Community Calendar

Global artists have shared their floral images, film, music and poetry.

for our online art show "Plant Life"

“Plant Life” art show launches online on Friday, May 3rd.

Exciting News!

“Plant Life: NYC – Global” is an exhibition and digital event at Prime Produce, 424 West 54th St, New York City, May 17-19 featuring selections from the online show!

Personaland - our online global arts village.

https://www.personaland.com

Personaland is an artist-driven global village, transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge geographical and cultural boundaries. This uniquely positions Personaland to create accessible opportunities for artists and audiences to connect and participate. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Personaland takes the form of a virtual entertainment park, where visitors can visit art shows and exhibitions, play art games, watch movies, visit dancing flowers and a wishing well. Since our launch in 2018, Personaland has showcased over 650 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians and poets from 61 countries in 25 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions.

For more info:

Stewart Wilson

personaman@snet.net

This year’s Climate Challenge will run from Earth Day (April 22) through May 31st, and it is part of the State’s effort to meet its emission targets to help prevent further worsening of adverse climate impacts. 2024 Climate Challenge - CTrides

Goshen residents 60+ [goshenrec.com](https://goshenct.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=30003)

You are invited to visit....

A Showing of Liz Rosiello's Floral Watercolor Paintings

Roxbury Senior Center - 7 South St. Roxbury CT

April 1 - May 31

Artist Reception: Saturday May 4th - 2pm to 5pm

The GOSHEN GARDEN CLUB 2024 Annual Plant Sale will be May 18, 2024

Pre-order forms are available at TOWN HALL, GOSHEN LIBRARY, GOSHEN WINE & SPIRIT or by visiting goshengardenclub.org,

Order forms and payment must be received by May 3, 2024.

Plants will be available for pick up between 9am and Noon on May 18, 2024

at Camp Cochipianee on Beach Street in Goshen.

In addition to the pre-ordered plants, there will be Member Plants from their home gardens for sale. A Raffle and Bake Sale will also be onsite.

The David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village will host its annual Homegrown Plant Sale on the weekend of May 18 and 19 from 9AM to 4PM on Saturday, and 9AM to 2PM on Sunday. Falls Village’s own growers, gardeners, and CSAs will provide a wide variety of plants, including a large selection of tomatoes, vegetables, annuals and perennials, and houseplants including potted geraniums and hanging baskets from HVRHS. Proceeds benefit the Hunt Library and HVRHS. For more information, or to donate plants and pots, call the library at 860-824-7424 or visit huntlibrary.org. 

Mr. Stuart’s painting career spans forty eight years. His work has been widely exhibited including at the Highlands Museum of the Arts (solo show), the National Park Academy of the Arts, Punta Gorda National Art Exhibition Visual Arts Center, Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, Hudson Valley Art Association, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Hammond Museum, American Watercolor Society, National Society of Casein and Acrylic Painting , Adirondack National Watercolor Society, North East Watercolor Society and Connecticut Watercolor Society. His college education include the Ringling School of Art, School of Visual Arts and Paier School of Art and he is a Signature Member North East Watercolor Society. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Kimberly Clark Corporation, Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center, and the Florence Griswold Museum. Mr. Stuart’s work will be on display during regular library hours.

Ann Marino of FD Community Credit Union and Selim Noujaim jointly invite you to a shred day between the hours of 9 AM and 1 PM on Saturday, May 18 at 281 Meriden Road in Waterbury. Bring confidential papers and files to be shredded safely on the spot. Monetary donations are encouraged. Checks are accepted made payable to either Mattatuck Museum or Waterbury YMCA. All proceeds will benefit the Mattatuck Museum and YMCA.

Local and organic produce, baked goods, cheese, soap, pasta, pasture meat and eggs, plants, cut flowers dairy and so much more. The best of Litchfield County

Looking for an intimate meaningful Prayer experience... At Chabad we don't pray with labels or levels. Every one talks to G‑d on their level and in their language and pace. The service are led in the beautiful traditional manner but are tailored to the individual's needs. 

Followed always by a scrumptious Kiddush.

_ All are Welcome

_ NO Membership

_ Spirited, song-filled prayers

_ Warm, Friendly Community

_ User-Friendly Services

_ Relaxed, non-judgemental atmoshpere

\* Hebrew/English Prayer-Books

“Atmospheric Abstractions”

Presented by: Edward Muszala

Edward Muszala will be sharing his extraordinary collection of oil paintings. His work will be on display from Saturday, March 23rd -  Saturday, May 18th 2024. 

 

Pilot and artist, Edward Muszala, finds inspiration in the sky. “As a pilot I was aware of the constantly changing play of air and light in the atmosphere, the warmth of the sun, the speed of the wind, the water in the clouds” he says. Through the lens of a seasoned aviator, he captures the ever-shifting tapestry of light, color, and temperature in the atmosphere, translating this awe-inspiring spectacle onto canvas with his mastery of oil and encaustic techniques bringing these atmospheric scenes to life, evoking feelings of calm and awe in every brushstroke.

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/stairwell-gallery/

The Harwinton Library Friends are sponsoring their annual Plant, Book and Bake Sale. Stop in for plants and baked goods generously donated by local residents as well as visit our basement for gently used books. All proceeds support library programs.

**[The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens](https://judyblackpark.org)** is pleased to welcome an art exhibit featuring works by **[Anastasya Peña](https://www.anastasya-pena.com)**. The exhibit, “Spillover,” will be on view beginning Friday, May 3. The show highlights Peña’s layered abstract paintings. A reception with the artist is being planned. Check our website and social media for updates. Peña is an abstract, color–based painter born and raised in New York City. She received her BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019 with a concentration in Literary Arts and Studies. While at the Rhode Island School of Design, she participated in the European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. “I explore how paint responds to different surfaces,” says Peña of her painting approach. “I am receptive, driven by the discovery of what paint can do," she says of her process.  Check our website and social media for weekly open hours.

The Litchfield Farmers Market is one of the few year-round markets in the Connecticut. The weekly Saturday market offers fresh seasonal produce, fruit, berries, herbs, sustainably sourced fish; artisanal cheeses, breads and baked goods, local honey, maple syrup and gifts - all raised, grown or crafted by 15+ local vendors. 

The market occasionally hosts live music and supports non-profits from throughout the Litchfield area.

Indoor Market - November through mid-June (intermittent Saturdays through the winter months -- check the website for listing.) Open Saturdays 10am - 1pm at the Litchfield Community Center located at 421 Litchfield Road, Litchfield, CT.

Outdoor Market - June 10 through mid-October located at Center School, Litchfield.

Festival in New Milford

The Voice of Art is thrilled to invite you to its third annual outdoor juried fine art show, “Litchfield Art Festival 2024!  This show will be a highlight for collectors and residents from the Tri-State region, New England and beyond. The Litchfield Hills have a history and reputation of featuring top fine artists from across the country, and also many well-known and beloved New England and CT artists who are widely admired by art enthusiasts.  

"All-Accessible Creative Placemaking"

• Free and Open to the Public
• Fine Art & Functional Art​

LAF Spring: May 18–19 (10am-5pm) @ Lawrence Field, North Canaan, CT 

LAF Fall: Sept. 21–22 (10am-5pm) @ Salisbury, CT (TBA)

The Tremaine Art Gallery at The Hotchkiss School at 11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville CT is pleased to present Dialogue: Art in Conversation, featuring works by Valerie Hammond and Nathaniel (Tate) Klacsmann, from April 2 through June 2, 2024, with an opening reception on Saturday, April 6 from 4 to 6 p.m. This exhibition explores the creative processes of two artists whose work reverberates around questions of social inequity, magic, myth, and the environment. Together, their pieces begin a conversation filled with reflective echoes, offering opportunity for intersection around creativity and process. Curated by Joan Baldwin and Terri Moore, Dialogue also includes video and photography by Colleen Macmillan, Ann Villano, and Hotchkiss film students. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

In May, the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village (CT) will host the exhibition A Star Danced: The Paintings of Mary Anne Carley and Theresa Kenny. The exhibition features the work of two Sharon-based painters who happen to be mother and daughter. Mary Anne Carley uses a multitude of media in her abstract and impressionist paintings and monoprints including acrylic, watercolor, and ink. Carley’s daughter, Theresa Kenny, focuses on figurative works in pastel that capture the color and movement of birds, animals, and children. The exhibition’s title is from Shakespeare and evokes the astrological happiness of a star at the birth of a daughter. It will be on display at the library during operating hours through June 7.  

