Community Calendar

Global artists have sent in their wildest images, film, music and poems for Personaland's online art show

Personaland is an artist-driven global village transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge time zones and cultural boundaries. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Since its 2018 launch, Personaland, in its global reach, has showcased over 800 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and poets from 68 countries in 32 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions, many with videos of artist profiles.  https://www.personaland.com

The Merwinsville Hotel is excited to be continuing the Glass Orb Scavenger Hunt thanks to a generous donation from the New Milford Commission on the Arts.

There are 25 area historic sites and organizations that are participating with the Hotel. Each site is hiding four numbered and dated one-of-a-kind glass orbs (three clear and one colored) either inside or outside on their property. Participants can search for and keep any glass orb that they find, but please limit one orb per person/family so everyone has a chance! Be sure to register your orb on the Merwinsville Hotel website where you can also upload a photo. Share your find on social media and don't forget to tag the organization where you found it!

The blown glass orbs that are numbered, dated for 2025, and stamped with “MHR 50”. In addition to the clear glass orbs, there are 25 colored orbs for 2025. Reminder: Because each organization's hours vary, be sure to check their websites before you head out on your hunt.

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS BY TOWN:

Bantam:

Bantam Cinema

Brookfield:

Brookfield Craft Center

Danbury:

Danbury Museum & Historical Society; Danbury Railway Museum

Gaylordsville - Celebrating its 300th Anniversary!

Browns Forge; Little Red Schoolhouse; Merwinsville Hotel Restoration, Inc.; The Washington Oak Park (DAR Roger Sherman Chapter)

Kent:

Connecticut Antique Machinery Association; Eric Sloane Museum; Kent Historical Society

Litchfield:

Litchfield Historical Society

New Fairfield:

New Fairfield Historical Society (at the Little Red Schoolhouse); Preserve New Fairfield

New Milford:

Gallery 25 & Creative Arts Studio; Harrybrooke Park; Merryall Center for the Arts; New Milford Historical Society; Pratt Nature Center; The Silo @ Hunt Hill Farm Trust; TheatreWorks; Village Center for the Arts

Sherman:

Sherman Historical Society

Washington:

Gunn Historical Museum

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Support our food, beverage and retail businesses. Get your Taste of Burlington card stamped at at least 12 of the following businesses between June 21, 2025 and September 1, 2025 for a chance to win gift certificates.

The B. Hive www.thebhiveburlington.com

Burlington Spirit Shoppe www.burlingtonspirit.com

Charming Thai Restaurant www.charming-thai.com

China Garden (860) 675-6666

Daily Mart (860) 675-7243

Delta Pizza www.delta-pizza.com

Enclave Grille www.enclavegrille.com

Greenhouse Tavern www.greenhousecafeandtavern.com

Happy Hippie Homestead www.facebook.com/people/Happy-Hippie-Homestead/61564351782316/

Hogan's Cider Mill www.hoganscidermill.com

I Know A Guy Deli www.iknowaguyfoodsllc.com

Kyle's Doghouse (860) 729-6146

Lamothe's Sugar House www.lamothesugarhouse.com

Larson's Garden Center www.larsonsgardencenter.com

Little Axe Market www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569260639474#

Little Laurel's Cookie Co. www.littlelaurels.com

The Nevermind Shop www.nevermindshop.com

Sabrina's Restaurant & successor www.sabrinasrestaurantct.com

The Swimming Pool Store www.theswimmingpoolstore.com

Tonn's Marketplace www.tonnsmarketplace.com

Thank you to our sponsors: Torrington Savings Bank, M&T Bank and the Burlington CT Police Union

Submissions now open! ASAP!’s 15th annual Celebration of Young Photographers invites students in grades 6-12 to submit their photographs for a chance to participate in a juried art exhibition. A panel of professional photographers selects 60 photos for a public exhibition, recognizing the top four photographers for their outstanding and thoughtful work based on the yearly theme.

Submissions: now - September 26, 2025

Theme: Transformation

Exhibition: Hartford Art School's Silpe Gallery. Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm

Submissions and guidelines: visit asapct.org

We’ve turned our entryway into a mini art studio! Stop by anytime this month to participate in our community collage project. The theme of this month’s collage is “Summer” — the rest is up to you! Use our supplies or add your own. Participate once or multiple times. Just don’t forget to sign the guest book so we know which artists we have to thank for the final product!

The finished piece will be displayed at Off the Trail Cafe.

Join us at Rumsey Hall School for ASAP! Summer Camp 2025! Our camps are a unique opportunity for children in grades 1-6 and 7-10 to build friendships, get creative, and discover new interests. Visit our website to see the full list of camp activities and sign up!

Summer Camp will be running for 9 weeks for the summer 2025 season!

• June 23, 2025- August 22, 2025
• 9:00a - 4:00p
• $200 per week or 10% for all 9 weeks ($1620)
• Ages 5-12
• Located at Pleasant View Park (Durand Street) & Elise Besse Pool

Get ready for an unforgettable summer of adventure, creativity, and exploration at our themed summer camp! Each week, campers dive into a new, exciting theme, engaging in activities that spark their imagination, build new skills, and encourage teamwork. Our dedicated staff create a supportive and inclusive environment where every camper feels welcome and motivated to try new things. Each week is packed with themed games, creative arts and crafts, outdoor activities, and memorable experiences that will have campers eagerly looking forward to each new day!

Weekly Themes:

• Circus: Step right up to the greatest show at camp! Learn juggling, create clown costumes, and try your hand at acrobatics as we explore the wonders of the circus world.
• Holiday: Celebrate holidays from around the world in a week of festive fun! From Halloween to New Year's, each day is a different celebration with themed crafts, games, and treats.
• Under the Sea: Dive deep into ocean adventures! Explore marine life, create ocean-themed art, and embark on underwater-themed challenges.
• Superheroes: Unleash your superpowers! Design your own superhero persona, participate in "hero training," and work together to solve camp "missions."
• Around the World: Take a journey across the globe as we explore different cultures, languages, and traditions through games, food, and creative projects.
• Sports: Get your game face on! Try out various sports, build team spirit, and compete in friendly matches while learning the value of teamwork and sportsmanship.
• Outer Space: Blast off into space for a week of cosmic exploration! Learn about planets, create space crafts, and go on an epic space-themed scavenger hunt.
• Flora and Fauna: Discover the beauty of nature! Learn about plants and animals, explore local ecosystems, and create nature-inspired art.
• Challengers: Push your limits and test your skills! Compete in exciting team challenges, obstacle courses, and problem-solving activities designed to build confidence and collaboration.

 Each week campers will have the opportunity to enjoy our Besse Pool on Mondays and Wednesdays, so don't forget your swimsuit!

Register HERE

The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens is pleased to present a joint art exhibition, “Now Dark, Now Glittering,” featuring the works of Chris Barnard and Jeff Joyce. This show is on view beginning Friday, August 1.

An opening reception will be held at the park on Saturday, August 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Barnard was born in New York City and received his BA from Yale and his MFA from The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Deeply informed by the pandemic and his parents’ decline, his need to engage with the natural world and create beauty led to many nature-based paintings, echoing his love for gardening. 

Joyce’s work is a meditation on nature. The pieces in this show, selected from a time span of nearly 20 years, are engaged with the landscape. They aim to demonstrate how cultural history mediates and defines the ways we perceive nature.

This show will remain on view through Sunday, August 24. Check our social media for weekly open hours: @judyblackpark on Instagram and Facebook.

The Gunn Memorial Library is pleased to present the captivating floral photography of Nina McKitty, on view in the Stairwell Gallery from August 9th to October 4th.

Drawing inspiration from nature, travel, and the artistic traditions of both East and West, Nina McKitty brings a joyful and thoughtful lens to her digital photography. Her work explores the delicate beauty of flowers—each image carefully composed, captured, and refined in her studio to evoke both surprise and delight in the viewer.

Originally gifted a digital camera by her husband, McKitty transformed a curiosity into a profound creative journey. Over the past 15 years, she has immersed herself in the art and craft of digital photography, studying under acclaimed artists and continuously evolving her techniques. Her photographs are printed and framed by hand using archival materials, merging technical precision with artistic expression.

A former nurse practitioner and consultant, McKitty turned to photography in retirement, channeling her lifelong passions for nature and visual storytelling into a rich new chapter as a digital artist. Since 2019, her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Employee Gallery, Kent Art Association, and Washington Art Association.

Online exhibition curated by Lani Ming Holloway with artwork by Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn

exhibition dates:  August 1 – September 30, 2025, on www.kbfa.com

Stories told in light and silence

Poetry will make me violent

Violets outside our yard…

Why does the world have to be so hard?

Encompassing the hidden truths

 Of things unseen in what we view.

