Area Events and Holiday Programs

 

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. Please check with the individual venue when making plans.

For the Holidays:  Performances, Art Markets and Historic House Tours

November 26 – December 30 – December Classic Mansion Tours at Lyndhurst, 635 S. Broadway, Tarrytown, NY. During this month only, Lyndhurst’s curators bring out rarely seen items that belonged to the former owners, the Goulds. This is a once-a-year opportunity to see many of the Goulds’ glittering possessions that are usually tucked away in their archives. See Lyndhurst mansion transformed into an extravagant wonderland of holiday splendor. Described as one of the “Ten Best Historic Holiday Tours” by USA Today, Lyndhurst goes all-out during the holiday season, filling the mansion with elaborate tableaus of décor, which change every year. Dozens of Christmas trees are expertly decorated and designed to complement the elegant period furnishings within the rooms of the house. Tours are offered every hour from 10 am to 4 pm, Thursdays through Mondays. Tours last approximately one hour. For more: lyndhurst.org.

November 23 – December 31 – Glenview Decorated for the Holidays at Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers, NY. This season, the six period rooms of Glenview, the Museum’s Gilded-Age home on the National Register of Historic Places, will be decorated for the holidays Friday, November 23 through December 31, 2018. The Library, Parlor, Great Hall, Sitting Room, Dining Room, and the Billiard Room are hung with garlands, baubles, and trees in full Victorian splendor. Each room is defined by a specific color scheme, and arrangements use a combination of traditional Victorian elements such as kissing balls, wreaths, and period toys from the collection, along with designs that boast a contemporary flair, such as a rainbow-colored tree in the Great Hall. Miniature decor will also embellish Nybelwyck Hall, a 24-room dollhouse on permanent display, curated by Darren Scala, owner of D. Thomas Fine Miniatures. For more: hrm.org.

 

Through December 22 – Clay Holiday: Annual Sale and Tour at Clay Arts Center, 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY. Start the Holiday Season with Clay Art Center’s highly coveted Clay Holiday Annual Sale. Shop Local & Give Hand-made! The sale features hundreds of pieces of functional pottery and ceramic sculpture by local and nationally recognized artists. It is an opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind clay art for holiday gift-giving as well as for one’s own use. Discover the area’s only ceramic center, where sculptors and potters work in a cooperative environment. Visitors are welcome to tour our artists’ studio spaces and meet the artists. Don’t miss their Ornament Wall – hundreds of hand-made ceramic holiday keepsakes. For more: clayartcenter.org.

November 23 – January 6 – A Magical Christmas Eve at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT. Tour times: 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum kicks off the Holiday Season the day after Thanksgiving with a new exhibition titled A Magical Christmas Eve at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, which will open at noon on Friday, November 23, 2018. The exhibit, curated by Trustee Mimi Findlay and the LMMM Curatorial Committee, will capture the enchantment and excitement of the night before Christmas and explore Christmas Eve as it was celebrated by the Lockwood and the Mathews families. The Mansion will also feature 21st century holiday decorations with magnificent trees and seasonal displays by Trustee and renowned interior designers Victoria Vandamm of Vandamm Interiors, Marcia Taylor-Reid of Taylor Reid Design and Danna DiElsi owner of The Silk Touch, who will adorn the Herter Brothers’ grand Victorian staircase with white poinsettias and shimmering gold and silver garlands. For more: lockwoodmathewsmansion.com.  

December 6 – 29 (Thursdays – Saturdays), 1 – 4 pm – John Jay Homestead Holiday Tours, John Jay Homestead, 400 Jay Street, Katonah, NY – Celebrate the holiday season at John Jay Homestead with a guided tour of John Jay’s historic Bedford House focusing on the holiday traditions and decorations of the 1820s. Tours are offered on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and students with ID, children 12 and under and members of Friends of John Jay Homestead are free. Tickets are sold out of the glass porch in the Main house, to the left of the front porch. December 20 – 22 – Candlelight Tours: These unique guided tours focus on holiday traditions and decorations of the 1820s, register on their website for dates and times offered. For more: johnjayhomestead.org.

December 8, 9, 15 & 16, see website for times – Historic Hudson Valley’s Dickens’s Christmas Carol at Old Dutch Church, 430 Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY. Experience the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge like never before with Dickens’s Christmas Carol at Historic Hudson Valley. Nestle into the historic Old Dutch Church and let master storyteller Jonathan Kruk regale you with his adaptation of Charles Dickens’s holiday classic, complete with musical accompaniment. For more: hudsonvalley.org.

