Area Events and Exhibitions

 

Along with our Cultural Pursuit member events, this is a select listing of additional recommended area art exhibitions, musical performances, film events, lectures, programs and special events in both Fairfield and Westchester Counties. The list is updated regularly, so please check back for new events and exhibitions. Please note: Some events are weather-dependent or subject to change. Please check with the venue when making plans.

Special Events, Programs and Lectures

Thursday, March 21, 7 – 9 pm – Third Thursday Program: “New Orleans Jazz on Tap on the Farm” at Stamford Museum & Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road, Stamford, CT. NOLA comes to the Stamford Museum & Nature Center! Enjoy tasty beers and a box supper on our Heckscher Farm, with a concert in The Farmhouse, followed by the unique experience of parading and reveling with the band among our heritage breeds of animals. Join in this musical treat amid their Randall cattle, Alpine and Oberhasi goats, Clydesdale and Arabian horses, Jacob sheep, Highland sheep, llamas, alpacas, and more. Members: $60, Non-members: $70. For more and to register: stamfordmuseum.org.

Saturday, March 23, 7:00- 8:30 pm – Carrie Mae Weems Performance of Past Tense at Grace Farms Foundation, 365 Lukes Wood Road, New Canaan, CT. Critically acclaimed artist Carrie Mae Weems, deemed “one of the more interesting artists working in the gap between art and politics” by The New York Times, presents Past Tense, a new performance-based work featuring singers Eisa Davis, Francesca Harper, and Imani Uzuri; poet Carl Hancock Rux; dancer Vinson Fraley; and musicians Craig Harris, Eddie Allen, Calvin Jones, Adam Klipple, James Brandon Lewis, and Tony Lewis. Through music, text, projection, and video, the performance explores the enduring significance of the iconic character Antigone and her profound relevance to our contemporary moment. The origins of Past Tense lie in Weems’s powerful work Grace Notes. Weems says, “While working on Grace Notes for months it occurred to me that I was telling the story of Antigone, wherein an innocent man dies by unjustified means, and his sister fights for the right to bury him honorably. But the wider community refuses her; her right to justice, and to peace, is denied.” For tickets and more: gracefarms.org.

Film

New Releases and Film Series at Avon Theatre Film Center, 272 Bedford Street, Stamford, CT. The Avon Theatre features the best of independent, world and documentary films, foreign and Hollywood classics and educational programming that enhances the cultural richness of the downtown Stamford community. Itself a 1939 historic landmark, provides a forum for in-person, community dialogue with directors, actors and other luminaries in a vibrant “Main Street America” setting. Series include: French Cinematheque, Documentary Night, Discover Indian Cinema, Cult Classics, and other special events and film series for members and the public. For more information: avontheatre.org.

New Releases, Holiday Offerings and Film Series at Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road, Pleasantville, NY. Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) is a nonprofit five-screen cinema and education center located in Pleasantville, NY. One of the most successful suburban art houses in the country, they celebrate film as a vehicle for entertainment, education, and inspiration. With their films, events, community screenings, visiting artists, and special guests, they strive to further their nonprofit mission, spark dialogue and encourage an acceptance of a diversity of perspectives among their theatergoers and the community—something they started when they opened their doors in 2001. For more: burnsfilmcenter.org.

The Bedford Playhouse Home of Clive Davis Arts Center, 633 Old Post Road, Bedford, NY. After over three years of fundraising, planning, and construction, Bedford Playhouse opened its doors to its 167-seat Main Theater, the largest of its three theaters, in May. Home of the Clive Davis Arts Center, the new Playhouse will be a vibrant cultural and social destination featuring outstanding films, arts-related programming and educational offerings — as well as a fun, welcoming place to socialize. It will be a special place where culture and community come together every day. For more: bedfordplayhouse.org.