-       LMH

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present the online exhibition Stories told in light and silence curated by Lani Ming Holloway featuring Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean is a Wabanaki artist raised on the Penobscot Reservation in Maine. Excerpted from her artist statement: “Through the lens of Wabanaki history and culture, my photographs intertwine forgotten truths within the landscape of what is now called Maine. My work explores the deep, complex relationships between the land, its people, and the lasting impact of colonization. The energy embedded in the landscape reverberates through my creations and reveals the scars left on both the earth and our bodies. My work invites contemplation on occupation and ownership, prompting reflection on who exploits the land and how systems of oppression have disrupted its balance.”

Maya’s work expresses the dichotomy the artist exists within, marrying mediums and different cultural techniques. “Does the Land Remember?” is an ongoing series photographing landscapes that hold the history of devastating events of colonization. The power of that residuum is felt in the images in a supernatural way, as the dualism of her lived experience is pronounced in the contrast of light and dark. Sunlight shimmers through the leaves as bright stars overhead look down upon the land, a fire burns. Maya’s work calls us to remember that nature feels the spirits.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean lives and works in Portland, Maine or Machigonne. She earned a BFA in Photography from Maine College of Art & Design, Portland. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME and the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, ME.

Laura Barr’s work explores impermanence through oil paintings and oil pastel drawings on paper capturing passing moments in color, reflection on water, and light. Simplifying forms and illuminating the scale of special glimmers, her work considers the preservation of water and the protection of our environment. In Laura’s paintings in the exhibition, fireflies gleam in a starlit field and remind us that fireflies may not continue to glow on our planet, while a surfer catches the last evening wave the ocean offers, an Aurora Borealis dances in the night sky.

Laura Barr lives by the Thimble Islands in Branford, Connecticut. She earned her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and a BA in Fine Arts from Tufts University in Medford, MA and has studied at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy.

From Ithaca, NY, Jordann McKenna paints and photographs the quiet beauty in everyday life in work that contemplates mundanity and the softly fleeting feeling within light and shadows around her. In lushly applied oil paint, flames flicker and shadows play across the scene. Jordann’s work in this exhibition reflects the peaceful, ephemeral moods of interiors and intimate still lifes, either staged or spontaneous. Jordann McKenna works from photographs and from memory to create images that serve to process rather than recreate, expressing not only what is seen but what is felt, and celebrating the beauty in the ordinary.

Jordann McKenna earned a BS in Visual Arts from State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, and an MFA from Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, ME. She lives and works in Portland, ME.

Born in Strasbourg, France, and trained as an architect, Benoît Trimborn describes his work as “contemporary impressionism”. Viewing the world as an architect, Benoît’s large-scale oil paintings evoke what his artist statement calls the “morphology of the landscapes… like an architect, I see in it a breath, a light, a rhythm, which alone can constitute a principle of beauty. The elements represented compose atmospheres of which I try to faithfully convey the impression, as the musician faithfully follows the score. In this process, the contemplative attitude prevails, much more than the adventurous attitude. No message, no story should disturb the projection of the viewer...”

In Benoît’s meticulously painted large-scale landscapes, the absence of the figure instills a quietude in the story while light is the present form in all its magic. Reflections play like a musical score on the surface of the water and golden glimmers illuminate the forest and emanate from a sunset sky.

Benoît Trimborn’s work is in the permanent collection of Galerie Ariel Sibony in Paris, France, Absolute Art Gallery in Bruges, Belgium, and Galerie Bertrand Gillig in Strasbourg, France. He lives and works in Strasbourg, France.

Please contact Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquiries.

Shipping is available worldwide throughout the exhibition.  

Mondays in August: 4, 11,18 at 10:30 am

For ages 4 - 8 & their caregivers

Parents and caregivers are children’s first and most important teachers. Ensuring that your child learns to read to their highest potential is one of the greatest gifts that you can give them. Using Letters are Characters and Letters are Builders trademarked play-based methods, we will laugh and play our way to literacy and deep reading and empower you to be a confident and competent literacy guide for your child!

Visit our website or call to register.

This program is funded by the generous support of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation. 

August 15, 2024 – August 17, 2025

Celebrating the year-long loan of three Georgia O’Keeffe paintings, this exhibition unites the Mattatuck Museum’s collection with O’Keeffe’s life and work through common themes. The first pairing, Flowers and Landscapes, showcases artists who tackled similar subject matter to O’Keeffe and participated in emerging art movements, yet also occupied marginalized spaces in society. These unique spotlight exhibitions celebrate the year-long loan of three Georgia O’Keeffe paintings and will unite the Mattatuck Museum’s collection with O’Keeffe’s life and work through common themes, creating a unique dialogue between her work and other celebrated artists. Each unique pairing will be curated and narrated by a different member of the Museum’s curatorial department and offer a distinctive perspective on the Mattatuck Collection in relation to the works and story of Georgia O’Keeffe.

Beginning in June, the Mattatuck Museum will be open on Mondays! As The Monday Museum, we’re thrilled to offer our visitors a cultural destination at the start of the week—whether you’re looking to kick off your Monday with a movie, join a tour, or enjoy a quiet moment with art.

"Finding the Light": an exhibit of oil paintings by Chandra Rogers.

Chandra Rogers is a contemporary painter residing in Litchfield County with her husband and two daughters. Primarily self-taught, Chandra began consistently painting in 2012 after signing up for a local oil painting class, which led to a deluge of personal development through various classes and workshops and a lifelong passion for art. Her diverse subjects have included animals, portraiture, still lifes, landscapes, abstracts and commissioned pieces primarily in oil paint, pastels, and charcoal. Her current work is inspired by the study of light, color, mark-making, and a spirited painterly brushstroke, and has been described as capturing the soul of her subjects.

Chandra is a member of the Washington Art Association and Kent Art Association and her work has been displayed in various juried and solo shows throughout Connecticut, receiving numerous awards, most notably the Barbara Goodspeed Award, Award for Graphics, and multiple Awards of Excellence at the Kent Art Association, Honorable Mention at the Washington Art Association, and most recently Best in Show at Gallery 25 in New Milford, CT. Susan Grisell, a judge at a recent juried show, stated “Chandra’s draftsmanship and attention to detail are evident in her expressive portraits of people and animals.”

Chandra’s current show is a collection of primarily recent works reflecting her love for experimentation and trying new techniques, from traditional glazing techniques to achieve a photorealistic effect, to loose abstracts with a focus on gestural brushstrokes and mark making. Subjects include a collection of sunsets, still lifes, florals, abstracts, landscapes, portraiture, and animal paintings.

Designed to hone your artmaking, expand your creative problem-solving skills and build a strong portfolio, this fully funded program offers comprehensive workshops in Ceramics, Printmaking, Alternative Photography, and Painting & Drawing. Each workshop meets one afternoon per week for six weeks. Attendees can register for any individual or all four workshops.

Instructors: Jill Van Slooten, Caleb Portfolio, Kimberly Jo & Christine Mitchell

Mondays - Thursdays, July 7 through August 14, 2025

1:00 - 4:30 PM

Ages: 13 - 17

Members & Non-Members: FREE

MORE INFO & REGISTER

Learn more about Indigenous artist Fritz Scholder (Luiseño) through two documentaries that dive into his life, artistic practice, and ideologies. Multiple pieces of Scholder's work will be on display at the Mattatuck Museum over the course of the next year. 

In-Person & on Zoom: with Historian Peter Vermilyea

Join us each month for one year as we explore 12 influential Presidents through selected biographies spanning from George Washington through John F. Kennedy.

August Selection: 

In August, we will be exploring John Adams by David McCullough - A Pulitzer Prize winning book. 

In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution and his love and dedication to fairness and American democracy.

About the Presenter:

Peter Vermilyea teaches history at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, CT and at Western Connecticut State University. A graduate of Gettysburg College, he serves as the scholarship director of his alma mater’s Civil War Institute. He is the author or editor of five books and fifteen articles, most on aspects of Civil War history.

Registration required only to attend in-person. Zoom link is at owlibrary.org

Anne Gill wanted to get to know her grandfather better. But he has been dead for over 20 years. Luckily, her grandfather is prolific New Yorker staff writer, Brendan Gill, who left behind a mountain of writing; from theater criticisms to coffee table books, novels to poems. Brendan was an exceptional storyteller, and as an actor and voice-over artist, Anne tells stories for a living. To try and discover more about the grandfather she didn’t get to know well in life, she began recording his short stories from the collection Ways of Loving. She wondered if, where, and how Brendan put himself into his fiction. The process asked more questions than it answered. Anne’s presentation My Grandfather’s Stories: Meeting Grandfather in his Fiction is the culmination of a creative collaboration across generations that asks, “How do we tell our own stories? Who tells them when we’re gone? And how do they change within a family over time?”

Registration is always appreciated.

Chess players of all ages are invited to join our Monday night Chess Club. Sharpen your skills and make new friends while you enjoy a friendly game. Players should already be familiar with the basics of how to play. Registration is helpful, but not required.

The 2025 season of free concerts in the Park, produced by the Fine Arts Connection of Thomaston, Inc., continues on Monday, August 11th at 7 pm with a concert by Chris Coogan Quintet. The concerts have returned to the renovated Seth Thomas Park on South Main St. in Thomaston. Each concert begins at 7 pm and concludes at 8:30 pm. The Fine Arts Connection of Thomaston’s concert series is indebted to the Thomaston Savings Bank Foundation for core funding.