Wednesday, December 12, 8:00 pm  – Bedford Chamber Holiday Concert – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons as well as a double and a triple concerto for strings in the Fellowship Room of the Parish House of St. Matthews Episcopal Church, 382 Cantitoe Street, Bedford, NY. Bedford Chamber Concerts presents great music of the baroque, classical and romantic eras, spiced occasionally with music of the twentieth century or new music composed by their Music Director, Anthony Newman. Since Bedford Chamber Concerts’ inaugural season in 2000-2001, performances have been held in the acoustically excellent Fellowship Room of Saint Matthew’s Church in Bedford, New York. A special feature of their concerts is that the performance space holds a maximum of about one hundred and seventy-five people, allowing chamber music to be performed in the intimate setting the composers intended. For more: bedfordchamberconcerts.org.

Wednesday, December 12, 5:30 pm – Opening Night for Grand Holiday Illumination at Untermyer Park & Gardens, 945 North Broadway, Yonkers, NY. The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, a non-profit organization working in partnership with the City of Yonkers, announces the Opening Ceremony for its third annual Grand Holiday Illumination at the Walled Garden. The event is free and opens to the public on Wednesday, December 12 at 5:30 PM. The Walled Garden will be brilliantly illuminated with festive holiday lights, highlighting the rich architectural and horticultural elements of the garden. Beautiful seasonal music in the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Zoroastrian traditions will be played. On December 12, the Illumination will be opened with the sequential lighting of various sections of the Walled Garden. The Illumination will take place every night from December 13 – January 1 from 4:00 until 8:00 PM. Hot chocolate will be served by various community groups on most evenings. For more: untermyergardens.org.

December 14 & 15, 8:00 pm – Rob Mathes 25th Holiday Concert Anniversary: Special Guests Include Sting, Vanessa Williams and David Sanborn, Performing Holiday-Themed Songs at Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. Emmy winner and Grammy, Tony, and Drama Desk-nominated arranger and composer, music producer/director, and singer/songwriter Rob Mathes returns to the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, on Friday, December 14, and Saturday, December 15, at 8:00 p.m., for the annual Rob Mathes Holiday Concert. Rob is celebrating 25 years of performing his annual holiday concert and is honored to be joined this year by special guests Sting, Vanessa Williams and saxophonist David Sanborn, who will each perform a couple holiday-themed songs with Rob and the band. For more: artscenter.org.

Saturday, December 15, 4:30 and 6:00 pm – A Christmas at Boscobel with the Putnam Chorale at Boscobel House and Gardens, 1601 Route 9D, Garrison, NY. Putnam Chorale Music Director Douglas Anderson selects and directs holiday music that would have been heard in American churches and homes in the early 19th century, reflecting life as it would have been lived at Boscobel. Guests are welcome to arrive fifteen minutes early to enjoy the first floor rooms of the Historic House Museum, beautifully decorated for the holidays. Performances will take place in the Entrance Hall of the mansion followed by a reception in the Gallery. (Advance registration recommended). Program includes Gloria by Vivaldi, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, and other traditional carols. For more: boscobel.org.

December 15 & 16, 1 & 5 pm – Connecticut Ballet’s The Nutcracker at The Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT.Connecticut Ballet’s annual production is a staple of holiday entertainment in the region. Join Clara Stahlbaum as she travels with her Uncle Drosselmeyer thru the Land of the Snowflakes to the Land of the Sweets, meeting exciting characters danced by the professional corps de ballets. The Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier will be danced by guest stars Lauren Lovette and Taylor Stanley of New York City Ballet (December 15) and Devon Teuscher and Alexandre Hammoudi of American Ballet Theatre (December 16th). Come early and do some holiday shopping at the Nutcracker Holiday Boutique or stay afterwards to meet the guest stars in the lobby. For performance times and more: connecticut ballet.org and  palacestamford.org.

Saturday, December 15, 5:00 pm – Bach to Pops: Magnificat and More with Norwalk Symphony at Norwalk Concert Hall, 125 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT. A wide selection of holiday music will be performed at the Norwalk Symphony’s Joys of the Season Concert. Works in the program include Bach’s Magnificat, with soloists and the Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Snowflakes, Bizet’s Farandole from L’Arlésienne, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, and other Christmas and Chanukah favorites. For more:  norwalksymphony.org.