Theater and Performing Arts

Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival 2019 Summer Season Tickets Now On Sale: Season Begins June 9 – Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel House and Gardens, 1601 Route NY-9D, Garrison, NY. The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Davis McCallum, Artistic Director; Kate Liberman, Managing Director) is proud to announce complete casting for the 2019 Summer Season. The previously announced season will include Shakespeare’s boisterous Much Ado About Nothing and adventure-filled Cymbeline, alongside the New York premiere of Cyrano, a new adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac written by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers, in a co-production with Two River Theater (Red Bank, NJ). HVSF will also produce its first-ever musical, the Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine classic, Into the Woods. The season will also feature free matinees and touring performances of HVSF’s remounted spring 2019 regional school tour of Julius Caesar. For more and tickets: hvshakespeare.org.

October 10, 2018 – May 26, 2019 – Long Wharf Theatre’s 2018-19 Season, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT. Embark on a journey of 6 plays that will take you outside yourself, moving you to laugh, cry, smile, and wonder as you are introduced to people and places you’ve never known. Their season opens with The Roommate, October 10 – November 4, followed by Paradise Blue, November 21 – December 16; Miller, Mississippi, January 9 – February 3; Tiny Beautiful Things, February 13 – March 10; An Iliad, March 20 – April 14; A Doll’s House, Part 2, May 1 – 26, 2019. For more: longwharf.org.

Music

Saturday, March 30, 8:00 pm – Jazz at The Center Spectacular with Cyrille Aimée at Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. Perhaps you’ve noted the white hot trajectory of Jazz star Cyrille Aimée. Well, did you know this French-born, Dominican-raised phenomenon began her musical life in America as a student at Purchase College? As part of the celebration of the Jazz Studies program’s 25th anniversary, this performance will bring together Aimée and her steady trumpet voice, Wayne Tucker, along with Professor Doug Weiss at the bass, Purchase alum Aaron Seeber at the drums, and pianist and Head of Jazz Studies, Pete Malinverni. The program will consist of songs from the American Songbook, some of Cyrille Aimée’s original compositions, and selections from her new recording of the music of Stephen Sondheim… plus one or two surprise treats! Winner of the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Vocal Competition, The Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, and finalist in the Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition, Aimée is – in the words of Will Friedwald of The Wall Street Journal – “One of the most promising jazz singers of her generation.” For more and tickets: artscenter.org.

Sunday, March 24, 3:00 pm – “A Rococo Extravaganza” with Rebel Baroque Ensemble at Bedford Presbyterian Church, 44 Village Green, Bedford Village, New York. The internationally-acclaimed chamber ensemble, REBEL will offer a beautiful and piquant program of late baroque (i.e.: ‘Rococo’) chamber music by well-known and lesser-known composers: Mozart, Edelmann, C.P.E. Bach, Schobert & J.C. Bach performed on period instruments at the historic and acoustically-excellent Bedford Presbyterian Church in Bedford, NY. The instrumentalists in this program will be Jörg-Michael Schwarz, violin; Karen Marie Marmer, violin & viola; John Moran, cello & and Dongsok Shin, fortepiano. A fully-catered reception follows the concert where audience can mingle with the artists. For more and tickets: rebelbaroque.com.

March 10 – June 9, Sundays at 3:00 pm –  Spring Season at Copland House at Merestead, 455 Byram Lake Road, Mount Kisco, NY. Highlights of 10th Mainstage Series by Copland House Ensemble features 8 World Premieres, including concerts inspired by 20th & 21st century art. Sunday, March 10, 3pm, “The Listening Eye” – Kevin Puts, Kathryn Alexander, Steven Stucky. Sunday, April 14, 3pm, “Crumbling Walls: Picasso’s Musical Canvas” – Viet Cuong: new work (World Premiere); Robert Sirota, Igor Stravinsky, Manuel de Falla. Sunday, May 5, 3pm, “Celebrating John Musto” – John Musto: Cello Sonata (World Premiere), Piano Trio, Passacaglia; JBach-Musto: Organ Prelude and Fugue. Sunday, June 9, 3pm, “CULTIVATE 2019” – World Premieres of new works by 2019 Composer Fellows Flannery Cunningham, Chelsea Komschlies, Charles Peck, Igor Santos, Nina Shekhar, and Sam Yulsman. For more: coplandhouse.org.