The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens invites the community to its fourth annual plant sale and Gardenpalooza on Saturday, May 18 from 10 am to 1 pm!

The sale will feature a variety of perennials, annuals, flowers, vegetable and herb plants available from Meadowbrook Gardens. Stock up on plants to start (or add to!) your own home garden.

Additionally, several community organizations will be on site sharing information about various projects and initiatives they are involved in. 

This event will take place at One Green Hill Road, Washington Depot, CT 06794.

"Tangled in Color": an exhibition of works in oil and acrylic by Kathleen L'Hommedieu.

Kathleen L'Hommedieu, born and raised in Connecticut, finds inspiration through light and color in the landscape and sky. Many years of traveling for business and rowing competitions through Europe are also a major influence.

"We are immersed in light, color and energy from all that surrounds us no matter where we find ourselves."

Layering is nothing new for Kathleen. It is a technique that comes naturally as she builds a canvas and is guided through its evolution. Using a series of tools - from brush to palette knife - she lets the layers deepen, a process that can take years while perfecting a canvas. "The background tells me where to go," is how she explains the method, "and I add color or texture." Recently, the layers have led to new revelations of shadow and light as the colors intermingle and intertwine, creating interrelationships within a work of art informed by past canvases. Her abstracts are often memories of moments she has experienced - inspired by a foggy window after a storm by the sea, the turbulence of winter by the ocean, a still-life in its vivid interplay of color and form, or a grove of young saplings lit by the sun.

This show is a series of explorations in interwoven color to share the journey of an artist's growing perception, but expressing a universal message. Kathleen's quest leads the viewer to experience a deepening vision of fleeting color play and brilliant moments in our surroundings. "Art teaches you to see," she says, "and I strive to capture that energy."

From April 13 through May 18, The Cornwall Library is presenting Live It Up!, a selection of bold, vivid landscape and abstract works by artist Joelle Sander (1942–2023) that fully justify the name of the show. The opening reception on April 13 from 5 to 7 pm, with registration requested at https://cornwalllibrary.org/events/.

Sander was already an award-winning author in her late 40s when she began painting seriously. She pursued painting with characteristic zeal, putting it on equal footing with writing, and attending studio classes in New York until the week before her passing. Early on, she took to heart a comment by artist Wolf Kahn, who noticed in one of her pastels an unusual color choice. "Ah ha," he said, "You see, you are a colorist!"

Steve Ninteman, a fellow artist and friend, says “Color is what Joelle celebrated the most in all her work. She also pursued themes of movement, fire, scale, trees and light. What is inspiring is that she took whatever idea she was interested in and brought it directly to a large canvas. Joelle did lovely personal drawings around her Connecticut home, in museums and Central Park, but she didn't do many preparatory sketches for paintings. Instead she would make a few simple outlines with her brush and dive in. Her color choices appeared quickly in assured passages…Looking at her surroundings with love and attention, Joelle transformed them with her personal form making, then gave them a life of their own with color choices that only she could imagine. ”

Sander was inspired by painters as diverse as turn-of-the-20th-century Canadian landscapist Tom Thomson and American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell.

She lived in New York City and West Cornwall, Connecticut. Live it Up! will offer oil paintings for sale, with proceeds benefiting art and poetry programs at The Cornwall Library.

Ironworks Weekend

May 18th & 19th 10:00am – 4:00pm

Immerse yourself in Ironworks Weekend, a new program exploring the history of ironmaking in the Housatonic Valley at the Kent Iron Works site. The event will include special tours, exhibits, and an iron smelting demonstration, marking the first iron smelting on the site since the furnace's closure in 1892. Master blacksmiths Steve Mankowski and Christopher Henkels will smelt iron with a bloomery furnace using traditional methods and techniques. Enjoy free admission to the museum and programs Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 until 4:00.

 

The Gunn Junior Library will be at the Judy Black Memorial Park & Gardens on Saturday, May 18th. Please look for our table. We will be giving out Seed Starter Kits from 10-12.   

A new book club meeting Saturday mornings! Join us! RSVP www.newmilfordlibrary.org

UConn Extension Master Gardener volunteers will be available to answer your home gardening questions. Look for their table inside the library. They will be on site 10am-12pm on May 18, June 15, July 20, and August 17.

The Fine Arts Connection of Thomaston, Inc. announces their 2nd annual Art Around the Hall event scheduled for 5/18/24 from 10:30-3 pm around Town Hall, 158 Main St., Thomaston, CT. Included activities are: a wildlife presentation by White Memorial Foundation in the Crescent Gallery from 11-12, and an artist 'pour' event from 1-3, also in the Crescent Gallery. All day activities include music, a "Mad Hatter" photo booth outside Town Hall; a child's fairy garden in front of Town Hall; a display featuring Seth Thomas Clock artifacts in the Thomaston Historical Society (fourth floor of Town Hall); Art and Photo displays in the Crescent Gallery; a Find the Time Match Game; a Fun House mirror; a "Timely" Scavenger Hunt; Sidewalk chalk, hula hoops and bubbles in front of Town Hall. Additionally, the Seth Thomas House, across from Town Hall, will be open for free tours. All are welcome, and all activities are handicap-accessible at no cost to participants. Visit www.ThomastonFineArts.com for further information.

Tour your senior center and meet & greet with local organizations that provide valuable resources for our senior community and their families.

The Fine Arts Connection of Thomaston, Inc. is planning a fun family day for Art Around the Hall, called “Find the Time”, an event to celebrate time, on Saturday, May 18th, from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this **FREE** event!   Scheduled activities include: a presentation of wild animals by the White Memorial Foundation in the Crescent Art Gallery at Town Hall from 11-12. This sit-down show includes a live owl, possibly a snake, a salamander and more! At 12:45, musician Tom Turci, a guitarist/folk singer will present a program of music from 12:45 – 2:45 in the Crescent Gallery. Tom hails from Southington, and plays with the band, Shed Rats, who will be appearing in the annual Summer Concert series on July 22nd. Simultaneously, painter Patricia Ward will offer a ‘pour’ art event from 1 – 2 pm. This is a ‘hands on’ fun activity for up to 8 people.   Ongoing events throughout the day include a display of artwork by the Ten-2-One artists in the Crescent Gallery, a mounted hanging of photos, also related to time, in the Lena Morton Gallery at Town Hall, a Scavenger Hunt to find the clock faces scattered through the Town Hall; a ‘timely’ photo booth outside (weather-permitting); a Find the Time match game; a Fun House time warp mirror; a Child’s Fairy Garden, sidewalk chalk, hula hoops, bubbles in front of Town Hall, as well as children’s activities in the Crescent Gallery.   Special to the day are a display of Time-related items in the Thomaston Historical Society on the 6th floor of Town Hall, and the Seth Thomas-Bradstreet House will be open for free tours. The Seth Thomas-Bradstreet House is located across Main St. from the Town Hall. For further information, visit [www.thomastonfinearts.com](http://www.thomastonfinearts.com).  

Whittemore Gallery

January 21, 2024 – May 19, 2024

(Re)Work It! Women Artists on Women’s Labor explores the many types of labor that women are often expected to manage – from caring for one’s family to participating in the labor force, from negotiating beauty standards to handling emotional labor, and more. A reprisal of a smaller exhibition from 2022, this new show delves more deeply into the topic by incorporating a wider range of voices and perspectives. Including artwork from approximately 30 contemporary female-identifying artists, (Re)Work It! broadens our definition and understanding of women's labor in 21st century America.

Free with Admission

_"From Stars to Stars”_ is a contemplative study of light at night's darkest time and is inspired by “The Dream Keeper” by Langston Hughes. Cedric Gairard's series of photographs is part of the gallery's permanent collection and will be on display until May 31, 2024.