Sunday, December 16, 3:00 pm – Holiday Concert with Fairfield County Chorale, Norwalk Concert Hall, 125 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT. Enjoy holiday music from unexpected sources — including the stunning Misa Tango by Argentinian composer Martín Palmeri, and Italian composer Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Romancero Gitano — plus a selection of your holiday favorites! This critically-acclaimed group, led by music director David Rosenmeyer, is now in its 56th year of presenting great choral works in southwestern Connecticut. The mission of the Fairfield County Chorale is to perform a broad range of choral music for the benefit of the community, and to champion the appreciation of excellence in choral literature. For more: fairfieldcountychorale.org.

Sunday, December 16 at 2 & 5pm and Saturday December 22 at 3 & 7pm – Nutcracker Dream with Ballet des Amériques at Emelin Theater, 56 Library Lane, Mamaroneck, NY. The Emelin Theatre comes together with renowned choreographer Carole Alexis to present The Nutcracker featuring the professional dance company Ballet des Amériques. Alexis’ Nutcracker Dream is a special one hour, family-friendly adaptation of the classic ballet, inspired by the work of Marius Petipa and Rudolf Nureyev. Carole Alexis created Nutcracker Dream to bring families and friends together around what she believes is the essence of the story, namely the beautiful balance between Marie’s childhood playfulness and her coming of age in the midst of family and friends. The Emelin Theatre is thrilled to present this professional adaptation of the beloved ballet for the enjoyment of family audiences throughout Westchester. Looking to collaborate with Westchester-based artists, the Emelin sought out Carole Alexis and Ballet des Amériques, whose quality, cultural knowledge and artistic vision brings world-class art to its family and holiday season programming. For performance times and more: emelin.org.

Sunday, December 16, 3:00 pm – Westchester Philharmonic: Winter Pops! at The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. The exuberant maestra and Rockland native Rachael Worby is welcomed to the stage with the Westchester Philharmonic for their winter concert at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. Worby is an acclaimed conductor who has served as Music Director of the Pasadena Pops, Wheeling Symphony, and Carnegie Hall’s Young People’s Concerts, guest-conducts around the world with legendary soprano Jessye Norman, and leads her own LA-based ensemble, Muse/ique. Joining her and the Westchester Philharmonic will be Time for Three (violists Nicolas Kendall and Charles Yang, bassist Ranaan Meyer), who happily and infectiously defy genre classification, performing music from Bach to Brahms to bluegrass to the Beatles. Light classics, American Songbook gems, and holiday favorites round out the program. For more: artscenter.org.

Sunday, December 16, 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Candlelight 2018 at Greenwich Historical Society’s Bush-Holley House, 47 Strickland Road, Cos Cob, CT. Greenwich Historical Society’s annual Candlelight event is a festive evening that offers a tour of Bush-Holley House done up in holiday style. The family-friendly tours last roughly 45 minutes and interpret Christmas traditions as they were celebrated by the Bush and Holley families in the Colonial and art colony eras. Music, hot chocolate, holiday treats, a visit from Santa Claus (5:00–7:00 pm) and craft projects for kids will also be offered in the Vanderbilt Education Center. Tours are first-come, first-served and leave every 15 minutes until 6:30 pm. Visitors will also have the opportunity to see the exhibitions in the new museum building. For more information and to register: greenwichhistory.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. Holiday offerings inculde: The Nutcracker from the Royal Opera House in London on December 20 at 6:00 pm or It’s a Wonderful Life on December 22-25. 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 & 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

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

Sunday, December 16, 3:00 pm – Memories and Premonitions at Copland House at Merestead, 455 Byram Lake Road, Mt. Kisco, NY. Sounds and spirits of the past often inhabit the music of the present. The ghosts of Wolfgang Mozart, Johannes Brahms, klezmer, ragtime, Peruvian folk music, and Hindustani vocal music hover over works by William Albright, Gabriela Lena Frank, and 2012 CULTIVATE Fellow Reena Esmail. For more: coplandhouse.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

