Foreshadowing Fate Guided Walk @ Weir Farm

On October 28 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. visitors to Weir Farm National Historic Site are invited to take a late afternoon walk through the autumn landscape of Weir Farm National Historic Site with local scholar and volunteer Bonnie Tremante as she reads excerpts from historic letters written in 1882 to artist Julian Alden Weir from his young fiancée Anna Dwight Baker.

These letters foreshadow Anna's tragic death in 1893 due to complications caused by the birth of Julian and Anna's third daughter Cora. Anna's eerie sense of her own fate is reflected in the autumn's cold, dying landscape, setting sun, and mystical evening atmosphere so chillingly described in Anna's own words.

Bonnie Tremante graduated with a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University, an M.A. in Reading and Language Arts from Montclair University, and earned a Humanities and Writing Certificate of Advanced Study from Wesleyan University. She taught for 14 years in the Wilton Public School system in the English Department. Bonnie continues to explore her love of literature and art by volunteering at Weir Farm National Historic Site, where she enjoys transcribing historic letters, staffing the historic studios as a Studio Docent, and presenting special interpretive programs.

Registration is free, but space is limited, so please call early to secure a spot! To register or for more information, please call 203-834-1896 ext. 28.

Explore Classic SYFY Art @ Stamford Museum and Nature Center

Long before the era of the SYFY channel, Xbox video games and other high-end graphic games, fans of science fiction and fantasy stories read novels and poured through magazines illustrated by world renowned artists. This fall, the Stamford Museum and Nature Center has a very special exhibition that highlights this fantastic genre of art called Masterpieces of American and European Science Fiction Adventure and Fantasy Illustrations. Alien landscapes, mystical creatures and fantastical characters come alive on the walls of the museum with this artwork.

This exhibition features original work by both American and European artists that span more than a century with art that is vivid and that brings to life imaged worlds with detailed illustrations that animate worlds, creatures, and adventures.

A highlight of this exhibition are the illustrations from the private collection of Stephen Korshak, who has had a life long love of this genre of art and literature. His father, Eric Korshak, founded Shasta Publishers which specialized in science fiction books. The drawings inspired a sense of wonder and a passion for the genre in young Stephen. His collection reveals the evolution of fantasy illustration and traces the history of science fiction imagery from the pages of dime store magazines to hardcover, library quality books.

This exhibition runs through October 29, 2017.

FREE ADMISSION OFFER* FOR KIDS, PLUS BONUS FAMILY FUN, OCT. 22 & OCT. 28-29 AS THE MARITIME AQUARIUM TRANSFORMS INTO THE AQUASCARIUM

Kids in Halloween costumes can get free admission to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk on the final two weekends in October when the popular family attraction transforms into the AquaScarium.

Children age 3 to 12 who come to the AquaScarium in costume on Oct. 21, 22, 28 and 29 will get free admission (a $15.95 value) with each paying adult. Adult admission is $22.95. (The offer requires one paying adult for each free costumed child.)

“Here’s the chance for free apparition, er, admission for your little ghouls and goblins,” said Dave Sigworth, the Aquarium’s spooksperson. “It would be a grave mistake to not bring them. Of corpse.”

Plus, each of the four weekend days, kids can stop by seven special activity stations to earn stamps on AquaScarium Cards. Challenges include a witch-hat ring-toss game, a skeleton puzzle and more. Fully stamped cards can be exchanged for a free popcorn in the Aquarium’s IMAX^® Theater.

Also during AquaScarium:

•  face-painters will enhance Halloween alter egos between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., turning guests into wild creatures, superheroes, princesses and more. There’s a $5 fee.

•  a dragon will be loose … but not too loose … at a free “Meet the Dragon” station, where Aquarium educators will invite guests to touch or hold a live bearded dragon. Times are 10:30-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-1:30 & 2:30-3:30 p.m.

•  And the normal Toy-Boat Workshop will become a Pirate Toy-Boat Workshop from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.  There’s a $5 fee to build a boat.