For over 20 years, Coogan has led the Chris Coogan Quartet, a combo with a repertoire that includes straight-ahead jazz, fusion jazz and boogie-woogie. S’Funky, Coogan’s first jazz album containing his original songs, was released in 1995 and re-released in 1999. It features the song Cranberry Isle which took the top jazz prize in the 1997 John Lennon Songwriting Competition. Coogan’s credits as a jazz musician include performing with the late Sal Salvador, Bette Midler, Donna Summer, Paul Newman, Whoopie Goldberg, Jo Ann Woodward, Alec Baldwin, Gene Wilder, Larry Coryell, Dave Liebman, Harold Danko, Ronnie Spector, James Naughton and Phoebe Snow, as well as arranging for Teo Maceo, producer for the late Miles Davis. He appeared on television’s Celebrity Jeopardy and the Arsenio Hall Show and has performed at Manhattan’s Blue Note and the Montreaux Jazz Festival.

Coogan also leads a successful career as a choral director; as well as a writer and arranger of gospel music. He weaves jazz black gospel and white choral music into a new brand of music that engages a broad, cross-cultural audience. In 1993, he founded the good News Gospel Choir with 15 members. Today, this 50-voice, multi-denominational singing group performs nearly every weekend at churches, festivals, fundraisers and various community events throughout the state of Connecticut. “I see myself as a catalyst who uses the medium of music to bring people together” Coogan said. “It’s my passion to help people find joy in making music and singing from their souls”.

Alcohol is not permitted in the Park by Town ordinance. Bring your lawn chair, your friends, and your love of music to Seth Thomas Park on Monday, August 11th!! All ages welcome, and the Park is handicap-accessible. In the event of inclement weather, the concert will move to the Thomaston Opera House, 158 Main St. in the Town Hall. Visit the FACT website for further information or weather alerts concerning concert relocation: www.thomastonfinearts.com.

Global artists have sent in their wildest images, film, music and poems for Personaland's online art show

Personaland is an artist-driven global village transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge time zones and cultural boundaries. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Since its 2018 launch, Personaland, in its global reach, has showcased over 800 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and poets from 68 countries in 32 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions, many with videos of artist profiles.  https://www.personaland.com

The Merwinsville Hotel is excited to be continuing the Glass Orb Scavenger Hunt thanks to a generous donation from the New Milford Commission on the Arts.

There are 25 area historic sites and organizations that are participating with the Hotel. Each site is hiding four numbered and dated one-of-a-kind glass orbs (three clear and one colored) either inside or outside on their property. Participants can search for and keep any glass orb that they find, but please limit one orb per person/family so everyone has a chance! Be sure to register your orb on the Merwinsville Hotel website where you can also upload a photo. Share your find on social media and don't forget to tag the organization where you found it!

The blown glass orbs that are numbered, dated for 2025, and stamped with “MHR 50”. In addition to the clear glass orbs, there are 25 colored orbs for 2025. Reminder: Because each organization's hours vary, be sure to check their websites before you head out on your hunt.

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS BY TOWN:

Bantam:

Bantam Cinema

Brookfield:

Brookfield Craft Center

Danbury:

Danbury Museum & Historical Society; Danbury Railway Museum

Gaylordsville - Celebrating its 300th Anniversary!

Browns Forge; Little Red Schoolhouse; Merwinsville Hotel Restoration, Inc.; The Washington Oak Park (DAR Roger Sherman Chapter)

Kent:

Connecticut Antique Machinery Association; Eric Sloane Museum; Kent Historical Society

Litchfield:

Litchfield Historical Society

New Fairfield:

New Fairfield Historical Society (at the Little Red Schoolhouse); Preserve New Fairfield

New Milford:

Gallery 25 & Creative Arts Studio; Harrybrooke Park; Merryall Center for the Arts; New Milford Historical Society; Pratt Nature Center; The Silo @ Hunt Hill Farm Trust; TheatreWorks; Village Center for the Arts

Sherman:

Sherman Historical Society

Washington:

Gunn Historical Museum

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Support our food, beverage and retail businesses. Get your Taste of Burlington card stamped at at least 12 of the following businesses between June 21, 2025 and September 1, 2025 for a chance to win gift certificates.

The B. Hive www.thebhiveburlington.com

Burlington Spirit Shoppe www.burlingtonspirit.com

Charming Thai Restaurant www.charming-thai.com

China Garden (860) 675-6666

Daily Mart (860) 675-7243

Delta Pizza www.delta-pizza.com

Enclave Grille www.enclavegrille.com

Greenhouse Tavern www.greenhousecafeandtavern.com

Happy Hippie Homestead www.facebook.com/people/Happy-Hippie-Homestead/61564351782316/

Hogan's Cider Mill www.hoganscidermill.com

I Know A Guy Deli www.iknowaguyfoodsllc.com

Kyle's Doghouse (860) 729-6146

Lamothe's Sugar House www.lamothesugarhouse.com

Larson's Garden Center www.larsonsgardencenter.com

Little Axe Market www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569260639474#

Little Laurel's Cookie Co. www.littlelaurels.com

The Nevermind Shop www.nevermindshop.com

Sabrina's Restaurant & successor www.sabrinasrestaurantct.com

The Swimming Pool Store www.theswimmingpoolstore.com

Tonn's Marketplace www.tonnsmarketplace.com

Thank you to our sponsors: Torrington Savings Bank, M&T Bank and the Burlington CT Police Union

Submissions now open! ASAP!’s 15th annual Celebration of Young Photographers invites students in grades 6-12 to submit their photographs for a chance to participate in a juried art exhibition. A panel of professional photographers selects 60 photos for a public exhibition, recognizing the top four photographers for their outstanding and thoughtful work based on the yearly theme.

Submissions: now - September 26, 2025

Theme: Transformation

Exhibition: Hartford Art School's Silpe Gallery. Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm

Submissions and guidelines: visit asapct.org

We’ve turned our entryway into a mini art studio! Stop by anytime this month to participate in our community collage project. The theme of this month’s collage is “Summer” — the rest is up to you! Use our supplies or add your own. Participate once or multiple times. Just don’t forget to sign the guest book so we know which artists we have to thank for the final product!

The finished piece will be displayed at Off the Trail Cafe.

Join us at Rumsey Hall School for ASAP! Summer Camp 2025! Our camps are a unique opportunity for children in grades 1-6 and 7-10 to build friendships, get creative, and discover new interests. Visit our website to see the full list of camp activities and sign up!

New Milford Youth Agency presents Nature Unplugged. Promoting friendship, team building, kindness and self esteem. Activities include: kickoff at club getaway, various hiking trips, state park explorations, beach time, ice cream, etc

Kids entering 6th - 8th grades

$15 / week

The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens is pleased to present a joint art exhibition, “Now Dark, Now Glittering,” featuring the works of Chris Barnard and Jeff Joyce. This show is on view beginning Friday, August 1.

An opening reception will be held at the park on Saturday, August 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Barnard was born in New York City and received his BA from Yale and his MFA from The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Deeply informed by the pandemic and his parents’ decline, his need to engage with the natural world and create beauty led to many nature-based paintings, echoing his love for gardening. 

Joyce’s work is a meditation on nature. The pieces in this show, selected from a time span of nearly 20 years, are engaged with the landscape. They aim to demonstrate how cultural history mediates and defines the ways we perceive nature.

This show will remain on view through Sunday, August 24. Check our social media for weekly open hours: @judyblackpark on Instagram and Facebook.

The Gunn Memorial Library is pleased to present the captivating floral photography of Nina McKitty, on view in the Stairwell Gallery from August 9th to October 4th.

Drawing inspiration from nature, travel, and the artistic traditions of both East and West, Nina McKitty brings a joyful and thoughtful lens to her digital photography. Her work explores the delicate beauty of flowers—each image carefully composed, captured, and refined in her studio to evoke both surprise and delight in the viewer.

Originally gifted a digital camera by her husband, McKitty transformed a curiosity into a profound creative journey. Over the past 15 years, she has immersed herself in the art and craft of digital photography, studying under acclaimed artists and continuously evolving her techniques. Her photographs are printed and framed by hand using archival materials, merging technical precision with artistic expression.

A former nurse practitioner and consultant, McKitty turned to photography in retirement, channeling her lifelong passions for nature and visual storytelling into a rich new chapter as a digital artist. Since 2019, her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Employee Gallery, Kent Art Association, and Washington Art Association.

“Level Up at Your Library” Summer Reading Program for all ages, Morris Public Library, June 24 -August 20, 2025.

We are excited to offer a fun and engaging Summer Reading Program “Level Up at Your Library,” June 24 – August 20, 2025.

Each reading level has their own “Level Up at Your Library” Activity Card to participate in the program. Youngsters (PreK and under) will enjoy reading with their families and engage in fun activities. Students (Grades K-Grade 5) will count the number of their new reading adventures by writing them down in their cards. Teens (Grades 6-12) and adults will explore new and special book selections, which they can easily find at their Library.