Through December 21, 2018 – The Stillness In Between: Photographs by Luciana McClure and Cam Gould at Gallery at Still River Editions, 128 East Liberty Street, Danbury, CT. We live in a world of visual over-stimulation. From constantly flickering screens to overly bright billboards, our eyes and minds have little chance for rest. The images in this exhibition are an antidote to the frenzy. The work of Luciana McClure and Cam Gould demonstrates a simplicity and stillness that allows the viewer to appreciate the elemental beauty of a scene. Like poetry in visual form, the images include only what is necessary to evoke a mood, thought, or feeling. Luciana McClure is a photographer and multi-visual artist who grew up in Brazil and has been making photographs for over 17 years. Cam Gould grew up in rural Maine and spent his free time exploring the forest and fields surrounding his home.  The rhythms and patterns of the natural world became ingrained in his conscience and continue to inform his artistic endeavors. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 8:30am – 5:00pm. For more: stillrivereditions.com. 

December 1, 2018 – March 3, 2019 – Pressed for Time: Botanical Collecting as Genteel Pastime or Scientific Pursuit? at Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT. Presented in the Bantle Lecture Gallery, the exhibition Pressed for Time: Botanical Collecting as Genteel Pastime or Scientific Pursuit? explores the hobby and profession of plant collecting around the turn of the nineteenth century.  Starting in the 1820s, botanical collecting became a hugely popular outdoor activity for both amateurs and professionals. Plant collecting was an acceptable activity for women, children, and gentlemen alike. For decades, amateurs and academics respected each other as colleagues, publishing articles in the same journals, exchanging specimens, and considered one another peers. But by 1900, a divide developed between the two camps that fractured the former collaborative spirit. As botanists moved toward academic and scholarly work, local clubs of amateur enthusiasts carried on the tradition of collecting and pressing plants as a hobby. Highlighting amateur collectors in Connecticut from 1885 – 1944, this exhibition presents beautiful and fragile historical herbarium specimens. For more: brucemuseum.org.

November 18 – December 20, 2018 – Guild Group Exhibition at Silvermine Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan, CT. The Silvermine Galleries will present a Guild Group Exhibition with new work by 44 members of the Silvermine Guild of Artists. The exhibition is curated by Susan Eisner Eley of Susan Eley Fine Art, the salon-style gallery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The public is invited to an opening reception on Sun., Nov. 18 from 2-4 pm, and the exhibition runs through Dec. 20. As it nears its Centennial, Silvermine celebrates its extraordinarily accomplished painters, sculptors, printmakers, and collage and mixed media artists. Visitors will be able to see new work and new explorations in this wide-ranging, end-of-the-year Guild Group Exhibition. For more: silvermineart.org.

November 16 – December 30, 2018 – Handwright Gallery Annual Holiday Show, Handwright Gallery, 93 Main Street, New Canaan, CT. Stop in for the Handwright Gallery Annual Holiday Show, exhibiting works by James Coe, Patricia Davis-Ganek, Mireille Duchesne, Carolyn Edlund, Katherine Evans, Karen Fitzgerald, Rose-Marie Fox, Linda George, Jeff Gola, Dana Goodfellow, Dick McEvoy, Vera Rahn, Claudia Seymour, George Van Hook, and Antonia Walker.  There will be a public opening reception on Friday, November 16, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. For more: handwrightgallery.com.

November 3, 2018 – January 12, 2019 – Room for Play at Heather Gaudio Fine Art, 66 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT. Heather Gaudio Fine Art opens Room for Play, a group exhibition featuring works by Ellen Carey, Deborah Kass, Robert Sagerman and Andrés Schiavo. A public reception will be held on November 30th , 5-7 pm, to coincide with the New Canaan Holiday Stroll. The artists in this exhibition are working with imaginative and distinct processes to create colorful and engaging visual experiences. Ellen Carey has been a groundbreaking experimental photographer for several decades, producing abstract images through the use of lens-based and camera-less methods. Deborah Kass acknowledges art historical forebears such as Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha in works that appropriate and reclaim imagery and linguistics. Robert Sagerman combines mysticism and investigation of color relationships in his paintings. Equally labor-intensive but approaching his creativity from a different context, Andrés Schiavo’s sculptures emerge from his compulsive and obsessive processes. Using colorful pencils as his primary medium, Schiavo makes intricate arrangements that are geometric sculptural forms, at times referencing landscapes or objects found in nature. For more: heathergaudiofineart.com.