The AquaScarium itself will be ghoulishly decorated for Halloween, with jack-o’-lanterns, seasonal accessories and staff dressed in costume. What might seem to be the scariest part of AquaScarium will occur at 12:15 and 2:15 p.m. each weekend day, when divers enter the “Ocean Beyond the Sound” exhibit to mingle with the Aquarium’s large sand tiger and lemon sharks. However, as one of the divers will explain to guests from inside the exhibit, humans are far more dangerous to sharks.

Maritime Aquarium admission includes an IMAX movie. Film choices during AquaScarium include “Amazon Adventure” and “Dream Big,” the co-winners of the Giant Screen Cinema Association’s 2017 Achievement Awards’ top prize of “Best Film, Short Subject.”

For more details about AquaScarium, exhibits and IMAX movies, go to www.maritimeaquarium.org or call (203) 852-0700.

Phantomphest @ The MATT

The Phantom of the Opera is here…in Waterbury! In honor of The Phantom of the Opera playing at the Palace Theater and some of the original costumes on display at the Mattatuck Museum, the two organizations are pleased to co-host PHANTOMPHEST on Friday, October 27 from 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Join the Palace Theater and Mattatuck Museum for a masquerade cocktail reception and exclusive preview of the original Maria Björnson costumes from the first production of The Phantom of the Opera. Enjoy music, hors-d’oeuvres and surprise guest appearances in the Museum’s Orton P. Camp, Jr. History Exhibit surrounded by exquisite costumes from the original production of The Phantom of The Opera.

Phantomphest, the first event co-hosted by the Museum and the Palace, marks the perfect start to the Halloween weekend and an opportunity to celebrate the Phantom’s arrival in Waterbury. The costume exhibit and opening event is sponsored by Frank & Sandy Monteiro.

Food is by Verbena Catering with signature dessert provided by Sweet Maria’s. Special entertainment is also planned.  Tickets are $75 per person and include beer, wine, and plentiful hors-d’ouevres. To purchase tickets please visit mattmuseum.org or call           (203) 753-0381 x130.

THE MARITIME AQUARIUM AT NORWALK WELCOMES ITS FIRST LITTLE LOGGERHEAD INTO NEW “SEA TURTLE NURSERY”

Follow a rescued baby loggerhead sea turtle through its first year of life as The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk raises it in a new “Sea Turtle Nursery” exhibit for release into the Atlantic Ocean next fall.

The guest sea turtle will live at The Maritime Aquarium as part of a loan program of the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, whose staff and volunteers inspect turtle nests on beaches to look for “stragglers” – newly hatched turtles that, for various reasons, didn’t make it out of nests. These young turtles are rescued and then raised for a year at loan institutions, such as The Maritime Aquarium, before being returned to North Carolina the following fall for release into the Gulf Stream.

Tom Frankie, director of Exhibits for The Maritime Aquarium, said Aquarium staff will repeat the process each October: travel to North Carolina to release a year-old loggerhead and then bring a new hatchling back to Norwalk.

The hatchling turtle – only about 3 inches long at first – will live in a new habitat near the Aquarium’s exhibit that features two large green sea turtles.

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) were named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws that allow them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as whelks and conch. They generally grow to weigh about 300 pounds and are found around the globe in nine “distinct population segments” – five of the populations are considered to be “Endangered,” and the other four – including the loggerheads off the U.S. Atlantic Coast – are considered “Threatened.” Their biggest threats are from coastal development that destroys nesting habitats and from accidental capture in fishing gear.

“We are very excited to welcome this loggerhead hatchling to the Aquarium,” Frankie said. “Besides the unique opportunity to give the turtle a safe environment for its first year, the exhibit also provides an important chance to talk about sea turtle conservation and to inspire our guests to support conservation efforts.”

The “Sea Turtle Nursery” will open Oct. 21 and is free with Aquarium admission.

Watch The Maritime Aquarium’s website and Facebook page in November for information about a contest to name this year’s turtle.

And learn more about exhibits, IMAX^® movies, cruises and events this fall – including the Halloween “Aqua-Scarium” weekends Oct. 21-22 & 28-29 – at www.maritimeaquarium.org.