Submit your completed cards (could be more than one!) to enter for a chance to win a Level Up at Your Library Prize.

Find weekly coloring projects for children and adults throughout the program – complete yours and share it for our library display!

No registration is required – obtain your card at the kickoff, at the library or download it from the website https://morrispubliclibrary.net (all levels!).

The Morris Public Library offers Story and Music Time for participants ages 9 mo. - 5 y.o every Tuesday at 10 am.

Please call to ask if a spot is available: 860-567-7440.

Sing songs, read a story, do a craft!

Does your child have lots of energy? Come have fun on our front lawn with Mrs. Carissa from DBA Dance Studio! Dance and get out all the wiggles in this high energy program for young ones! Enjoy all the silly songs and movements!

Ages 0-7. Please register @harwintonlibrary.org/events (each session is separate registration)

Online exhibition curated by Lani Ming Holloway with artwork by Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn

exhibition dates:  August 1 – September 30, 2025, on www.kbfa.com

Stories told in light and silence

Poetry will make me violent

Violets outside our yard…

Why does the world have to be so hard?

Encompassing the hidden truths

 Of things unseen in what we view.

-       LMH

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present the online exhibition Stories told in light and silence curated by Lani Ming Holloway featuring Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean is a Wabanaki artist raised on the Penobscot Reservation in Maine. Excerpted from her artist statement: “Through the lens of Wabanaki history and culture, my photographs intertwine forgotten truths within the landscape of what is now called Maine. My work explores the deep, complex relationships between the land, its people, and the lasting impact of colonization. The energy embedded in the landscape reverberates through my creations and reveals the scars left on both the earth and our bodies. My work invites contemplation on occupation and ownership, prompting reflection on who exploits the land and how systems of oppression have disrupted its balance.”

Maya’s work expresses the dichotomy the artist exists within, marrying mediums and different cultural techniques. “Does the Land Remember?” is an ongoing series photographing landscapes that hold the history of devastating events of colonization. The power of that residuum is felt in the images in a supernatural way, as the dualism of her lived experience is pronounced in the contrast of light and dark. Sunlight shimmers through the leaves as bright stars overhead look down upon the land, a fire burns. Maya’s work calls us to remember that nature feels the spirits.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean lives and works in Portland, Maine or Machigonne. She earned a BFA in Photography from Maine College of Art & Design, Portland. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME and the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, ME.

Laura Barr’s work explores impermanence through oil paintings and oil pastel drawings on paper capturing passing moments in color, reflection on water, and light. Simplifying forms and illuminating the scale of special glimmers, her work considers the preservation of water and the protection of our environment. In Laura’s paintings in the exhibition, fireflies gleam in a starlit field and remind us that fireflies may not continue to glow on our planet, while a surfer catches the last evening wave the ocean offers, an Aurora Borealis dances in the night sky.

Laura Barr lives by the Thimble Islands in Branford, Connecticut. She earned her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and a BA in Fine Arts from Tufts University in Medford, MA and has studied at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy.

From Ithaca, NY, Jordann McKenna paints and photographs the quiet beauty in everyday life in work that contemplates mundanity and the softly fleeting feeling within light and shadows around her. In lushly applied oil paint, flames flicker and shadows play across the scene. Jordann’s work in this exhibition reflects the peaceful, ephemeral moods of interiors and intimate still lifes, either staged or spontaneous. Jordann McKenna works from photographs and from memory to create images that serve to process rather than recreate, expressing not only what is seen but what is felt, and celebrating the beauty in the ordinary.

Jordann McKenna earned a BS in Visual Arts from State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, and an MFA from Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, ME. She lives and works in Portland, ME.

Born in Strasbourg, France, and trained as an architect, Benoît Trimborn describes his work as “contemporary impressionism”. Viewing the world as an architect, Benoît’s large-scale oil paintings evoke what his artist statement calls the “morphology of the landscapes… like an architect, I see in it a breath, a light, a rhythm, which alone can constitute a principle of beauty. The elements represented compose atmospheres of which I try to faithfully convey the impression, as the musician faithfully follows the score. In this process, the contemplative attitude prevails, much more than the adventurous attitude. No message, no story should disturb the projection of the viewer...”

In Benoît’s meticulously painted large-scale landscapes, the absence of the figure instills a quietude in the story while light is the present form in all its magic. Reflections play like a musical score on the surface of the water and golden glimmers illuminate the forest and emanate from a sunset sky.

Benoît Trimborn’s work is in the permanent collection of Galerie Ariel Sibony in Paris, France, Absolute Art Gallery in Bruges, Belgium, and Galerie Bertrand Gillig in Strasbourg, France. He lives and works in Strasbourg, France.

Please contact Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquiries.

Shipping is available worldwide throughout the exhibition.  

Join us for Story Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 for new books, free play, and fun crafts!

Music and Rhyme for Children from Birth to 3s! A program for babies and their caretakers that incorporates music, rhythm, stories, and nursery rhymes to spur language development, body awareness, pre-reading skills, self-confidence, and cooperation. Gathering at 10:15, the program begins at 10:30.

Registration appreciated, drop-ins welcome!

Do you like to hike? Or do you want to get into hiking more? Join our Parks and Recreation Director, Matt, and Parks and Recreation Intern, Sam, for the Emery Park Summit Hiking Club! Matt and Sam will lead a group hike at Emery Park up to the summit and lookout of Leonard Mountain. 

This program is for all ages. All hiking abilities are welcome. Hikes will be canceled at Director’s discretion (inclement weather/thunderstorms, hazards on trial, major flooding, etc). 

Designed to hone your artmaking, expand your creative problem-solving skills and build a strong portfolio, this fully funded program offers comprehensive workshops in Ceramics, Printmaking, Alternative Photography, and Painting & Drawing. Each workshop meets one afternoon per week for six weeks. Attendees can register for any individual or all four workshops.

Instructors: Jill Van Slooten, Caleb Portfolio, Kimberly Jo & Christine Mitchell

Mondays - Thursdays, July 7 through August 14, 2025

1:00 - 4:30 PM

Ages: 13 - 17

Members & Non-Members: FREE

MORE INFO & REGISTER

Opening Reception. Friday, July 25 6-8 PM

7 Water ST, Torrington, CT

Join the Monthly Critique sessions at Five Points Arts Center – Bring in an original work for personal, constructive feedback and discussion with Founder and Executive Director, Judy McElhone. All skill levels and mediums are welcome!

Free and open to the public

Tuesday, August 12

2 – 3 PM

Five Points Arts Center

MORE INFO & RSVP

Once you’ve got a 3D design you’d like to make, how can you ensure it prints successfully? Learn some tips and level up your 3D printing skills in this intermediate workshop! We’ll review some common 3D printing pitfalls and discuss how adjusting certain settings in the printer’s Cura slicing software can help. Discover how to resize a print, add supports, increase or decrease the infill level, improve details, reduce printing time, and more!

Ages 18+

Registration Required: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/beyond-the-basics-fine-tuning-3d-prints-with-cura/

All participants must have a signed GML Makerspace waiver on file. Please arrive a few minutes early to complete this paperwork if this is your first Makerspace program.

Jonathan Doster is back! Join “Mr. D” for fun summer evenings of chess. Jonathan will teach, guide, and talk strategy with players of all skill levels. Adults and children over the age of 6 are welcome; please note this is not a drop off program for children under 12. Please register.

Join this club to learn the ukulele and to improve your skills. Playing the ukulele with others is loads of fun! A collaboration between NMPL and NM Senior Center. If you are over 60 and need a ride to the library, please call 860-355-6075.

Join us at Honeybee Books and Tea for our weekly Open Mic Night!

With a full technical assortment of equipment, we are more than happy to welcome:

• Musicians
• Poets
• Stand-up Comedy
• Reading Excerpts
• Dance
• Puppetry
• Whatever Makes You Buzz

We ask that attendees arrive promptly at 6:00 pm to respect performers. For more information, check out our website or stop by in-store.

This August, young detectives are invited to sharpen their sleuthing skills at the Gunn Junior Library’s Summer Reading Book Club, featuring the mystery Opal Watson, Private Eye. Designed for readers entering 4th through 6th grade, this three-week literary adventure promises page-turning fun, spirited discussion, and plenty of pizza. The program aims to encourage a life-long joy of reading, critical thinking and building community.

Part mystery, part comedy, Opal Watson, Private Eye follows a pint-sized investigator with a nose for clues and a knack for finding trouble in all the right places.

Registration is required. When you RSVP for the first meeting, you will automatically be registered for the whole series.

Bring a couple of songs, a story, a few poems, or your tight 8 minutes of standup to the Merryall Center's Open Mic.

Signups start at 6:30 for our 7:00 open mic. Two songs

or 8 minutes.