Join this intermediate-level course for kids ages 9-15, where students will be guided by a teaching artist to learn the practice of printmaking. $20 per person Ages 9-15 Register Here: [https://mattmuseum.org/calendar/intermediate-art-workshop-printmaking/](https://mattmuseum.org/calendar/intermediate-art-workshop-printmaking)

Mattatuck Museum will join museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2024 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 18, 2024, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2024. Find the list of other participating museums at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and participating museums across America. Blue Star Museums include children’s museums, art, science, and history museums, zoos, gardens, lighthouses, and more, and hail from all 50 states, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The current list of participating museums will continue to develop over the summer as organizations are welcome to register to be a Blue Star Museum throughout the summer. The free admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States Military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force, members of the Reserves, National Guard, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), DD Form 1173-1 ID card or the Next Generation Uniformed Services (Real) ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum.

Join us in the Junior Room for some stories about bees, birds, and pollinators, and build a home for wild bees to take home. Children of all ages are welcome to participate. Registration is appreciated.

# Outsider Perspectives: Self-Taught Art from the Mattatuck Collection ## Munger Gallery May 12, 2024 – August 25, 2024 _Hours: Monday - Saturday 11AM - 5PM, Sunday 11 AM- 4 PM_ Included in price of admission Outsider Perspectives showcases a recent gift of American Outsider Art to the Mattatuck Museum. Produced by self-taught artists who have no formal training or concern for the conventions of the art world, Outsider Art provides a glimpse into artistic production that is little concerned with external opinions. Employing ready-at-hand materials and often deeply personal imagery, the approximately 30 works in this exhibition explore the power of art as a means of self-expression and as a way to process the world. [https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/outsider-perspectives/](https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/outsider-perspectives) Opening Celebration: June 9th

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring two contemporary artists whose work is focused on botany. Battenfield’s meditative painting process begins with the artist’s close attention to the graceful forms of unfolding leaves and blossoms, and to the twisted boughs and branches of trees. This series was inspired by time the artist spent at a rural meditation retreat where spring was slowly awakening the landscape from its winter bareness. Sitting by a window, in meditative silence, the artist was transfixed as tender buds and leaves daily transformed a gnarly elm tree. Battenfield’s paintings evoke the immediacy and beauty of that experience. The images of branches, leaves and blooms are first recorded as photographs, then meticulously drawn onto large sheets of translucent Mylar. Paying close attention to the true form of each natural element, the artist builds her graceful compositions. Battenfield’s paintings draw upon two natural but disparate processes: the gestural unfolding and leafing of a branching tree limb and the physical properties and behaviors of pigments. Battenfield mixes her pigments to an ink-like consistency and generously brushes the acrylic paint onto the smooth Mylar where it forms a puddle of paint. As the paint mixture dries, the pigments reassert themselves, separating and forming unexpected and distinct abstract patterns. An expert colorist, Battenfield creates hundreds of color studies to investigate and consider the different levels of color saturation and the separation affected by the various pigments’ origin and weight. To accentuate the contrast between image and ground, Battenfield leaves the background of her paintings untreated, allowing her botanical forms to float against the pristine white Mylar. Each painting is then mounted on a clear acrylic panel that allows light to play behind the translucent painted surface. Jackie Battenfield was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She earned an MFA in Visual Art from Syracuse University and a BS from Pennsylvania State University. She is the recipient of a Pollock Krasner Award (1991) and the Warren Tanner Award (1996). Her work is widely exhibited throughout the United States and is in more than 1000 collections worldwide including the New York Public Library, NY; The Zimmerli Art Museum, Montclair Art Museum, NJ; Palmer Museum, University Park, PA; Museum of Art at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and the United States Embassy Collections, Brazil, Cambodia, Croatia, Jamaica, and Peru. She recently completed public art commissions for New York University, Langone Medical Center, Radiation Treatment Suite and The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts & Design, Avenue P elevated subway station, F line, Brooklyn, NY. Jackie Battenfield lives in and works in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. For Margot Glass the idealization of nature in ornament across cultures is fascinating. Her work explores the tension between natural and synthetic symmetry and pattern in nature and design. How we see and alter nature to suit our aesthetic desires is what draws her to decorative arts traditions for inspiration as much as the fine art traditions of painting and drawing. A central theme in Glass’s work is the exploration of ephemerality, focusing primarily on weeds and other plants generally considered to be undesirable. She draws these specimens to highlight their imperfect beauty and asymmetry. Margot Glass’s subjects are found sprouting through cracks in the sidewalks, and in the margins of public spaces and forest borders. Because of her professional training in metal point drawing and gilding techniques, and because she is inspired by the tesserae of Byzantine mosaics, traditional decorative metalwork and architectural adornments, gold is a natural choice of drawing medium for the artist. Gold has light shifting properties that effect the fine lines and dense details of Glass’s drawing inviting slow, and close viewing. Margot Glass also uses traditional methods and formulas for making organic ink from black walnuts which are collected and dried and brewed. This labor-intensive process is another way to slow time that is integral to her process. In Glass’s drawings of grasses and clover, her interest is in the transcendent power of natural forms to shift from taxonomic specificity to a more meditative visual experience found in repetition of negative space, shape, and line. Margot Glass’s work is shown widely in the US and is in the collections of Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon, PA, Midwest Museum of American Art, Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego, CA, Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC, Allentown Art Museum, PA, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Robert Kushner and other international private collections. Her work has been featured in Wall Street Journal International, art Daily, Artsy, Orion Magazine, American Art Collector and Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, to name a few. Glass earned a degree from Smith College, Historic Artist Materials and Techniques, and B.A. Honors, Brown University | Brown-RISD Reciprocal Program, Providence, RI. Margot Glass lives and works in MA. Please contact Lani Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG AND GALLERY 25 INVITES YOU TO ITS MEMBERS’ SPRING ART SHOW!

The increasingly balmy weather is ushering in Spring 2024, and with it, the Gallery 25 Member’s Annual Spring Show which will run from April 12 to June 9.

Terry Tougas, G25 Director, notes, “The public is invited to view and enjoy some of our member artists’ best work in a wide variety of mediums including paintings, pottery, collages, assemblages, mixed media, photography, wood work, wearable art jewelry and more not-to-be-missed works”.

Our opening reception is on Saturday, April 13 from 4-6 pm and everyone is welcome to attend! Light refreshments and wine will be served. We are holding our reception later in the day so come on by for our wonderful art show and then stop by one of downtown New Milford's delicious restaurants for dinner and dessert.

Get excited for our April Workshops! Adele Moros will be hosting one of her popular Sip & Paint artist classes in which participants will be creating a spring bouquet. This class will be held on April 12 at 6pm. And Bobbi Soares’ “Sound at the Station” will demonstrate an exciting sound bath on April 21 from 11am-12pm. To reserve your place at these workshops and for a full list of our upcoming workshops, visit gallery25ct.com.

New Milford is an exciting destination, offering many enjoyable activities, among them well-reviewed restaurants, pubs and unique shops, as well as an Art Deco movie theater, an innovative playhouse, Theaterworks, and a historical New England green. Plan a fun weekend in our fine town!

Gallery 25 and Creative Arts Studio

New Milford Commission on the Arts

11 Railroad St., New Milford, CT 06776

860-355-6009 \* gallery25ct.com

G25 is open Friday and Saturday 12-6 and Sunday 10-4.

G25 wishes to thank the town of New Milford and the New Milford Commission on the Arts for their continued generous support.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @Gallery25 and Creative Arts Studio.

Location: Main Reading Room (Main Level) Albert Ruggiero will talk about and read from “Pearls from Carol,” a collection of short, funny, thought-provoking writings by his late wife, Carol Ann Ruggiero. He will also provide a sing-along at the conclusion of the program and will play his saxophone.

An Invitational and Juried Show of tactile art featuring works in fabrics and fibers

Teen Knit and Crochet Club is a social club for teens to explore knitting and crochet. Learn the basic skills of knitting and crochet or bring a project and share your progress with friends.  Welcoming all levels of experience from beginner to advanced. Guided projects are available if seeking to learn new skills. Club is ongoing and meets every third Saturday of the month from 1-2:30 PM. 