Summer Season Opens June 15 – Caramoor Summer Season tickets on sale – Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, NY. Caramoor’s 74th Summer Season brings seven weeks of top-notch music, from cutting-edge compositions, to the finest in early music, and from orchestral and chambermasterpieces to jazz, American roots, and world music. Featuring a spotlight on Caroline Shaw, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Messiaen, Daniil Trifonov in recital, Alisa Weilerstein, The Milk Carton Kids, Laura Benanti, Eddie Palmieri, and more! New this year! Buy more and save 15% with their Summer Series. For more information and tickets: caramoor.org.

Fall-Spring 2018-19 Season at Caramoor Center for Music & the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, NY. A perennially beloved summer destination, Caramoor remains a hub for musical and artistic exploration all year round. The 2018-19 fall-spring season offers a wealth of the diverse and imaginative programming with which the Westchester estate has long been synonymous, with presentations spanning the musical spectrum from jazz, American roots, and cabaret to chamber and vocal recitals, a period-instrument orchestral concert, and a musical lecture. Some performers featured this season: The English Concert, Alexandre Tharaud, and Quatuor Ébène are among the A-list acts making Caramoor debuts, while stellar returning artists include Julia Bullock, New York Polyphony, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Acoustic Hot Tuna, and Christine Ebersole. Fall and spring concerts are held indoors amid the authentic Renaissance furniture, paintings dating from the 16th century, and terra cotta reliefs of the Rosen House Music Room. For more: caramoor.org.

Jazz Forum Club, 1 Dixon Lane, Tarrytown, NY. On June 9th, 2017 Mark Morganelli and his wife, Ellen Prior opened the Jazz Forum as the only dedicated Jazz club in Westchester County, New York. This 90-seat weekend-only live music venue is an intimate listening room with a warm and welcoming mood, affordable ticket prices and clear sightlines from all seats. It has been presenting internationally renowned and master musicians. The club presents headliner Jazz artists on Friday and Saturday nights, Brazilian groups on Sundays afternoons, top-notch Jazz groups on Sunday nights, and monthly jam sessions. With a Steinway grand piano, hand-crafted walnut bar, informal dinner and full bar menu, separate lounge and pool room, and contemporary art gallery, the club has been an astonishing success. It is now the affordable alternative to NYC clubs for music lovers from New Jersey, Rockland County, Connecticut as well as across Westchester as a “wonderful new addition to the New York area Jazz scene.”  For more: jazzforumarts.org.

Visual Art

March 27 – June 30, 2019 – Lilla LoCurto & Bill Outcault: Much Madness is divinest Sense at Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. In Much Madness is divinest Sense, artist team Lilla LoCurto and Bill Outcault explore issues relating to the human body, its physical and psychological vulnerability and cultural identity, using advanced technologies. A selection of recent photographs, drawings, video animations and installations, and an interactive, life-sized marionette that responds to and interacts with the visitor will be on view. The marionette is featured thematically throughout the exhibition, allowing the artists to abstract human characteristics in ways that are fascinating, yet unnerving and uncanny. Mental disturbance, anguish, and distress are persistent themes in their new work. For more: neuberger.org.

March 24 – May 19, 2019 – Requiem for Ashokan, The Story Told in Landscape: Kate McGloughlan at Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Mathews Park, 299 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT. Materialized over multiple residencies, this project tells the story of loss surrounding the devastation Kate McGloughlin’s ancestors endured during the creation of The Ashokan Reservoir. This exhibition illustrates the complete body of work which includes written text, a handmade artist’s book, and audio files narrating both sides of the story from both sides of my family-the settlers and the immigrants. Opening Reception: Sunday, March 24th from 2-4PM in the Grace Ross Shanley Gallery at CCP. Kate McGloughlin Talk: Sunday, April 7th at 2PM. For more: contemprints.org.