Global artists have sent in their wildest images, film, music and poems for Personaland's online art show

Personaland is an artist-driven global village transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge time zones and cultural boundaries. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Since its 2018 launch, Personaland, in its global reach, has showcased over 800 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and poets from 68 countries in 32 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions, many with videos of artist profiles.  https://www.personaland.com

The Merwinsville Hotel is excited to be continuing the Glass Orb Scavenger Hunt thanks to a generous donation from the New Milford Commission on the Arts.

There are 25 area historic sites and organizations that are participating with the Hotel. Each site is hiding four numbered and dated one-of-a-kind glass orbs (three clear and one colored) either inside or outside on their property. Participants can search for and keep any glass orb that they find, but please limit one orb per person/family so everyone has a chance! Be sure to register your orb on the Merwinsville Hotel website where you can also upload a photo. Share your find on social media and don't forget to tag the organization where you found it!

The blown glass orbs that are numbered, dated for 2025, and stamped with “MHR 50”. In addition to the clear glass orbs, there are 25 colored orbs for 2025. Reminder: Because each organization's hours vary, be sure to check their websites before you head out on your hunt.

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS BY TOWN:

Bantam:

Bantam Cinema

Brookfield:

Brookfield Craft Center

Danbury:

Danbury Museum & Historical Society; Danbury Railway Museum

Gaylordsville - Celebrating its 300th Anniversary!

Browns Forge; Little Red Schoolhouse; Merwinsville Hotel Restoration, Inc.; The Washington Oak Park (DAR Roger Sherman Chapter)

Kent:

Connecticut Antique Machinery Association; Eric Sloane Museum; Kent Historical Society

Litchfield:

Litchfield Historical Society

New Fairfield:

New Fairfield Historical Society (at the Little Red Schoolhouse); Preserve New Fairfield

New Milford:

Gallery 25 & Creative Arts Studio; Harrybrooke Park; Merryall Center for the Arts; New Milford Historical Society; Pratt Nature Center; The Silo @ Hunt Hill Farm Trust; TheatreWorks; Village Center for the Arts

Sherman:

Sherman Historical Society

Washington:

Gunn Historical Museum

Edit

Support our food, beverage and retail businesses. Get your Taste of Burlington card stamped at at least 12 of the following businesses between June 21, 2025 and September 1, 2025 for a chance to win gift certificates.

The B. Hive www.thebhiveburlington.com

Burlington Spirit Shoppe www.burlingtonspirit.com

Charming Thai Restaurant www.charming-thai.com

China Garden (860) 675-6666

Daily Mart (860) 675-7243

Delta Pizza www.delta-pizza.com

Enclave Grille www.enclavegrille.com

Greenhouse Tavern www.greenhousecafeandtavern.com

Happy Hippie Homestead www.facebook.com/people/Happy-Hippie-Homestead/61564351782316/

Hogan's Cider Mill www.hoganscidermill.com

I Know A Guy Deli www.iknowaguyfoodsllc.com

Kyle's Doghouse (860) 729-6146

Lamothe's Sugar House www.lamothesugarhouse.com

Larson's Garden Center www.larsonsgardencenter.com

Little Axe Market www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569260639474#

Little Laurel's Cookie Co. www.littlelaurels.com

The Nevermind Shop www.nevermindshop.com

Sabrina's Restaurant & successor www.sabrinasrestaurantct.com

The Swimming Pool Store www.theswimmingpoolstore.com

Tonn's Marketplace www.tonnsmarketplace.com

Thank you to our sponsors: Torrington Savings Bank, M&T Bank and the Burlington CT Police Union

Submissions now open! ASAP!’s 15th annual Celebration of Young Photographers invites students in grades 6-12 to submit their photographs for a chance to participate in a juried art exhibition. A panel of professional photographers selects 60 photos for a public exhibition, recognizing the top four photographers for their outstanding and thoughtful work based on the yearly theme.

Submissions: now - September 26, 2025

Theme: Transformation

Exhibition: Hartford Art School's Silpe Gallery. Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm

Submissions and guidelines: visit asapct.org

We’ve turned our entryway into a mini art studio! Stop by anytime this month to participate in our community collage project. The theme of this month’s collage is “Summer” — the rest is up to you! Use our supplies or add your own. Participate once or multiple times. Just don’t forget to sign the guest book so we know which artists we have to thank for the final product!

The finished piece will be displayed at Off the Trail Cafe.

Join us at Rumsey Hall School for ASAP! Summer Camp 2025! Our camps are a unique opportunity for children in grades 1-6 and 7-10 to build friendships, get creative, and discover new interests. Visit our website to see the full list of camp activities and sign up!

New Milford Youth Agency presents Nature Unplugged. Promoting friendship, team building, kindness and self esteem. Activities include: kickoff at club getaway, various hiking trips, state park explorations, beach time, ice cream, etc

Kids entering 6th - 8th grades

$15 / week

The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens is pleased to present a joint art exhibition, “Now Dark, Now Glittering,” featuring the works of Chris Barnard and Jeff Joyce. This show is on view beginning Friday, August 1.

An opening reception will be held at the park on Saturday, August 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Barnard was born in New York City and received his BA from Yale and his MFA from The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Deeply informed by the pandemic and his parents’ decline, his need to engage with the natural world and create beauty led to many nature-based paintings, echoing his love for gardening. 

Joyce’s work is a meditation on nature. The pieces in this show, selected from a time span of nearly 20 years, are engaged with the landscape. They aim to demonstrate how cultural history mediates and defines the ways we perceive nature.

This show will remain on view through Sunday, August 24. Check our social media for weekly open hours: @judyblackpark on Instagram and Facebook.

Different bird species choose specific trees for food, shelter, and song. On this program, learn how knowing your trees will help you spot more birds. Join Sanctuary Manager/ Naturalist Lori Lichtenauer at Deer Pond Farm for a unique twist on traditional birding. This is a relaxed walk through various habitats, perfect for curious beginners and seasoned birders alike. Bring your questions and your love for feathered friends! 

Register at

https://www.ctaudubon.org/2025/06/birding-by-tree/. 

This program meets at Deer Pond Farm, 57 Wakeman Hill Road, Sherman, CT 06784. 

$5 members, $10 non-members

Take a scenic summer ride through the Berkshires where you’ll enjoy many exciting contemporary art exhibitions. Enjoy a convenient catered box lunch at Lickety Split Cafe right on campus (menu options below) so you can get the most out of your time exploring the museum along with a Guided Group Tour. For additional info and ehibitions, visit www.massmoca.org.

Cost includes lunch & Guided Tour

* Pre-registration & pre-payment required.

REGISTER

“Level Up at Your Library” Summer Reading Program for all ages, Morris Public Library, June 24 -August 20, 2025.

We are excited to offer a fun and engaging Summer Reading Program “Level Up at Your Library,” June 24 – August 20, 2025.

Each reading level has their own “Level Up at Your Library” Activity Card to participate in the program. Youngsters (PreK and under) will enjoy reading with their families and engage in fun activities. Students (Grades K-Grade 5) will count the number of their new reading adventures by writing them down in their cards. Teens (Grades 6-12) and adults will explore new and special book selections, which they can easily find at their Library.

Submit your completed cards (could be more than one!) to enter for a chance to win a Level Up at Your Library Prize.

Find weekly coloring projects for children and adults throughout the program – complete yours and share it for our library display!

No registration is required – obtain your card at the kickoff, at the library or download it from the website https://morrispubliclibrary.net (all levels!).

"Finding the Light": an exhibit of oil paintings by Chandra Rogers.

Chandra Rogers is a contemporary painter residing in Litchfield County with her husband and two daughters. Primarily self-taught, Chandra began consistently painting in 2012 after signing up for a local oil painting class, which led to a deluge of personal development through various classes and workshops and a lifelong passion for art. Her diverse subjects have included animals, portraiture, still lifes, landscapes, abstracts and commissioned pieces primarily in oil paint, pastels, and charcoal. Her current work is inspired by the study of light, color, mark-making, and a spirited painterly brushstroke, and has been described as capturing the soul of her subjects.

Chandra is a member of the Washington Art Association and Kent Art Association and her work has been displayed in various juried and solo shows throughout Connecticut, receiving numerous awards, most notably the Barbara Goodspeed Award, Award for Graphics, and multiple Awards of Excellence at the Kent Art Association, Honorable Mention at the Washington Art Association, and most recently Best in Show at Gallery 25 in New Milford, CT. Susan Grisell, a judge at a recent juried show, stated “Chandra’s draftsmanship and attention to detail are evident in her expressive portraits of people and animals.”

Chandra’s current show is a collection of primarily recent works reflecting her love for experimentation and trying new techniques, from traditional glazing techniques to achieve a photorealistic effect, to loose abstracts with a focus on gestural brushstrokes and mark making. Subjects include a collection of sunsets, still lifes, florals, abstracts, landscapes, portraiture, and animal paintings.

Online exhibition curated by Lani Ming Holloway with artwork by Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn

exhibition dates:  August 1 – September 30, 2025, on www.kbfa.com

Stories told in light and silence

Poetry will make me violent

Violets outside our yard…

Why does the world have to be so hard?