The Lost Bird Project involves the extraordinary effort to place a series of public memorials to birds driven to extinction in modern times. As a chronicle of humankind's impact on our changing world and a moving record of dwindling biodiversity, The Lost Bird Project is an ode to vanished times and vanished species. The Great Auk, Labrador Duck, Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, and Heath Hen once populated North America from the shores of Labrador and New York to the midwestern plains. Across the continent the skies were once nearly black with Passenger Pigeons whose disappearance, like the buffalo's, was thought to be inconceivable. As works of site-specific environmental art, the sculptures featured in The Lost Bird Project were placed in the location where the bird was last seen in the wild and are now permanent public sculpture installations at a wide range of sites, from Newfoundland to Florida, Ohio to Martha's Vineyard. Ten years in the making, The Lost Bird Project has been the subject of a feature-length documentary film that premiered in New York City in December 2011. 2:00 p.m., A. B. Ceder Room. Members: $5.00 Non-Members: $10.00 Pre-registration and pre-payment are required. Register online: www.whitememorialcc.org

About Our Speaker: For much of his professional life, McGrain has directed his strengths as a sculptor to The Lost Bird Project, large-scale public memorials dedicated to birds driven to extinction in modern times. This project has required that McGrain work closely with arts and conservation organizations. His attention to purpose, site, and audience has led to sculpture installations being warmly welcomed into the fabric of the communities to which they belong.

In addition to permanent installations, McGrain’s sculptures have toured extensively to museums, universities, and public gardens. They are included in several major collections in the United States and abroad.

McGrain’s work is the subject of the award-winning documentary film, The Lost Bird Project, produced by Middlemarch Films. This rewarding collaborative experience inspired McGrain to direct his own independent documentary film.  

Elephant Path / Njaia Njoku chronicles two crucial years in the lives of one of the world’s last wild herds of forest elephants. Set in the Central African rainforest, against the backdrop of a violent civil conflict, Elephant Path / Njaia Njoku is a moving narrative and a call to action to protect this iconic and vanishing species. Elephant Path garnered recognition and praise at film festivals and through national and international broadcasts.

In addition to his environmentally focused work, McGrain has created several major commissions for Zen retreats and study centers.

McGrain’s accomplishments earned him the prestigious Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.

Great Hollow Call for Artists 2024: A Juried Painting and Photography Show

In Person May 17 – May 19, 2024 at Great Hollow Nature Preserve

Online May 17 – June 30, 2024

 

Deadline for Submissions: April 15, 2024

Calling all painters and photographers who love nature and would like to participate in the seventh annual Great Hollow Photographers Club Juried Painting and Photography Show. Over the past six years, we have raised more than $8500 for Great Hollow Nature Preserve and we hope you will join us for this seventh year of fundraising.

Opening Reception is on Friday, May 17, 2024, 6:00– 8:00 pm and all are welcome. The show will continue for viewing and sales Saturday May 18 and Sunday May 19, 2024 10 am – 4 pm, in the barn at Great Hollow. The show will also be online from May 17 – June 30, 2024. The deadline for submission is midnight on Monday April 15, 2024.

Artists are invited to submit up to four (4) digital images of 2-dimensional work for the competition. Accepted media are photographs, paintings, collages, drawings and digitally augmented art. There is no fee to submit. The hanging fee for the show is $15 for each accepted work and the Great Hollow Photographers Club will retain a 25% commission on all works sold during the show. All works must be for sale as the profits from the Art Show support Great Hollow Nature Preserve’s mission of environmental education, research, and conservation.

The artwork should highlight the Great Hollow Nature Center or, more broadly, the richness of nature and/or the rural life of America’s Northeastern states. Prizes will be donations from local businesses. Jurors for the artwork are Linda Puiatti for painting and Justin Goodhart for photography.

Linda Puiatti is a full time artist who paints atmospheric landscapes inspired by the many places where she has traveled and lived. Her favorite locales are the beaches and marshes of the Northeast, Hudson River Valley fields and mountains and the big sky flatlands and farms of Belgium, Netherlands and France where she lived for ten years. These paintings are born in a traditional realism that reaches into the contemporary art world, eliminating minutia in favor of a broad landscape impression. Puiatti’s paintings hang in private and public collections throughout the US, Europe, Australia and Africa and can also be found in several local galleries. For more information regarding Puiatti, visit her website: www.lindapuiatti.com

Justin Goodhart grew up in New York’s Adirondack region and has always had a strong connection to the land and the beauty of the world around us. After having been a casual photographer for many years it was the beauty of the Hudson Valley that served as inspiration for Goodhart to start taking photography more seriously. Focusing primarily on long exposure landscape and nighttime photography he often works to capture not just the momentary scene but also the feeling of our movement through time. For more information on Goodhart, visit: www.justinpgoodhart.com.

For more information, visit the Great Hollow Photographers Club Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GHPClub. Direct any questions to GHPhotoC@gmail.com.

For prospectus & more information: GHPhotoC@gmaiI.com

CT Regional Premiere! Based on the critically acclaimed play that inspired the now classic film, this streetwise musical will take you to the stoops of the Bronx in the 1960s—where a young man is caught between the father he loves and the mob boss he’d love to be. Featuring a book by Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, music by Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Oscar and Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, A Bronx Tale is a story about respect, loyalty, love, and above all else: family.

Celebrate North Canaan Spring Fest with a FREE showing of Field of Dreams, thanks to our generous sponsor, JCO Plumbing and Heating. Tickets are available here:

Music in the Nave presents “Mozart in May” with the amazing Manhattan String Quartet performing Mozart’s Quartet No. 15 in D minor and No. 16 in E-Flat Major.

Chorus Angelicus collaborates with the Choir School of Hartford, directed by Michelle Horsley.

Back by popular demand, the Chocolate Decadence Tour is a partnership between the Railroad Museum of New England, Fascia's Chocolates, and local wineries and distilleries. Trains depart from the historic Thomaston Station for a scenic journey that includes a stop at the spectacular Thomaston Dam on its way to Fascia's Chocolates, where passengers will make their own chocolate creations. Each passenger also receives multiple tastings from local wineries or distilleries, chocolate samples, a souvenir glass, and a light boxed charcuterie with three options. In order to better serve our customers, we have eliminated our regular coach seating for 2024. There is limited availability this year due to scheduled track and bridge maintenance. Tickets are $85 for Premium Coach and $100 for Naugatuck Coach and Governor's Lounge.

Happiest with Blossoms Above My Head and Flowers Around My Feet Jackie Battenfield and Margot Glass   Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring two contemporary artists whose work is focused on botany. Battenfield’s meditative painting process begins with the artist’s close attention to the graceful forms of unfolding leaves and blossoms, and to the twisted boughs and branches of trees. This series was inspired by time the artist spent at a rural meditation retreat where spring was slowly awakening the landscape from its winter bareness. Sitting by a window, in meditative silence, the artist was transfixed as tender buds and leaves daily transformed a gnarly elm tree. Battenfield’s paintings evoke the immediacy and beauty of that experience. The images of branches, leaves and blooms are first recorded as photographs, then meticulously drawn onto large sheets of translucent Mylar. Paying close attention to the true form of each natural element, the artist builds her graceful compositions. Battenfield’s paintings draw upon two natural but disparate processes: the gestural unfolding and leafing of a branching tree limb and the physical properties and behaviors of pigments. Battenfield mixes her pigments to an ink-like consistency and generously brushes the acrylic paint onto the smooth Mylar where it forms a puddle of paint. As the paint mixture dries, the pigments reassert themselves, separating and forming unexpected and distinct abstract patterns. An expert colorist, Battenfield creates hundreds of color studies to investigate and consider the different levels of color saturation and the separation affected by the various pigments’ origin and weight. To accentuate the contrast between image and ground, Battenfield leaves the background of her paintings untreated, allowing her botanical forms to float against the pristine white Mylar. Each painting is then mounted on a clear acrylic panel that allows light to play behind the translucent painted surface. Jackie Battenfield was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She earned an MFA in Visual Art from Syracuse University and a BS from Pennsylvania State University. She is the recipient of a Pollock Krasner Award (1991) and the Warren Tanner Award (1996). Her work is widely exhibited throughout the United States and is in more than 1000 collections worldwide including the New York Public Library, NY; The Zimmerli Art Museum, Montclair Art Museum, NJ; Palmer Museum, University Park, PA; Museum of Art at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and the United States Embassy Collections, Brazil, Cambodia, Croatia, Jamaica, and Peru. She recently completed public art commissions for New York University, Langone Medical Center, Radiation Treatment Suite and The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts & Design, Avenue P elevated subway station, F line, Brooklyn, NY. Jackie Battenfield lives in and works in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. For Margot Glass the idealization of nature in ornament across cultures is fascinating. Her work explores the tension between natural and synthetic symmetry and pattern in nature and design. How we see and alter nature to suit our aesthetic desires is what draws her to decorative arts traditions for inspiration as much as the fine art traditions of painting and drawing. A central theme in Glass’s work is the exploration of ephemerality, focusing primarily on weeds and other plants generally considered to be undesirable. She draws these specimens to highlight their imperfect beauty and asymmetry. Margot Glass’s subjects are found sprouting through cracks in the sidewalks, and in the margins of public spaces and forest borders. Because of her professional training in metal point drawing and gilding techniques, and because she is inspired by the tesserae of Byzantine mosaics, traditional decorative metalwork and architectural adornments, gold is a natural choice of drawing medium for the artist. Gold has light shifting properties that effect the fine lines and dense details of Glass’s drawing inviting slow, and close viewing. Margot Glass also uses traditional methods and formulas for making organic ink from black walnuts which are collected and dried and brewed. This labor-intensive process is another way to slow time that is integral to her process. In Glass’s drawings of grasses and clover, her interest is in the transcendent power of natural forms to shift from taxonomic specificity to a more meditative visual experience found in repetition of negative space, shape, and line. Margot Glass’s work is shown widely in the US and is in the collections of Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon, PA, Midwest Museum of American Art, Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego, CA, Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC, Allentown Art Museum, PA, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Robert Kushner and other international private collections. Her work has been featured in Wall Street Journal International, art Daily, Artsy, Orion Magazine, American Art Collector and Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, to name a few. Glass earned a degree from Smith College, Historic Artist Materials and Techniques, and B.A. Honors, Brown University | Brown-RISD Reciprocal Program, Providence, RI. Margot Glass lives and works in MA. Please contact Lani Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Count down to Spring Fest! Art Bar & Cafe will be hosting a Paint and Sip on May 18th from 5pm-7pm. Limited spots available! Please RSVP by May 15th to Jessie!