March 21 – April 30, 2019 – Spaces of Uncertainty at Flinn Gallery, 2nd Floor Greenwich Library, 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT. Immersing themselves, and by extension the viewer, in landscapes of derelict graffiti-covered buildings, vacant lots and shuttered storefronts, artists Valeri Larko and Linda Kuehne expose the unexpected pathos and poetic beauty of these marginal areas. In our highly programmed built environments, these uncertain spaces are mostly overlooked or ignored as they await redevelopment. To the passer-by they might appear empty, abandoned, even dangerous; but by forcing us to look more closely, the artists expose fleeting histories and hidden narratives, revealing spaces that are in fact brimming with life and potential. Curated by Isabelle Schiavi. Opening Reception is on Thursday, March 21, 6 – 8 pm, Artist Talk with Valeri Larko and Linda Kuehne on Saturday, March 23, 2:00 pm. For more: flinngallery.com.

March 17 – June 16, 2019 – LandEscape: New Visions of the Landscape from the Early 20th and 21st Centuries at Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street, Katonah, NY. LandEscape explores the early 20th century American modernists who exhibited their innovative paintings at the groundbreaking 1913 Armory Show, and compares it to the work of artists from the 21st century who have rediscovered and reinvigorated the genre. This show is comprised of approximately 30 works and reveals how a diverse range of artists broke from the established landscape painting traditions of their predecessors to create a new visual language that profoundly changed the way landscape was perceived. Artists such as Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Alfred Maurer, Helen Torr and Marguerite Zorach all engaged with what was considered to be an unexceptional genre. One hundred years later the same innovative impulse has once again emerged in the works of contemporary artists Jo Baer, Lois Dodd, April Gornik, Shara Hughes, Alex Katz and Judy Pfaff who have again reinterpreted the landscape. Curated by Olga Dekalo. For more: katonahmuseum.org.

March 14 – June 8, 2019 – The Artist Collects: Highlights from the James Reed Collection at Walsh Gallery, Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 200 Barlow Road, Fairfield, CT. This exhibition celebrates the transformative gift of the James Reed Collection of Old Master, 19th-century, and modern prints to the Fairfield University Art Museum. Assembled over several decades by artist, collector and Master Printer James Reed, the collection comprises more than 1,500 prints spanning the 16th through the early 21st centuries. The exhibition presents highlights from the three great strengths of the Reed Collection: 19th-century French etching and lithography; German Expressionist woodcuts and lithographs; and modern and contemporary prints. For more: fairfield.edu.

March 9 – June 2, 2019 – Your Place Squared: A Community Art Project at Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT. The Bruce Museum is pleased to present a new exhibition of small artworks created entirely by the public for the public. Based on the popular 2012 exhibition of self-portraits, Your Face Squared, this new community art project invites participants to turn to the landscape for creative inspiration. It features hundreds of 6 x 6 inch works from artists of all ages and abilities depicting a favorite scene or setting—a home, a room, or any space that they treasure. These works can be created in any medium, including writing, drawing, painting, photography, and collage, and need follow only these criteria: They need be original and anonymous, must be 6 inches by 6 inches in size and no thicker than 3 inches, and cannot be toxic or harmful. Become a part of this growing community art project: Artists are welcome to submit work after Your Place Squared opens to the public, and visitors to the exhibition are also invited to create artwork in the gallery, which will be added to the show during its run, through June 2, 2019. For more: brucemuseum.org.

March 7 – April 21, 2019 – “Emerging Women” by Nancy Moore at New Canaan Library’s Curtis Gallery, 151 Main Street, New Canaan, CT. The many faces, strengths, and paths of women are expressed in colorful, intricate and dreamlike beauty by artist Nancy Moore. Her women exude confidence, skill, power and substance; they are equal to life and soar. Using mixed media –   watercolor, gouache, metallic paint, colored pencil, wax crayon, and graphite – Moore taps into current social issues and trends, embracing increasingly prevalent realities and bringing social awareness to new heights and understanding. The viewer is not only transfixed by the striking quality of her art, but walks away enlightened and emboldened.  For more: newcanaanlibrary.org.