Encompassing the hidden truths

 Of things unseen in what we view.

-       LMH

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present the online exhibition Stories told in light and silence curated by Lani Ming Holloway featuring Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean is a Wabanaki artist raised on the Penobscot Reservation in Maine. Excerpted from her artist statement: “Through the lens of Wabanaki history and culture, my photographs intertwine forgotten truths within the landscape of what is now called Maine. My work explores the deep, complex relationships between the land, its people, and the lasting impact of colonization. The energy embedded in the landscape reverberates through my creations and reveals the scars left on both the earth and our bodies. My work invites contemplation on occupation and ownership, prompting reflection on who exploits the land and how systems of oppression have disrupted its balance.”

Maya’s work expresses the dichotomy the artist exists within, marrying mediums and different cultural techniques. “Does the Land Remember?” is an ongoing series photographing landscapes that hold the history of devastating events of colonization. The power of that residuum is felt in the images in a supernatural way, as the dualism of her lived experience is pronounced in the contrast of light and dark. Sunlight shimmers through the leaves as bright stars overhead look down upon the land, a fire burns. Maya’s work calls us to remember that nature feels the spirits.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean lives and works in Portland, Maine or Machigonne. She earned a BFA in Photography from Maine College of Art & Design, Portland. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME and the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, ME.

Laura Barr’s work explores impermanence through oil paintings and oil pastel drawings on paper capturing passing moments in color, reflection on water, and light. Simplifying forms and illuminating the scale of special glimmers, her work considers the preservation of water and the protection of our environment. In Laura’s paintings in the exhibition, fireflies gleam in a starlit field and remind us that fireflies may not continue to glow on our planet, while a surfer catches the last evening wave the ocean offers, an Aurora Borealis dances in the night sky.

Laura Barr lives by the Thimble Islands in Branford, Connecticut. She earned her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and a BA in Fine Arts from Tufts University in Medford, MA and has studied at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy.

From Ithaca, NY, Jordann McKenna paints and photographs the quiet beauty in everyday life in work that contemplates mundanity and the softly fleeting feeling within light and shadows around her. In lushly applied oil paint, flames flicker and shadows play across the scene. Jordann’s work in this exhibition reflects the peaceful, ephemeral moods of interiors and intimate still lifes, either staged or spontaneous. Jordann McKenna works from photographs and from memory to create images that serve to process rather than recreate, expressing not only what is seen but what is felt, and celebrating the beauty in the ordinary.

Jordann McKenna earned a BS in Visual Arts from State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, and an MFA from Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, ME. She lives and works in Portland, ME.

Born in Strasbourg, France, and trained as an architect, Benoît Trimborn describes his work as “contemporary impressionism”. Viewing the world as an architect, Benoît’s large-scale oil paintings evoke what his artist statement calls the “morphology of the landscapes… like an architect, I see in it a breath, a light, a rhythm, which alone can constitute a principle of beauty. The elements represented compose atmospheres of which I try to faithfully convey the impression, as the musician faithfully follows the score. In this process, the contemplative attitude prevails, much more than the adventurous attitude. No message, no story should disturb the projection of the viewer...”

In Benoît’s meticulously painted large-scale landscapes, the absence of the figure instills a quietude in the story while light is the present form in all its magic. Reflections play like a musical score on the surface of the water and golden glimmers illuminate the forest and emanate from a sunset sky.

Benoît Trimborn’s work is in the permanent collection of Galerie Ariel Sibony in Paris, France, Absolute Art Gallery in Bruges, Belgium, and Galerie Bertrand Gillig in Strasbourg, France. He lives and works in Strasbourg, France.

Please contact Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquiries.

Shipping is available worldwide throughout the exhibition.  

Music and Rhyme for Children from Birth to 3s! A program for babies and their caretakers that incorporates music, rhythm, stories, and nursery rhymes to spur language development, body awareness, pre-reading skills, self-confidence, and cooperation. Gathering at 10:15 on the green behind the Visitor Center, the program begins at 10:30.

In case of inclement weather or other adverse conditions, this event will move inside to the Junior Room.

Registration appreciated, drop-ins welcome!

Designed to hone your artmaking, expand your creative problem-solving skills and build a strong portfolio, this fully funded program offers comprehensive workshops in Ceramics, Printmaking, Alternative Photography, and Painting & Drawing. Each workshop meets one afternoon per week for six weeks. Attendees can register for any individual or all four workshops.

Instructors: Jill Van Slooten, Caleb Portfolio, Kimberly Jo & Christine Mitchell

Mondays - Thursdays, July 7 through August 14, 2025

1:00 - 4:30 PM

Ages: 13 - 17

Members & Non-Members: FREE

MORE INFO & REGISTER

Opening Reception. Friday, July 25 6-8 PM

7 Water ST, Torrington, CT

The Mystery Book Club will take place at the Morris Public Library on Wednesday, August 13, at 6:30 PM. The group will discuss "The Spy Coast" by Tess Gerritsen.

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends―all retirees from the CIA―to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information―and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends―and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau―Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.

New registrations and book requests: 860-567-7440 or

https://morrispubliclibrary.net/library-calendar-event.../

Join us for "Appy Hour" and explore the world through apps! Learn how to use Google Maps for planning the perfect trip and Google Earth to virtually visit anywhere on the globe. It's a fun, interactive session that will take your digital skills—and your travel dreams—to the next level!

Attendees must have a Gmail account and password.

>> REGISTER HERE <<

Global artists have sent in their wildest images, film, music and poems for Personaland's online art show

Personaland is an artist-driven global village transforming the world of art by using technology to bridge time zones and cultural boundaries. Our mission is to promote humanity, creativity, and community through a mix of entertainment, enchantment, and imagination.

Since its 2018 launch, Personaland, in its global reach, has showcased over 800 visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and poets from 68 countries in 32 group art shows and 55 individual exhibitions, many with videos of artist profiles.  https://www.personaland.com

The Merwinsville Hotel is excited to be continuing the Glass Orb Scavenger Hunt thanks to a generous donation from the New Milford Commission on the Arts.

There are 25 area historic sites and organizations that are participating with the Hotel. Each site is hiding four numbered and dated one-of-a-kind glass orbs (three clear and one colored) either inside or outside on their property. Participants can search for and keep any glass orb that they find, but please limit one orb per person/family so everyone has a chance! Be sure to register your orb on the Merwinsville Hotel website where you can also upload a photo. Share your find on social media and don't forget to tag the organization where you found it!

The blown glass orbs that are numbered, dated for 2025, and stamped with “MHR 50”. In addition to the clear glass orbs, there are 25 colored orbs for 2025. Reminder: Because each organization's hours vary, be sure to check their websites before you head out on your hunt.

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS BY TOWN:

Bantam:

Bantam Cinema

Brookfield:

Brookfield Craft Center

Danbury:

Danbury Museum & Historical Society; Danbury Railway Museum

Gaylordsville - Celebrating its 300th Anniversary!

Browns Forge; Little Red Schoolhouse; Merwinsville Hotel Restoration, Inc.; The Washington Oak Park (DAR Roger Sherman Chapter)

Kent:

Connecticut Antique Machinery Association; Eric Sloane Museum; Kent Historical Society

Litchfield:

Litchfield Historical Society

New Fairfield:

New Fairfield Historical Society (at the Little Red Schoolhouse); Preserve New Fairfield

New Milford:

Gallery 25 & Creative Arts Studio; Harrybrooke Park; Merryall Center for the Arts; New Milford Historical Society; Pratt Nature Center; The Silo @ Hunt Hill Farm Trust; TheatreWorks; Village Center for the Arts

Sherman:

Sherman Historical Society

Washington:

Gunn Historical Museum

Edit

Support our food, beverage and retail businesses. Get your Taste of Burlington card stamped at at least 12 of the following businesses between June 21, 2025 and September 1, 2025 for a chance to win gift certificates.

The B. Hive www.thebhiveburlington.com

Burlington Spirit Shoppe www.burlingtonspirit.com

Charming Thai Restaurant www.charming-thai.com

China Garden (860) 675-6666

Daily Mart (860) 675-7243

Delta Pizza www.delta-pizza.com

Enclave Grille www.enclavegrille.com

Greenhouse Tavern www.greenhousecafeandtavern.com

Happy Hippie Homestead www.facebook.com/people/Happy-Hippie-Homestead/61564351782316/

Hogan's Cider Mill www.hoganscidermill.com

I Know A Guy Deli www.iknowaguyfoodsllc.com

Kyle's Doghouse (860) 729-6146

Lamothe's Sugar House www.lamothesugarhouse.com

Larson's Garden Center www.larsonsgardencenter.com

Little Axe Market www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569260639474#

Little Laurel's Cookie Co. www.littlelaurels.com

The Nevermind Shop www.nevermindshop.com

Sabrina's Restaurant & successor www.sabrinasrestaurantct.com

The Swimming Pool Store www.theswimmingpoolstore.com

Tonn's Marketplace www.tonnsmarketplace.com

Thank you to our sponsors: Torrington Savings Bank, M&T Bank and the Burlington CT Police Union

Submissions now open! ASAP!’s 15th annual Celebration of Young Photographers invites students in grades 6-12 to submit their photographs for a chance to participate in a juried art exhibition. A panel of professional photographers selects 60 photos for a public exhibition, recognizing the top four photographers for their outstanding and thoughtful work based on the yearly theme.