Comedy Wedding of "Donna & Danny" The "wedding" will be held on Saturday, May 18 at 6:00pm Church of Christ, 5 Old Middle St., Goshen, CT 06756 ~ Parish Hall $55 pp / $100 per couple  Seated Dinner Menu : Antipasto, Chicken Piccata, Mashed Potatoes Green Beans, Penne with Homemade Sauce, Dessert, Coffee, Tea **Purchase by May 10** 860.491.2793 / [goshenchurch.com/shop](http://goshenchurch.com/shop) **_produced by AspenDream Productions in Goshen_** _"Meet the notorious “Uncle Franco” and his ex-wife Stella. Today they are giving their niece Donna away to ‘that bum’ Danny, the garbage man. But, the wedding of Danny & Donna is not your typical ceremony and reception. Mama Lambrusco has an ax to grind. No one is good enough for her son!_ _As a guest of Danny & Donna, you’re interacting with Don Franco’s family from the moment you step into the room until the time you leave the reception. Bridesmaids may flirt with you, Luigi “the Squeegy” may reveal secrets at your table and Stella, “Uncle’ Franco’s ex may spill the beans about her former marriage at the bar. Sal Manilla may have a lot to say about dating Donna ... and Eileen Dover still has a crush on Danny._ _No matter where you’re sitting or whom you’re talking to, there’s never a dull moment. It’s a super fun and memorable night of love, mayhem, laughter and, of course, dancing. But you never know who will show up._ _Join these feuding families as you witness the vows, dance the night away and catch _ _the bouquet. But be careful, there are a few uninvited guests."_

**a Studio Affair ** **Saturday, May 18th** **21+ 6:30 - 10:00PM - Free** **_Unleash Your Inner Artist_** Do you have a craving to unleash your creativity but aren't sure where to start? Well, look no further! We aim to create a vibrant space for our community to gather, socialize with friends, and even make new ones. Our focus is on inclusivity and fostering creativity. You don't have to be a professional artist to join in; all you need is the passion to create. Just bring your enthusiasm, and we'll supply all the necessary materials. If you're already working on a masterpiece, feel free to bring it along and showcase your skills. Spread the word, invite your friends, and get ready for an unforgettable experience! Plus, if you're feeling thirsty, don't forget to bring your own beverages. Located at 12 Main Street, New Milford, CT (860) 354-4318

The Morris Fire Company is hosting a Community Game Night! When: Saturday May 18, 2024 Where: Morris Fire House (15 South Street) Time: Starts 7:00 pm Bring your favorite board games, friends, family, and favorite snack to share. A fun night to be had by all.

Saturday, May 18th, at 7:00 PM, the blues are back at 2nd Home with Slim & St. George and their own brand of blues/roots/Americana. Great music, food, drinks, and fun. Come down and enjoy! See our complete event list - [https://2ndhomelounge.com/events/](https://2ndhomelounge.com/events) Google Street View 2nd Home Lounge 524 Main Street, Winsted 2ndhomelounge.com Join our mailing list - [https://2ndhomelounge.com/email-sign-up/](https://2ndhomelounge.com/email-sign-up) 

Kent School's Performing Arts Department will present the 2016 Broadway musical Bright Star in their beautiful Mattison Auditorium on May 18th and 19th, 2024. The show, written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, is a powerful drama with exuberant dance numbers and a powerful bluegrass score. Staged with Kent student performers and a live pit band, this is a can't-miss production. Admission is free and the performance is open to the public.

Direct from Broadway, Mean Girls is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). 

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.

New York Magazine cheers, "Mean Girls delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!”

The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Direct from Broadway, Mean Girls is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. New York Magazine cheers, “Mean Girls delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!” The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Global artists have shared their floral images, film, music and poetry.

for our online art show "Plant Life"

“Plant Life” art show launches online on Friday, May 3rd.

Exciting News!

“Plant Life: NYC – Global” is an exhibition and digital event at Prime Produce, 424 West 54th St, New York City, May 17-19 featuring selections from the online show!

Personaland - our online global arts village.

https://www.personaland.com

Personaland is an artist-driven global village, transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge geographical and cultural boundaries. This uniquely positions Personaland to create accessible opportunities for artists and audiences to connect and participate. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Personaland takes the form of a virtual entertainment park, where visitors can visit art shows and exhibitions, play art games, watch movies, visit dancing flowers and a wishing well. Since our launch in 2018, Personaland has showcased over 650 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians and poets from 61 countries in 25 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions.

For more info:

Stewart Wilson

personaman@snet.net

This year’s Climate Challenge will run from Earth Day (April 22) through May 31st, and it is part of the State’s effort to meet its emission targets to help prevent further worsening of adverse climate impacts. 2024 Climate Challenge - CTrides

You are invited to visit....

A Showing of Liz Rosiello's Floral Watercolor Paintings

Roxbury Senior Center - 7 South St. Roxbury CT

April 1 - May 31

Artist Reception: Saturday May 4th - 2pm to 5pm

Any child 12 year old or younger

Bring your own pole and hook able bait!

Free to all participants.

Prizes and food

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes® is an international men’s march where men and boys lead the way to end sexual and domestic violence by walking one mile in red high-heeled shoes. Created by men, the Walk allows participants to get their communities talking about a difficult subject while increasing awareness of the problem, offering opportunities for healing, and demonstrating men’s willingness to walk with women and children as allies, advocates, and survivors. For more information and to register, visit Walk a Mile in Her Shoes 2024 — Susan B. Anthony Project (sbaproject.org)

The David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village will host its annual Homegrown Plant Sale on the weekend of May 18 and 19 from 9AM to 4PM on Saturday, and 9AM to 2PM on Sunday. Falls Village’s own growers, gardeners, and CSAs will provide a wide variety of plants, including a large selection of tomatoes, vegetables, annuals and perennials, and houseplants including potted geraniums and hanging baskets from HVRHS. Proceeds benefit the Hunt Library and HVRHS. For more information, or to donate plants and pots, call the library at 860-824-7424 or visit huntlibrary.org. 

