jailed in this safe town, a military presence guarded stores and provisions, families were divided by those seeking their independence from the British crown.

For a free monthly newsletter on things to do and see and travel tips  visit http://www.litchfieldhills.com

Weekend Garden Extravaganza Celebration Set for Mother’s Day Weekend

Trade Secrets is back and better than ever! The oh-so-popular two-day garden event drawing thousands of garden enthusiasts to Connecticut's Litchfield Hills includes the rare plant and garden antique sale on Saturday, May 13, followed by a self-guided four-garden tour on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14.

Saturday features over 60 vendors. Garden enthusiasts will find rare plant specimens from specialized growers and some of the nation's best-known small nurseries; and furniture, antiques, cloches, wrought iron fencing, garden statuary and so much more
from the choicest purveyors of garden antiques.

Sunday's garden tour includes four exquisite gardens. The handsome eighteenth century General Ashley House sits on a
breathtakingly romantic piece of land, with lawn and meadow sloping down to a wide and quiet bend on the Housatonic River.

Pom's Cabin Farm is a richly-varied twenty-seven-acre piece of land along the Housatonic River that is nurtured and celebrated by its owner, Dale McDonald, and her dedicated team headed by horticulturist, Robin Zitter.

Over the past fourteen years, Juliet and John Hubbard owners of Coltsfoot Garden have created an enchanting cottage garden around the colonial house that has been in the Hubbard family for almost 100 years.

Trade Secrets founder, Bunny Williams' and husband John Rosselli's beloved garden has been a favorite on tour for the past 16 years. This year Bunny introduces her brand-new woodland studio with its fantastic views of the Litchfield hills.

This year for the first time, due to popular demand, the Garden Tour tickets are limited and will only be sold in advance for $75.
Tickets for Saturday's sale at LionRock Farm in Sharon, CT., can be purchased in advance or day-of. Tickets: Early Bird $125 from 8 – 10 am with continental breakfast; Regular Admission $50 from 10 – 3 pm; and Late Bloomer $25 from 1 – 3 pm. Tickets go on sale April 1st. For more information or to purchase tickets visit tradesecretsct.com or call 860-364- 1080. 

Street Smart: Photographs of New York City, 1945-1980 @ Bruce Museum

A new exhibition, Street Smart: Photographs of New York City, 1945-1980  is on display at the Bruce Museum located on One Museum Dr. in Greenwich through June 4. This exhibition provides a glimpse at life in the Big Apple during the post-war period.  Featuring 30 black-and-white works drawn from the Bruce Museum’s permanent collection, the show records both cacophonous scenes of urban life and moments of quietude and respite from the chaos. The Museum is open Tues. - Sun. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Leon Levinstein (1910-1988)

Man Holding Cup, no date

Gelatin silver print, 10 x 13 ¼ in.

Gift of Peter and Barbara Noris,
Bruce Museum Collection

In the decades that followed World War II, New York City was a world cultural center hosting a whirlwind of activities from protests and race riots to jazz performances. At the same time, the role of photography in American life was changing. As exposure to wartime propaganda made the public question the objective truth of photographic imagery and as cameras became more affordable and easier to use, many American photographers began to imbue their pictures with a more personal approach. The exhibition features works by the 5 photographers Larry Fink, Herman Leonard, Leon Levinstein, John Shearer, and Garry Winogrand, who record in intimate detail how street-savvy New Yorkers navigate the bustling landscape.

In photographs like Stan Getz, Birdland, from 1949, Herman Leonard places the viewer in the center of the action, in the audience or right on stage,to see some of the most important musicians in American history perform. “The vibrancy and the excitement in the jazz clubs are palpable’” explains Mia Laufer, exhibition curator and PhD candidate at Washington University in Saint Louis.

In pictures of anonymous strangers like Leon Levinstein’s Man Holding Cup, where the heads are cropped and the camera angle tilted, the impression may appear candid and off-the-cuff, but Levinstein carefully composed this photograph to create the impression that we are walking down the street ourselves.

“Photographers working in New York were fascinated by both the glamorous lives of the rich and famous, and the darker undercurrents of urban poverty,” notes Laufer. “Despite the drastically different settings and circumstances surrounding their work, the photographers whose pictures are showcased in this exhibition.

For a free monthly newsletter on things to do and see and travel tips  visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Torrington Historical Society hosts John Brown Birthday Party

           Abolitionist John Brown was born in Torrington on May 9, 1800

and this year on  May 9, 2017, the Torrington Historical Society will host a party

to commemorate Brown’s birth.

Kevin Johnson pastor of AME Zion Church in Torrington and research assistant at the CT State Library will present his widely acclaimed and deeply moving performance of  William Webb, an African-American Civil War Soldier from Connecticut.

Private Webb was an actual soldier, a native of Hartford. He was recruited in 1863 and served in the Twenty-Ninth (Colored) Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in several battles in Virginia. Johnson’s presentation of Webb is told from an emotional and exciting first-person perspective that vividly illustrates the struggle of the African-Americans in the Colored Infantry during the Civil War. He tells of his early life in Hartford, his recruitment and training, and the traumatic final battles of the Civil War. The presentation is based on extensive research in the collections of the Connecticut State Library and the Museum of Connecticut History at 231 Capitol Ave, opposite the State Capitol in Hartford.

The evening’s festivities will include a proclamation by Mayor Elinor Carbone, remarks by Mark McEachern, executive director of the Torrington Historical Society, Mark Linehan of the Torrington Trails Network and Torrington resident Conrad Sienkiewicz, co-ordinator of the event.

 Rounding out the program will be a drum circle led by Angaza Mwando of the AME Zion Church followed by birthday cake and coffee.