March 5 – May 25, 2019 – Modern Families at ArtsWestchester Gallery, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY. Modern Families is a photographic inquiry into who and what constitutes the American family today. Anchored by rarely exhibited work by Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee (1886-1983), it explores the diverse faces and relationships that represent “family” from the points of view of eleven regional photographers. The contemporary works in the exhibition include both studio-style portraiture and documentary work in which individuals and their given or chosen families interact in a variety of encounters between photographer and subject. Featuring photographs by Tom Atwood, Gillian Lau, Barry Mason, Iaritza Menjivar, Ocean Morisset, Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Stefan Radtke, John Shearer, James Van Der Zee, Chris Verene and Sandra Wong Geroux. For more: artswestchester.org.

March 2 – April 27, 2019 – Martin Kline: Hammock Paintings and Recent Works at Heather Gaudio Fine Art, 66 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT. Heather Gaudio Fine Art is pleased to present Martin Kline: Hammock Paintings and Recent Works, the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. This is the first time the Hammock paintings will be exhibited in the United States. As an artist, Kline continually explores the properties of the medium and his recent paintings take his signature use of encaustic into a new direction. In these works, his additive process becomes collage, the encaustic almost presenting itself as a man-made material rather than liquid applied with a paintbrush. The resulting abstracted patterns gain an intricacy much like honeycombs, made all the more complex with the use of camouflaged patchworks in various palettes. These collaged surfaces can also appear in the other new series of works in the exhibition, the Hammock paintings which are actual canvas service hammocks, some dating back to WWII, that Kline has collected over the years.  For more: heathergaudiofineart.com.

February 27 – June 30, 2019 – Nina Chanel Abney: Royal Flush at Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY.  Nina Chanel Abney: Royal Flush is the first solo museum exhibition for the Chicago-born artist. The exhibition is a ten-year survey of approximately 30 of the artist’s paintings, watercolors and collages. Abney, born in 1982, is at the forefront of a generation of artists that is unapologetically revitalizing narrative figurative painting, and as a skillful storyteller, she visually articulates the complex social dynamics of contemporary urban life. Her monumental paintings are lively menageries that feature violent villains, unwitting victims, aspirational heroes and ineffectual anti-heroes, set against the backdrop of narratives that touch on politics, race, homophobia, celebrity, consumerism and other potentially incendiary topics. For more: neuberger.org.

February 22 – May 27, 2019 – Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar at Stamford Museum & Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road, Stamford, CT. Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of The Guitar celebrates the artistic development of the guitar. Developed by The National Guitar Museum in New York, New York, it features 40 objects, ranging from the rare and antique to the wildly popular and innovative. The exhibition explores all facets of the world’s most popular instrument, from its history as an instrument of popular culture over the past four hundred years to modern efforts to reinvent the guitar with different materials, shapes, and approaches to design. Spanning centuries of design and craftsmanship, the exhibition takes visitors through the history of an object that is one of the most recognizable items on the planet. For more: stamfordmuseum.org.

February 17 – March 23, 2019 – Rick Shaefer, Three Trees: Life-Size Drawings at Silvermine Arts Center, 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan, CT. Rick Shaefer was Best in Show in Silvermine’s Art of the Northeast, and this solo exhibition is a result of that honor. He draws with charcoal—using a language of mark-making that is defined, gestural, and rhythmic—to create life-sized images on vellum paper. The richness of detail, reminiscent of Rembrandt’s etchings or Durer’s woodcuts, imbues the work with a resonant stillness and dignity. The three trees in this exhibition give full rein to Shaefer’s fascination with the majesty and the ponderous bulk of these fallen Oaks and the exquisite complexity of the underside of the pulled-up Sycamore stump: views that we might pass by without notice if they were not pulled from their surroundings and placed directly before us. Beyond their stylistic bravura, Shaefer’s drawings interrogate the ties that bind the natural and human worlds. For more: silvermineart.org.

February 16 – March 23, 2019 – ReFRAMING Aging: Health, Happiness and the Arts at Silvermine Arts Center, 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan, CT. This exhibition will feature artists who are making the some of strongest works of their careers. Their visually compelling art in a variety of media addresses socially relevant humanities ideas—engaging visitors of every age. ReFRAMING Aging will debunk myths about aging, deepen visitors’ understanding of why lifelong creativity matters, and inspire intergenerational bonds—illuminating what it means to age creatively in our youth-oriented society when people are living longer. Saturday, February 16, 2 – 4 pm: Opening Reception and Keynote Lecture The Science Behind the Art: How Everyone Can be Creative, and Why it Matters with James Kaufman, PhD, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut and a leading scholar on creativity. For more: silvermineart.org.