**[The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens](https://judyblackpark.org)** is pleased to welcome an art exhibit featuring works by **[Anastasya Peña](https://www.anastasya-pena.com)**. The exhibit, “Spillover,” will be on view beginning Friday, May 3. The show highlights Peña’s layered abstract paintings. A reception with the artist is being planned. Check our website and social media for updates. Peña is an abstract, color–based painter born and raised in New York City. She received her BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019 with a concentration in Literary Arts and Studies. While at the Rhode Island School of Design, she participated in the European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. “I explore how paint responds to different surfaces,” says Peña of her painting approach. “I am receptive, driven by the discovery of what paint can do," she says of her process.  Check our website and social media for weekly open hours.

Festival in New Milford

The Voice of Art is thrilled to invite you to its third annual outdoor juried fine art show, “Litchfield Art Festival 2024!  This show will be a highlight for collectors and residents from the Tri-State region, New England and beyond. The Litchfield Hills have a history and reputation of featuring top fine artists from across the country, and also many well-known and beloved New England and CT artists who are widely admired by art enthusiasts.  

SPRING HAS SPRUNG AND GALLERY 25 INVITES YOU TO ITS MEMBERS’ SPRING ART SHOW!

The increasingly balmy weather is ushering in Spring 2024, and with it, the Gallery 25 Member’s Annual Spring Show which will run from April 12 to June 9.

Terry Tougas, G25 Director, notes, “The public is invited to view and enjoy some of our member artists’ best work in a wide variety of mediums including paintings, pottery, collages, assemblages, mixed media, photography, wood work, wearable art jewelry and more not-to-be-missed works”.

Our opening reception is on Saturday, April 13 from 4-6 pm and everyone is welcome to attend! Light refreshments and wine will be served. We are holding our reception later in the day so come on by for our wonderful art show and then stop by one of downtown New Milford's delicious restaurants for dinner and dessert.

Get excited for our April Workshops! Adele Moros will be hosting one of her popular Sip & Paint artist classes in which participants will be creating a spring bouquet. This class will be held on April 12 at 6pm. And Bobbi Soares’ “Sound at the Station” will demonstrate an exciting sound bath on April 21 from 11am-12pm. To reserve your place at these workshops and for a full list of our upcoming workshops, visit gallery25ct.com.

New Milford is an exciting destination, offering many enjoyable activities, among them well-reviewed restaurants, pubs and unique shops, as well as an Art Deco movie theater, an innovative playhouse, Theaterworks, and a historical New England green. Plan a fun weekend in our fine town!

Gallery 25 and Creative Arts Studio

New Milford Commission on the Arts

11 Railroad St., New Milford, CT 06776

860-355-6009 \* gallery25ct.com

G25 is open Friday and Saturday 12-6 and Sunday 10-4.

G25 wishes to thank the town of New Milford and the New Milford Commission on the Arts for their continued generous support.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @Gallery25 and Creative Arts Studio.

Ironworks Weekend

May 18th & 19th 10:00am – 4:00pm

Immerse yourself in Ironworks Weekend, a new program exploring the history of ironmaking in the Housatonic Valley at the Kent Iron Works site. The event will include special tours, exhibits, and an iron smelting demonstration, marking the first iron smelting on the site since the furnace's closure in 1892. Master blacksmiths Steve Mankowski and Christopher Henkels will smelt iron with a bloomery furnace using traditional methods and techniques. Enjoy free admission to the museum and programs Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 until 4:00.

 

Join us for two hours of phone-free connection, where spirituality meets creativity in a non-religious, open-minded environment. You will be guided through a creative process that integrates our heads, hearts, and hands using art as a tool for exploring new perspectives. Awaken your spirit and nourish your creativity in our Sunday morning sanctuary of communal connection. Space is limited; advanced registration required. Suggested donation $15. Ages 18+.

For the most up-to-date information, please visit our website. 

Whittemore Gallery

January 21, 2024 – May 19, 2024

(Re)Work It! Women Artists on Women’s Labor explores the many types of labor that women are often expected to manage – from caring for one’s family to participating in the labor force, from negotiating beauty standards to handling emotional labor, and more. A reprisal of a smaller exhibition from 2022, this new show delves more deeply into the topic by incorporating a wider range of voices and perspectives. Including artwork from approximately 30 contemporary female-identifying artists, (Re)Work It! broadens our definition and understanding of women's labor in 21st century America.

Free with Admission

**Come and knock on our Door - We've been waiting for you to come celebrate the 70's with us... Roper Style!** Grab your favorite Caftan, some chunky jewelry, and your Curly red wig, and  **_Come have a Ball with Us_**  as we celebrate the 70's  **Roper Style**  at Create Escape Studio. **Sunday, May 19th from 11 - 1:30** Enjoy 70's style snacks, a Mock-Mosa Bar, trivia, prizes for best costume, and lots of retro-inspired project inspiration. $15 reserves your spot $10 of that registration will go toward your project for the day. **Mrs. Roper costumes are highly encouraged -** ​  **go as crazy as you dare!** **(**_Stanley, Chrissy, Janet, Larry, and Mr. Furley costumes are welcome too!)_ Scour local thrift shops, Savers, and WalMart, or go online and search for caftans - there are a million of them! And don't forget your curly wig!  Open to all ages BYOB for over 21 is welcome **Register Here:**

# Outsider Perspectives: Self-Taught Art from the Mattatuck Collection ## Munger Gallery May 12, 2024 – August 25, 2024 _Hours: Monday - Saturday 11AM - 5PM, Sunday 11 AM- 4 PM_ Included in price of admission Outsider Perspectives showcases a recent gift of American Outsider Art to the Mattatuck Museum. Produced by self-taught artists who have no formal training or concern for the conventions of the art world, Outsider Art provides a glimpse into artistic production that is little concerned with external opinions. Employing ready-at-hand materials and often deeply personal imagery, the approximately 30 works in this exhibition explore the power of art as a means of self-expression and as a way to process the world. [https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/outsider-perspectives/](https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/outsider-perspectives) Opening Celebration: June 9th

## Stitching the Revolution: Quilts as Agents of Change May 19, 2024 – August 25, 2024 _Hours: Monday - Saturday 11 AM - 5 PM, Sunday 11 AM - 4 PM_ _Included with museum admission_ Stitching the Revolution explores themes of revolution through quilting, a medium traditionally confined to the domestic sphere and often relegated to the lower status of craft or minor art. This exhibition offers a new approach to understanding the practice of quilting as an avenue through which to express potent beliefs and an outlet to create meaningful change. Tracing the long history of quilts as a medium for communicating revolutionary ideas, the exhibition pairs historic and contemporary quilts spanning over 200 years of production. Stitching the Revolution features approximately 30 quilts from the Mattatuck Museum’s collection, and loans from New England institutions and contemporary artists. _Thanks to the generous support of the Coby Foundation._ _Opening ceremony: June 9_