Submissions: now - September 26, 2025

Theme: Transformation

Exhibition: Hartford Art School's Silpe Gallery. Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm

Submissions and guidelines: visit asapct.org

We’ve turned our entryway into a mini art studio! Stop by anytime this month to participate in our community collage project. The theme of this month’s collage is “Summer” — the rest is up to you! Use our supplies or add your own. Participate once or multiple times. Just don’t forget to sign the guest book so we know which artists we have to thank for the final product!

The finished piece will be displayed at Off the Trail Cafe.

Join us at Rumsey Hall School for ASAP! Summer Camp 2025! Our camps are a unique opportunity for children in grades 1-6 and 7-10 to build friendships, get creative, and discover new interests. Visit our website to see the full list of camp activities and sign up!

The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens is pleased to present a joint art exhibition, “Now Dark, Now Glittering,” featuring the works of Chris Barnard and Jeff Joyce. This show is on view beginning Friday, August 1.

An opening reception will be held at the park on Saturday, August 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Barnard was born in New York City and received his BA from Yale and his MFA from The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Deeply informed by the pandemic and his parents’ decline, his need to engage with the natural world and create beauty led to many nature-based paintings, echoing his love for gardening. 

Joyce’s work is a meditation on nature. The pieces in this show, selected from a time span of nearly 20 years, are engaged with the landscape. They aim to demonstrate how cultural history mediates and defines the ways we perceive nature.

This show will remain on view through Sunday, August 24. Check our social media for weekly open hours: @judyblackpark on Instagram and Facebook.

The Gunn Memorial Library is pleased to present the captivating floral photography of Nina McKitty, on view in the Stairwell Gallery from August 9th to October 4th.

Drawing inspiration from nature, travel, and the artistic traditions of both East and West, Nina McKitty brings a joyful and thoughtful lens to her digital photography. Her work explores the delicate beauty of flowers—each image carefully composed, captured, and refined in her studio to evoke both surprise and delight in the viewer.

Originally gifted a digital camera by her husband, McKitty transformed a curiosity into a profound creative journey. Over the past 15 years, she has immersed herself in the art and craft of digital photography, studying under acclaimed artists and continuously evolving her techniques. Her photographs are printed and framed by hand using archival materials, merging technical precision with artistic expression.

A former nurse practitioner and consultant, McKitty turned to photography in retirement, channeling her lifelong passions for nature and visual storytelling into a rich new chapter as a digital artist. Since 2019, her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Employee Gallery, Kent Art Association, and Washington Art Association.

“Level Up at Your Library” Summer Reading Program for all ages, Morris Public Library, June 24 -August 20, 2025.

We are excited to offer a fun and engaging Summer Reading Program “Level Up at Your Library,” June 24 – August 20, 2025.

Each reading level has their own “Level Up at Your Library” Activity Card to participate in the program. Youngsters (PreK and under) will enjoy reading with their families and engage in fun activities. Students (Grades K-Grade 5) will count the number of their new reading adventures by writing them down in their cards. Teens (Grades 6-12) and adults will explore new and special book selections, which they can easily find at their Library.

Submit your completed cards (could be more than one!) to enter for a chance to win a Level Up at Your Library Prize.

Find weekly coloring projects for children and adults throughout the program – complete yours and share it for our library display!

No registration is required – obtain your card at the kickoff, at the library or download it from the website https://morrispubliclibrary.net (all levels!).

This workshop will focus on pinch, slab and coil handbuilding techniques enriched by demonstrations on sculpting small and large forms designed for indoor and outdoor installation. Open to all levels of experience, you will have the opportunity to creatively express yourself through clay.

Instructor: Kathy McFadden

Thursday - Saturday, August 14, 15 & 16, 2025

10 AM - 3 PM

Members: $247.50 / Non-Members: $275

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Get ready to go big! The New Hartford Artisans Guild is thrilled to announce our upcoming Big

Works Art Show, celebrating artwork that makes a bold statement. This is your chance to showcase

your largest, most impactful pieces—the only requirement is that one dimension must be at least

24 inches. Whether it’s towering canvases, sweeping landscapes, or grand sculptural forms, we

want to fill the gallery with work that commands attention. Don’t miss this opportunity to take up

space and let your creativity shine on a larger scale!

 The Gunn Museum announces a new exhibit American Perspectives: Peril and Possibilities. This exhibit is part of our American Revolution 250 celebrations.

The exhibit tells the story of the impossible dream, a revolution against the world’s mightiest Empire that would create a new nation built on the ideals of freedom, liberty and opportunity. The exhibit discusses Connecticut and our community including during the war.

Online exhibition curated by Lani Ming Holloway with artwork by Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn

exhibition dates:  August 1 – September 30, 2025, on www.kbfa.com

Stories told in light and silence

Poetry will make me violent

Violets outside our yard…

Why does the world have to be so hard?

Encompassing the hidden truths

 Of things unseen in what we view.

-       LMH

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present the online exhibition Stories told in light and silence curated by Lani Ming Holloway featuring Maya Tihtiyas Attean, Laura Barr, Jordann McKenna, and Benoît Trimborn.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean is a Wabanaki artist raised on the Penobscot Reservation in Maine. Excerpted from her artist statement: “Through the lens of Wabanaki history and culture, my photographs intertwine forgotten truths within the landscape of what is now called Maine. My work explores the deep, complex relationships between the land, its people, and the lasting impact of colonization. The energy embedded in the landscape reverberates through my creations and reveals the scars left on both the earth and our bodies. My work invites contemplation on occupation and ownership, prompting reflection on who exploits the land and how systems of oppression have disrupted its balance.”

Maya’s work expresses the dichotomy the artist exists within, marrying mediums and different cultural techniques. “Does the Land Remember?” is an ongoing series photographing landscapes that hold the history of devastating events of colonization. The power of that residuum is felt in the images in a supernatural way, as the dualism of her lived experience is pronounced in the contrast of light and dark. Sunlight shimmers through the leaves as bright stars overhead look down upon the land, a fire burns. Maya’s work calls us to remember that nature feels the spirits.

Maya Tihtiyas Attean lives and works in Portland, Maine or Machigonne. She earned a BFA in Photography from Maine College of Art & Design, Portland. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME and the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, ME.

Laura Barr’s work explores impermanence through oil paintings and oil pastel drawings on paper capturing passing moments in color, reflection on water, and light. Simplifying forms and illuminating the scale of special glimmers, her work considers the preservation of water and the protection of our environment. In Laura’s paintings in the exhibition, fireflies gleam in a starlit field and remind us that fireflies may not continue to glow on our planet, while a surfer catches the last evening wave the ocean offers, an Aurora Borealis dances in the night sky.

Laura Barr lives by the Thimble Islands in Branford, Connecticut. She earned her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and a BA in Fine Arts from Tufts University in Medford, MA and has studied at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy.

From Ithaca, NY, Jordann McKenna paints and photographs the quiet beauty in everyday life in work that contemplates mundanity and the softly fleeting feeling within light and shadows around her. In lushly applied oil paint, flames flicker and shadows play across the scene. Jordann’s work in this exhibition reflects the peaceful, ephemeral moods of interiors and intimate still lifes, either staged or spontaneous. Jordann McKenna works from photographs and from memory to create images that serve to process rather than recreate, expressing not only what is seen but what is felt, and celebrating the beauty in the ordinary.

Jordann McKenna earned a BS in Visual Arts from State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, and an MFA from Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, ME. She lives and works in Portland, ME.

Born in Strasbourg, France, and trained as an architect, Benoît Trimborn describes his work as “contemporary impressionism”. Viewing the world as an architect, Benoît’s large-scale oil paintings evoke what his artist statement calls the “morphology of the landscapes… like an architect, I see in it a breath, a light, a rhythm, which alone can constitute a principle of beauty. The elements represented compose atmospheres of which I try to faithfully convey the impression, as the musician faithfully follows the score. In this process, the contemplative attitude prevails, much more than the adventurous attitude. No message, no story should disturb the projection of the viewer...”

In Benoît’s meticulously painted large-scale landscapes, the absence of the figure instills a quietude in the story while light is the present form in all its magic. Reflections play like a musical score on the surface of the water and golden glimmers illuminate the forest and emanate from a sunset sky.

Benoît Trimborn’s work is in the permanent collection of Galerie Ariel Sibony in Paris, France, Absolute Art Gallery in Bruges, Belgium, and Galerie Bertrand Gillig in Strasbourg, France. He lives and works in Strasbourg, France.

Please contact Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquiries.

Shipping is available worldwide throughout the exhibition.  

Join us for Story Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 for new books, free play, and fun crafts!