February 8 – May 12, 2019 – The Color of the Moon: Lunar Painting in American Art at Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers, NY. The moon—its face, color, and enduring myth—threads through the tapestry of American landscape painting, holding timeless allure for artists everywhere.  The exhibition features more than 60 works of art, highlighting key painters who depicted the moon, including Albert Bierstadt, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Frederic Church, Susie M. Barstow, George Inness, Edward Bannister, Ralph Blakelock, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Arthur Dove, Edward Steichen, Oscar Bluemner, Marguerite Zorach, Joseph Cornell, and Jamie Wyeth. All of the works in the exhibition underscore how the Romantic idea of the moon held an inexorable pull for artists, and was central to its depiction of landscape, a subject of ongoing engagement at the Museum. For more: hrm.org.

February 9 – June 2, 2019 – Buried Treasures of the Silk Road at Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT. Buried Treasures of the Silk Road showcases the extraordinary collection of Chinese tomb sculpture in the Fred and Jane Brooks Collection of the Bruce Museum. Featuring dozens of rare and delicate terra cotta figurines, painted and glazed ceramics, and other antiquities. To complement this exhibition, the Bruce will present a series of docent tours and related programs: on Monday, March 18, 10:00 – 11:00 am, Virginia Bower, Adjunct Professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, will discuss “Of Camels and Kings: The Silk Road and Tang Dynasty Tomb Sculpture.” On Thursday, April 18, 6:00 – 8:00 pm, David Ake Sensabaugh, former Ruth and Bruce Dayton Curator of Asian Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, will present “Providing for the Afterlife in Han Dynasty China”. For more: brucemuseum.org.

February 2 – March 30, 2019 – The Great Race at Clay Art Center, 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY. Clay Art Center will be using its exhibition space to understand and celebrate cultural heritage; they will be telling the story of the Great Race – a short story narrating the travels of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals to the Jade Emperor to solidify their place in the calendar. Each artist has chosen one animal of the zodiac to represent in clay – their own unique history shapes their contemporary interpretation. While the story of the Great Race will be outlined throughout the gallery, each artist will provide information as to why they chose each animal and how it is relevant to contemporary culture. Participating Artists: Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Ayumi Horie, Sin-Ying Ho, Adam Chau, Patti Warishina, Steven Lee, Hatsumi Suyama, Kenjiro Kitade, Vipoo Srivilasa, Sunkoo Yuh, Kyungmin Park, Kensuke Yamada, and Adriel Tong. For more: clayartcenter.org.

January 27 – May 27, 2019 – How Art Changed the Prison: The Work of CPA’s Prison Arts Program at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present an exhibition of visual art made in Connecticut’s correctional institutions over the past three decades, borrowed from current and former inmates, private collections, including that of the curator, and from the permanent collection of the Prison Arts Program, which is part of Community Partners in Action (CPA), a non-profit that focuses on behavioral change of both current and past inmates of Connecticut’s prison system, in addition to advocating for criminal justice reform. Organized by Jeffrey Greene, who has been with the program for twenty-seven years, the exhibition will include the work of approximately twenty-eight artists. The program is unique due to Greene’s radical approach that rejects art as an activity pursued through academic exercises, but rather an expansive and integrative pursuit that focuses on giving voice to inner worlds and personal histories, and the belief that learning and growth are primarily achieved by the making of art, not by learning technique. For more: aldrichart.org.