The Tremaine Art Gallery at The Hotchkiss School at 11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville CT is pleased to present Dialogue: Art in Conversation, featuring works by Valerie Hammond and Nathaniel (Tate) Klacsmann, from April 2 through June 2, 2024, with an opening reception on Saturday, April 6 from 4 to 6 p.m. This exhibition explores the creative processes of two artists whose work reverberates around questions of social inequity, magic, myth, and the environment. Together, their pieces begin a conversation filled with reflective echoes, offering opportunity for intersection around creativity and process. Curated by Joan Baldwin and Terri Moore, Dialogue also includes video and photography by Colleen Macmillan, Ann Villano, and Hotchkiss film students. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring two contemporary artists whose work is focused on botany. Battenfield’s meditative painting process begins with the artist’s close attention to the graceful forms of unfolding leaves and blossoms, and to the twisted boughs and branches of trees. This series was inspired by time the artist spent at a rural meditation retreat where spring was slowly awakening the landscape from its winter bareness. Sitting by a window, in meditative silence, the artist was transfixed as tender buds and leaves daily transformed a gnarly elm tree. Battenfield’s paintings evoke the immediacy and beauty of that experience. The images of branches, leaves and blooms are first recorded as photographs, then meticulously drawn onto large sheets of translucent Mylar. Paying close attention to the true form of each natural element, the artist builds her graceful compositions. Battenfield’s paintings draw upon two natural but disparate processes: the gestural unfolding and leafing of a branching tree limb and the physical properties and behaviors of pigments. Battenfield mixes her pigments to an ink-like consistency and generously brushes the acrylic paint onto the smooth Mylar where it forms a puddle of paint. As the paint mixture dries, the pigments reassert themselves, separating and forming unexpected and distinct abstract patterns. An expert colorist, Battenfield creates hundreds of color studies to investigate and consider the different levels of color saturation and the separation affected by the various pigments’ origin and weight. To accentuate the contrast between image and ground, Battenfield leaves the background of her paintings untreated, allowing her botanical forms to float against the pristine white Mylar. Each painting is then mounted on a clear acrylic panel that allows light to play behind the translucent painted surface. Jackie Battenfield was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She earned an MFA in Visual Art from Syracuse University and a BS from Pennsylvania State University. She is the recipient of a Pollock Krasner Award (1991) and the Warren Tanner Award (1996). Her work is widely exhibited throughout the United States and is in more than 1000 collections worldwide including the New York Public Library, NY; The Zimmerli Art Museum, Montclair Art Museum, NJ; Palmer Museum, University Park, PA; Museum of Art at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and the United States Embassy Collections, Brazil, Cambodia, Croatia, Jamaica, and Peru. She recently completed public art commissions for New York University, Langone Medical Center, Radiation Treatment Suite and The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts & Design, Avenue P elevated subway station, F line, Brooklyn, NY. Jackie Battenfield lives in and works in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. For Margot Glass the idealization of nature in ornament across cultures is fascinating. Her work explores the tension between natural and synthetic symmetry and pattern in nature and design. How we see and alter nature to suit our aesthetic desires is what draws her to decorative arts traditions for inspiration as much as the fine art traditions of painting and drawing. A central theme in Glass’s work is the exploration of ephemerality, focusing primarily on weeds and other plants generally considered to be undesirable. She draws these specimens to highlight their imperfect beauty and asymmetry. Margot Glass’s subjects are found sprouting through cracks in the sidewalks, and in the margins of public spaces and forest borders. Because of her professional training in metal point drawing and gilding techniques, and because she is inspired by the tesserae of Byzantine mosaics, traditional decorative metalwork and architectural adornments, gold is a natural choice of drawing medium for the artist. Gold has light shifting properties that effect the fine lines and dense details of Glass’s drawing inviting slow, and close viewing. Margot Glass also uses traditional methods and formulas for making organic ink from black walnuts which are collected and dried and brewed. This labor-intensive process is another way to slow time that is integral to her process. In Glass’s drawings of grasses and clover, her interest is in the transcendent power of natural forms to shift from taxonomic specificity to a more meditative visual experience found in repetition of negative space, shape, and line. Margot Glass’s work is shown widely in the US and is in the collections of Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon, PA, Midwest Museum of American Art, Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego, CA, Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC, Allentown Art Museum, PA, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Robert Kushner and other international private collections. Her work has been featured in Wall Street Journal International, art Daily, Artsy, Orion Magazine, American Art Collector and Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, to name a few. Glass earned a degree from Smith College, Historic Artist Materials and Techniques, and B.A. Honors, Brown University | Brown-RISD Reciprocal Program, Providence, RI. Margot Glass lives and works in MA. Please contact Lani Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Direct from Broadway, Mean Girls is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). 

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.

New York Magazine cheers, "Mean Girls delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!”

The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Direct from Broadway, Mean Girls is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. New York Magazine cheers, “Mean Girls delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!” The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

An Invitational and Juried Show of tactile art featuring works in fabrics and fibers

Dive into the world of Art in the English Flower Garden as History of Gardens teacher at Botanical Gardens and Fordham University Professor Caitlin Merritt discusses famous gardens and their connection to the art world. Please join us for this intriguing discussion at Gallery 25. Cost: $10 Register online at Gallery25ct.com by May 18. Space is limited.

Spend an afternoon creating an accent piece for your kitchen with a citrus stamped tea towel! Create your own designs or use existing stamps to decorate. This experience is the perfect Mother’s Day gift. All supplies will be provided and each participant with be able to take home 2 original designs. **$35 per person** , Pre-registration is required due to limited spots. Register Here: [https://www.mattmuseum.org/calendar/adult-art-workshop-citrus-printed-tea-towels/](https://www.mattmuseum.org/calendar/adult-art-workshop-citrus-printed-tea-towels)

Bring a picnic and enjoy a perfect Sunday afternoon in the company of this wonderful guitar ensemble that will perform a variety of genres.

 

Michael Stubblefield (b. 1989) is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator based in Hartford, Connecticut. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael began his higher education studies in music at Diablo Valley Community College, ultimately transferring to California State University, East Bay where he earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music. Michael is also a graduate of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition and a minor in Music Theory.

Michael's interests outside of music include animals (especially exotic reptiles), reading, hiking, cooking, the San Francisco Giants and 49ers, and coffee. Michael is currently working throughout New England in a variety of music relation activities, as a composer, a private teacher in guitar, bass, piano, ukulele, voice, composition, and music theory, and at The Hartt School as an administrative assistant and tutor of music theory and music history. 2:00pm , Activity Shed, All tickets: $10.00. Please pre-register online : www.whitememorialcc.org  In the event of cold weather, the concert will take place in the Carriage House.

Great Hollow Call for Artists 2024: A Juried Painting and Photography Show

In Person May 17 – May 19, 2024 at Great Hollow Nature Preserve

Online May 17 – June 30, 2024

 

Deadline for Submissions: April 15, 2024

Calling all painters and photographers who love nature and would like to participate in the seventh annual Great Hollow Photographers Club Juried Painting and Photography Show. Over the past six years, we have raised more than $8500 for Great Hollow Nature Preserve and we hope you will join us for this seventh year of fundraising.

Opening Reception is on Friday, May 17, 2024, 6:00– 8:00 pm and all are welcome. The show will continue for viewing and sales Saturday May 18 and Sunday May 19, 2024 10 am – 4 pm, in the barn at Great Hollow. The show will also be online from May 17 – June 30, 2024. The deadline for submission is midnight on Monday April 15, 2024.

Artists are invited to submit up to four (4) digital images of 2-dimensional work for the competition. Accepted media are photographs, paintings, collages, drawings and digitally augmented art. There is no fee to submit. The hanging fee for the show is $15 for each accepted work and the Great Hollow Photographers Club will retain a 25% commission on all works sold during the show. All works must be for sale as the profits from the Art Show support Great Hollow Nature Preserve’s mission of environmental education, research, and conservation.

The artwork should highlight the Great Hollow Nature Center or, more broadly, the richness of nature and/or the rural life of America’s Northeastern states. Prizes will be donations from local businesses. Jurors for the artwork are Linda Puiatti for painting and Justin Goodhart for photography.

Linda Puiatti is a full time artist who paints atmospheric landscapes inspired by the many places where she has traveled and lived. Her favorite locales are the beaches and marshes of the Northeast, Hudson River Valley fields and mountains and the big sky flatlands and farms of Belgium, Netherlands and France where she lived for ten years. These paintings are born in a traditional realism that reaches into the contemporary art world, eliminating minutia in favor of a broad landscape impression. Puiatti’s paintings hang in private and public collections throughout the US, Europe, Australia and Africa and can also be found in several local galleries. For more information regarding Puiatti, visit her website: www.lindapuiatti.com

Justin Goodhart grew up in New York’s Adirondack region and has always had a strong connection to the land and the beauty of the world around us. After having been a casual photographer for many years it was the beauty of the Hudson Valley that served as inspiration for Goodhart to start taking photography more seriously. Focusing primarily on long exposure landscape and nighttime photography he often works to capture not just the momentary scene but also the feeling of our movement through time. For more information on Goodhart, visit: www.justinpgoodhart.com.

For more information, visit the Great Hollow Photographers Club Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GHPClub. Direct any questions to GHPhotoC@gmail.com.

For prospectus & more information: GHPhotoC@gmaiI.com

CT Regional Premiere! Based on the critically acclaimed play that inspired the now classic film, this streetwise musical will take you to the stoops of the Bronx in the 1960s—where a young man is caught between the father he loves and the mob boss he’d love to be. Featuring a book by Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, music by Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Oscar and Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, A Bronx Tale is a story about respect, loyalty, love, and above all else: family.

One of the best finger-style guitar players you can find brings his amazing talents to the brewery!