Enjoy the works of

Photographer Sarah Blodgett & Basket Weaver Tina Puckett

About the Artists 

Sarah Blodgett

Sarah Blodgett is a photographer from the Hudson Valley in New York. Born in New York City, daughter of a professional advertising photographer, she bought her first camera at the age of ten and has been shooting ever since. A commercial & portrait photographer professionally since 1993, her passion now lies with creating images of wildlife and natural areas. Her primary focus is on birds as well as landscapes, seascapes, still lives and florals. She also offers speaking programs to accompany her work with a focus on ecology and preservation of the natural world around us.

 https://westernconnecticut.blogspot.com/2025/07/art-lovers-covered-bridge-woven-hand_30.html

Tina Puckett

American Master Weaver Tina Puckett is a self-taught Artist. who has been weaving since 1981. For over 40 years the woven arts have been evolving and each one is indescribably dynamic and colorful. The character of each piece is an expression of Tina's imagination and her sense of color that she applies to the weaving and structural form. Throughout Tina’s career she has exhibited her woven arts at museums, art galleries, libraries and art shows. Also, has been featured in magazines, books, newspapers, TV and on different platforms on the web.

Artist Statement

My woven pieces from baskets to wall sculptures, ceiling hangers, to furniture has evolved and is the way I define myself as an artist, and as a woman. I am fulfilling my dreams that started out with my imagination as a set designer. My creative path took a turn. It was not set design—but the woven arts with its many forms and functions where I found the passion for my life’s work.

The natural beauty of Bittersweet always sparks my imagination and is at the heart of the many pieces I weave. My imagination guides all that I do and it has become very attuned to the harmony of shapes, forms, and colors of the vines and reeds. I am also influenced by the beauty of our natural world and wonder how to weave it.

My palette for color is very much influenced by this experience of growing up in South America. I mix my own dyes and enjoy building a palette for the reeds that will shape textures and forms with color into a

​ one of a kind woven art!

We’re excited to offer a series of interactive bilingual story times in English and French! Each session will feature engaging stories, a literacy-focused book, and hands-on crafts that encourage creativity and a love for language. Come celebrate culture, learning, and community with us!

Mia Bitar is a rising senior at the Lycée Français de New York, a bilingual school in New York. She is fluent in both French and English and speaks both at home. She has attended programs at the Gunn Memorial Library since she was in preschool and has volunteered and worked there the past three years. She is delighted to bring this bilingual, French/English story time to the children in the Gunn Junior Library community.

*August 7 – “Bear’s Birthday”

*August 14 – “I Want My Banana”

*August 21 – “I Wish You Happiness”

Registration is required. All are welcome. Please register for each session you’d like to attend.

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is thrilled to announce our midsummer exhibition focused on three artists whose keen observation and connection to the natural world invites us to pause and appreciate.

Margot Glass focuses primarily on drawing, using various traditional methods and materials as a foundation for her work, including traditional silverpoint and 14k goldpoint, homemade organic inks and oil and acrylic painting with mixed mica using fine point crow quill pens in place of brushes.

Glass is inspired by the tradition of idealizing nature in art and design as ornament across cultures while seeking to observe and represent her subjects as accurately as possible in all their irregularity and imperfection.

Central to her work is the exploration of ephemeral, fragile subjects, focusing primarily on weeds or ‘waste plants’, and other plants generally considered to be undesirable, to recognize their beauty in all their imperfection and asymmetry. Her focus on these marginal plants is guided by the question of what we value, what we consider ‘belonging’ to mean, and to highlight the beauty of what is present in the disrupted landscape that we find ourselves in today.

Margot Glass grew up in New York City, and studied art at The Art Students' League, Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Fashion Institute of Technology. Glass’s work has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally. She is a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council STARS Artist Residency; Lost and Found Lab Artist-in-Residence and an Oak Spring Garden Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellowship. Her work is in private and public collections including the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon, PA, Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, VA, Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection, MA, Hotel Del Coronado Collection, CA, Allentown Art Museum, PA, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN, the Beth Rudin deWoody Collection, among others. She currently lives and works in Western Massachusetts.

Richard Klein has been copper plating organic objects for over three decades utilizing found objects that are intrinsically fragile and impermanent. The process allows Klein to encase natural objects in a thin coating of metallic copper, permanently preserving them. The alchemical transformation being both practical and poetic. 

In his most recent work, the artist juxtaposes electroplated natural findings with photo gravures of urban landscapes addressing our relationship with nature simultaneously reminding us that we are nature and that our detachment from nature is the source of much of the destruction to our planet. In particular, the artist’s interest in both fungi and copper hint at the convergence of natural and technological evolution: fungi, through their mycelium, connect virtually all terrestrial plant life, acting as natural communication networks; while copper is the material that the human-made electrical and digital networks depend on. 

Richard Klein is the former exhibitions director of The Aldrich of Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT. His work has been shown widely in US and is in the public collections of Norton Family Collection, Santa Monica, CA, De Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, Connecticut Artists Collection, Hartford, CT and has been featured in The New Criterion, Two Coats of Paint, Hyperallergic, Art Forum, The Brooklyn Rail and Art New England to name a few. The artist lives and works in CT.

Francis Sills’s work is grounded in the perceptual-based, realist tradition. The artist works directly from observation in nature. In dealing with the intricacies and challenges of working from observation and the sustained experience of intense, visual scrutiny, the artist comes to understand and know his world. The flora series is an ongoing group of paintings utilizing the flowers and plants from the artist’s home garden. Sills recently been adding various shaped mirrors to the set ups, which both multiply the forms and fracture the space. Sills’ paintings are dense and subtle, revealing specific nuances of color, light, and form. Often, the underlying geometry and architecture of the composition are apparent in the application of paint, the artist’s analytic thinking about structure and his methodology still evident in the finished work.

Sills’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States, has been featured in publications such as Wall Street International Magazine, American Art Collector, The New York Times, I Like Your Work Podcast, and can be found in The Fine Art Program and Collection at Montefiore Einstein, New York, NY. Francis Sills earned his MFA at Parsons School of Design, New York, NY and BFA at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. The artist lives and works in South Carolina.

Please contact Lani Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

Bismuth is a Boston-based artist known for her self-portrait photographs. Her work explores and challenges ideas surrounding identity and its fragile nature, politics and trans expression through a satirical and spontaneous approach. 

Recently, Bismuth has taken up oil painting as her primary medium, in which she creates numeric and interactive landscapes. 

Dismembered, showing at Peggy Mercury, will be her debut solo exhibit and will showcase her self-portrait images alongside painted works. Co-curated with James Boehmer and Gregory Fricke, the show will display Bismuth's current fascination with fragmentation and isolation, and so much more.

Peggy Mercury

Kent Barns

9 Maple Street, Unit 2

Kent, CT 06757

IG @itspeggymercury

For more information email us at hithere@peggymercury.com

"Finding the Light": an exhibit of oil paintings by Chandra Rogers.

Chandra Rogers is a contemporary painter residing in Litchfield County with her husband and two daughters. Primarily self-taught, Chandra began consistently painting in 2012 after signing up for a local oil painting class, which led to a deluge of personal development through various classes and workshops and a lifelong passion for art. Her diverse subjects have included animals, portraiture, still lifes, landscapes, abstracts and commissioned pieces primarily in oil paint, pastels, and charcoal. Her current work is inspired by the study of light, color, mark-making, and a spirited painterly brushstroke, and has been described as capturing the soul of her subjects.

Chandra is a member of the Washington Art Association and Kent Art Association and her work has been displayed in various juried and solo shows throughout Connecticut, receiving numerous awards, most notably the Barbara Goodspeed Award, Award for Graphics, and multiple Awards of Excellence at the Kent Art Association, Honorable Mention at the Washington Art Association, and most recently Best in Show at Gallery 25 in New Milford, CT. Susan Grisell, a judge at a recent juried show, stated “Chandra’s draftsmanship and attention to detail are evident in her expressive portraits of people and animals.”

Chandra’s current show is a collection of primarily recent works reflecting her love for experimentation and trying new techniques, from traditional glazing techniques to achieve a photorealistic effect, to loose abstracts with a focus on gestural brushstrokes and mark making. Subjects include a collection of sunsets, still lifes, florals, abstracts, landscapes, portraiture, and animal paintings.

Bring your lunch, listen to stories, and enjoy a fun craft! All are welcome, this program is intended for preschool-aged children. This event will be offered in person in the Junior Room of the Library.

Registration is appreciated but not required.

Designed to hone your artmaking, expand your creative problem-solving skills and build a strong portfolio, this fully funded program offers comprehensive workshops in Ceramics, Printmaking, Alternative Photography, and Painting & Drawing. Each workshop meets one afternoon per week for six weeks. Attendees can register for any individual or all four workshops.

Instructors: Jill Van Slooten, Caleb Portfolio, Kimberly Jo & Christine Mitchell

Mondays - Thursdays, July 7 through August 14, 2025

1:00 - 4:30 PM

Ages: 13 - 17

Members & Non-Members: FREE

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