January 26 – April 20, 2019 – Masterpieces from the Museum of Cartoon Art at Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT. Masterpieces from the Museum of Cartoon Art will showcase more than 100 original works celebrating the history of this unique art form in America. Among the many items on display will be an early editorial cartoon by Thomas Nast, a spectacular Prince Valiant Sunday page by Hal Foster, and a witty New Yorker gag by Peter Arno, as well as classic Peanuts, Doonesbury, and Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Treasures from this rich and varied repository represent all of the cartoon genres, including comic strips, newspaper panels, comic books, editorial cartoons, magazine cartoons, caricature, illustration and animation. For more: brucemuseum.org.

January 25 – March 29, 2019 – A French Affair: Drawings and Paintings from The Horvitz Collection at Fairfield University Museum of Art, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT. History, mythology, poetry, and portraiture provided a vast range of subject matter for French artists of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. Drawn from the peerless holdings of The Horvitz Collection—one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of early modern French art—this exhibition features paintings and drawings in all these genres by such celebrated artists as Charles Le Brun, Nicolas de Largillière, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy Trioson. The impressive selection of over 50 drawings, some exhibited with related prints, focuses on a particular category—designs for book illustration—thereby highlighting not only the creative inventiveness of the artists who formulated lavish visual imagery from the written word, but also the rich literary traditions of France and the vibrant book publishing industry they spawned. For more information about the exhibition and programs: fairfield.edu.

January 23 – June 16, 2019 – Miniaturizing Modernism: Richard Pettibone Paints the Neuberger’s Rickey Collection at Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. Important works by well-known artists donated to the Neuberger Museum by George and Edith Rickey are displayed alongside miniature “copies” that the Rickeys commissioned artist Richard Pettibone to create as “mementos” of the donated works. This is the only collection, public or private, in which Pettibone’s commissioned works are preserved together with their corresponding originals. For more: neuberger.org.

October 13 – August 2, 2019 – Death is Irrelevant at Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street, Peekskill, NY. Do sculptures created in our image suggest a will to exist? Are they a form of self-preservation, a reflection of their creator’s environment, or a grasp at immortality? Death Is Irrelevant examines these questions through the presentation of figurative sculpture from the Marc and Livia Straus Collection. Featuring works created over a forty-year period (1975–2018) from seventeen different countries, it is a contemporary examination of our timeless inclination to recreate ourselves, explore fragility and mortality, and consider what it means to be alive. Co-curated by Ken Tan, Tim Hawkinson, MARC STRAUS Gallery, in collaboration with the Marc and Livia Straus Family. For more: hudsonvalleymoca.org.

September 2018 – March 2019 – Practicing 2018 | Julianne Swartz: Joy, still. at Grace Farms, 365 Lukes Wood Road, New Canaan, CT. The temporary sound installation Julianne Swartz: Joy, still. is comprised of three new, collaborative, site-responsive works in the River building at Grace Farms. This project is part of the Arts Initiative’s Practicing series, which since 2015 has brought together interdisciplinary cohorts of collaborators to explore empathy, awe, silence, and joy. The multisensory works—Joy, still. in the Sanctuary; Transfer Objects in the Library, and Prelude / Postlude in the corridor that connects the Sanctuary and Library sites—are directly inspired by Foundation’s Practicing Joy workshop, a multifaceted study involving poets, theologians, composers, musicians, choreographers, dancers, chefs, and humorists. This practically invisible installation makes use of the SANAA-designed River building’s acoustic character, creating shared and singular sonic spaces where visitors may contemplate joy and appreciate the splendor of the site. For more: gracefarms.org.

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FAIRFIELD WESTCHESTER MUSEUM ALLIANCE: Established in 2009 to help promote the rich and diverse offerings of eight cultural institutions in Fairfield, Westchester, and the Bronx, the Fairfield Westchester Museum Alliance continues to give local families and visitors the opportunity to enjoy eight great museums for the price of one. The eight FWMA member institutions are: Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, CT); Barnum Museum (Bridgeport, CT); Bruce Museum (Greenwich, CT); Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, NY); Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art (Peekskill, NY); Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, NY); Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY); and Wave Hill (Bronx, NY). Become a member at any of these participating organizations and get free admission at eight neighboring institutions, from the Bronx to Bridgeport. Visitors who are not members of an FWMA organization can request a free same-day pass to all FWMA museums when paying admission at any one of the eight institutions.

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