Meet the artist and view a collection of her impressive works here at the Gallery at Jerram Winery. Ms Moore's work will be showing throughout the month of May.

May 19 at 2PM Join us as Jack Sheedy presents his new book "In My Father's Tracks" Jack duplicated his father's 1959 trip in 2021 in order to understand why he did it. Read this book to find out what he learned! "What do you see when you look at this sky?" [my father] says. "Well, just that it's a beautiful sight, and I wish it would last." "But it won't, you see. That's why we look at it. It would be wrong not to. Just like it would be wrong to turn down an offer that won't last. Already, the sun is peeking over the mountains, and the sky is changing. But right now... right now, it's just the right moment." -p. 190 Every place has a story. A bridge in South Carolina crosses the same river three times, and when you cross it you don't even know that it's the only bridge of it's kind in the world. It's as unique as the Golden Gate Bridge, but no one takes selfies in front of it. -p.284

Kent School's Performing Arts Department will present the 2016 Broadway musical Bright Star in their beautiful Mattison Auditorium on May 18th and 19th, 2024. The show, written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, is a powerful drama with exuberant dance numbers and a powerful bluegrass score. Staged with Kent student performers and a live pit band, this is a can't-miss production. Admission is free and the performance is open to the public.

Looking for a way to trigger your relaxation response to reduce chronic stress? Or a way to balance your whole being and feel more grounded? Join Jeanine from Inspired Vibrations while she uses healing sound instruments to awaken and soothe your mind, body, soul, and spirit!

Make sure you sign up for the next Soundbath Meditation Class on March 10th from 4pm-5:30pm. Only $25 for a 1.5 hour class! Held at the Torrington Recreation Hall. Register for classes here: register.capturepoint.com/CityofTorrington

Contact us for more information.

Join us on Sunday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. to welcome the Hotchkiss Chorus. Hotchkiss School students will perform music with the theme of birds. Please register [here](https://norfolklibrary.org/events/hotchkiss-chorus-a-musical-aviary).

**The Hotchkiss Chorus** presents “ **A Musical Aviary: Visions of Birds from Four Centuries** ” at the **Norfolk Library at 9 Greenwoods Road East in Norfolk CT on Sunday May 19 at 5:30 p.m.**  The concert features the 35-voice chorus and guest instrumentalists performing music by Brahms, Grieg, Stanford and Ravel, as well as folk, gospel and jazz works. The Hotchkiss Chorus is led by faculty member Jack Brown and is known for their outstanding annual Lessons & Carols services over the past 65 years. The musical settings examine birds in our world through centuries of poetry. Guest speakers will be Jennifer Rinehart, Hotchkiss Instructor in Environmental and Life Sciences, and Bethany Sheffer, a Sharon Audubon Society naturalist. **This concert is free and open to the public.**

Direct from Broadway, Mean Girls is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). 

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.

New York Magazine cheers, "Mean Girls delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!”

The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Direct from Broadway, Mean Girls is the hilarious hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon). Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. New York Magazine cheers, “Mean Girls delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” USA Today says, “We’ll let you in on a little secret, because we’re such good friends: GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!” The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Join us for an Open Mic @ Trinity on SUNDAY May 19 at 7pm. The headliner is poet Sharon Arsego. Our Open Mic boasts talented local writers and musicians. Sign up to perform, or just be part of the audience. This event is free, with light refreshments. All are welcome!

Global artists have shared their floral images, film, music and poetry.

for our online art show "Plant Life"

“Plant Life” art show launches online on Friday, May 3rd.

Exciting News!

“Plant Life: NYC – Global” is an exhibition and digital event at Prime Produce, 424 West 54th St, New York City, May 17-19 featuring selections from the online show!

Personaland - our online global arts village.

https://www.personaland.com

Personaland is an artist-driven global village, transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge geographical and cultural boundaries. This uniquely positions Personaland to create accessible opportunities for artists and audiences to connect and participate. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Personaland takes the form of a virtual entertainment park, where visitors can visit art shows and exhibitions, play art games, watch movies, visit dancing flowers and a wishing well. Since our launch in 2018, Personaland has showcased over 650 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians and poets from 61 countries in 25 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions.

For more info:

Stewart Wilson

personaman@snet.net

This year’s Climate Challenge will run from Earth Day (April 22) through May 31st, and it is part of the State’s effort to meet its emission targets to help prevent further worsening of adverse climate impacts. 2024 Climate Challenge - CTrides

You are invited to visit....

A Showing of Liz Rosiello's Floral Watercolor Paintings

Roxbury Senior Center - 7 South St. Roxbury CT

April 1 - May 31

Artist Reception: Saturday May 4th - 2pm to 5pm

**Registration will be available on Monday, March 25th at 8AM. Please be sure you are able to access your account prior to registration**

Come and dance to the music of fairy tale princesses while learning the fundamentals of basic ballet and ballet terminology. Parents are invited to stay and watch their "princesses" perform! Feel free to dress up in ballet attire and/or your favorite character, or comfy clothes are ok.  

Requirements: A water bottle, ballet shoes are encouraged.

Coordinator: Lindsey Rourke Burk 

Residents $70.00, Non-residents $90.00

Classes:

9 to 9:30 AM - ages 2y 6m to 2y 11m

9:30 to 10:15 AM - ages 3y

Mr. Stuart’s painting career spans forty eight years. His work has been widely exhibited including at the Highlands Museum of the Arts (solo show), the National Park Academy of the Arts, Punta Gorda National Art Exhibition Visual Arts Center, Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, Hudson Valley Art Association, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Hammond Museum, American Watercolor Society, National Society of Casein and Acrylic Painting , Adirondack National Watercolor Society, North East Watercolor Society and Connecticut Watercolor Society. His college education include the Ringling School of Art, School of Visual Arts and Paier School of Art and he is a Signature Member North East Watercolor Society. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Kimberly Clark Corporation, Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center, and the Florence Griswold Museum. Mr. Stuart’s work will be on display during regular library hours.

Tikes will have a great time playing with friends in a safe environment designed to promote social, physical, intellectual and creative growth. During this 2 hour class, the children will sing, paint, listen to stories and have gym time, all while learning to respect and share with others, as well as follow directions. **Requirements:** All "Tikes"  **MUST**  be potty trained Please Bring: A  **peanut free**  snack and drink Please Wear: Sneakers and clothes you don't mind getting paint on  **Coordinator:** Michele Gasiewski Residents $100, Non-residents $120.00 Two Sessions: - Ages 3-4, 9:30 to 11:30 AM - Ages 4-5, 12:00 to 2:00 PM

Please support the Children's Community School this May by participating in our 6th Annual Golf Outing. Please contact Sue Mellitt, Community Outreach Coordinator if you have any questions. Thanks!

# Outsider Perspectives: Self-Taught Art from the Mattatuck Collection ## Munger Gallery May 12, 2024 – August 25, 2024 _Hours: Monday - Saturday 11AM - 5PM, Sunday 11 AM- 4 PM_ Included in price of admission Outsider Perspectives showcases a recent gift of American Outsider Art to the Mattatuck Museum. Produced by self-taught artists who have no formal training or concern for the conventions of the art world, Outsider Art provides a glimpse into artistic production that is little concerned with external opinions. Employing ready-at-hand materials and often deeply personal imagery, the approximately 30 works in this exhibition explore the power of art as a means of self-expression and as a way to process the world. [https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/outsider-perspectives/](https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/outsider-perspectives) Opening Celebration: June 9th

## Stitching the Revolution: Quilts as Agents of Change May 19, 2024 – August 25, 2024 _Hours: Monday - Saturday 11 AM - 5 PM, Sunday 11 AM - 4 PM_ _Included with museum admission_ Stitching the Revolution explores themes of revolution through quilting, a medium traditionally confined to the domestic sphere and often relegated to the lower status of craft or minor art. This exhibition offers a new approach to understanding the practice of quilting as an avenue through which to express potent beliefs and an outlet to create meaningful change. Tracing the long history of quilts as a medium for communicating revolutionary ideas, the exhibition pairs historic and contemporary quilts spanning over 200 years of production. Stitching the Revolution features approximately 30 quilts from the Mattatuck Museum’s collection, and loans from New England institutions and contemporary artists. _Thanks to the generous support of the Coby Foundation._ _Opening ceremony: June 9_