November 3 – January 27, 2019 – Downsized: Small Scale Sculpture by Contemporary Artists at Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT. A miniatures show has been a biennial Bruce Museum holiday tradition for over 35 years—come take a peek when Downsized: Small-Scale Sculpture by Contemporary Artists opens to the public in the Museum’s Arcade gallery. Enticing viewers to take a closer look, this exhibition of miniatures, models, and dioramas explores interior and exterior architecture in a range of scales. Some works contemplate the structure and its place in history as a monument to architectural creativity. Others pay homage to the history of an urban environment or to the emotions elicited by places close to our hearts. Yet others depict fanciful, surreal places that could only exist in miniature. The sculptures encourage observers to suspend their perception of reality and to invent their own narrative. These mixed media sculptures fascinate because of the juxtaposition of size and subject and elicit amazement at the precision of the workmanship. For more: brucemuseum.org.

October 26 – December 15, 2018 – Mohamad Hafez: Collateral Damage at Fairfield University Art Museum at Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT. cMohamad Hafez: Collateral Damage features a selection of work across multiple projects, including the site-specific installation Sea Garbage, as well as pieces from his Baggage series, in which the artist creates tableaus suggestive of the experience of refugees – many of whom are forced to flee their homes at short notice, or with only as much as they can carry – and places them inside vintage suitcases. This exhibition also features selected works by two contemporary Syrian artists, photographer and digital artist Hala el-Abed and filmmaker Waref abu Quba, which explore themes of violence and loss centered around the Syrian refugee crisis. For information on programs and the exhibition: fairfield.edu.

October 21, 2018 – January 27, 2018 – Outrageous Ornament: Extreme Jewelry in the 21st Century at Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street, Katonah, NY. In recognition of the universal passion for and power of jewelry, the Katonah Museum of Art opens the 2018 fall season with Outrageous Ornament: Extreme Jewelry in the 21st Century curated by Jane Adlin, who in her role of curator of modern and contemporary design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, organized the Jewels by JAR and Cartier 1900-1939 exhibitions. In Outrageous Ornament, the KMA presents provocative work by internationally renowned artists which expand the boundaries and our understanding of personal adornment. For more: katonahmuseum.org.

October 14, 2018 – January 19, 2019 – Helena Hernmarck: Weaving In Progress at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT. In addition to exhibiting a selection of her work, Hernmarck, one of the most important contemporary figures in the evolving history of woven tapestries, will be in residence at the Museum through January 12, 2019. Hernmarck began her career in the 1960s; unlike many of her contemporaries, she focused her practice on the pictorial, rather than sculptural form and abstraction. Influenced by pop culture, her mature style evolved into the creation of often-monumental tapestries that exhibit complex illusionary space and diverse subject matter, including trompe l’oeil, landscape, still life, and the human figure. During Weaving in Progress, the gallery space will not only exhibit a selection of tapestries, but also function as a weaving studio. Three days a week, Hernmarck and her apprentice Mae Colburn, will be working at the artist’s five-foot-wide Glimåkra Countermarch loom. An inventory of the wool used in the process will be on view, along with a display of materials from the artist’s archive, including photographs, watercolors, drawings, prototype samples, and other ephemera that illustrate and inform her process and the evolution of her career. For residency dates, programs and more: aldrichart.org.

October 12, 2018 – January 20, 2019 – Maya Lin: A River Is a Drawing – An Immersive, Site-Specific Exhibition that Explores the Geology and Topography of the Hudson River and the Effects of Climate Change at Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers, NY. A recipient of the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom for her outstanding contributions as an artist, architect, and environmental activist, Maya Lin (born 1959) sees and interprets the natural world through art, science, history, and culture. Maya Lin: A River Is a Drawing is a groundbreaking exhibition developed in close collaboration between the HRM and this visionary artist, focusing on the theme of the Hudson River. With the Museum’s architectural features and location along the banks of the river as a potent backdrop, Lin will create a series of new works and ambitious site-specific installations that invite visitors to interact. The exhibition will be presented in seven sections, with all of the new works created along the theme of the Hudson River. For more: hrm.org.

September 22 – December 30, 2018 – ReTooled: Highlights from the Hechinger Collection at Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT. Featuring more than 40 richly imaginative, quirky, and thought-provoking paintings, sculptures, photographs, and sketches, ReTooled celebrates the prevalence of tools in our lives with art that magically transforms utilitarian objects into fanciful works that speak of beauty, insight, and wit. The Bruce Museum’s signature fall exhibition, ReTooled profiles 28 visionary artists from the Hechinger Collection and includes major artists such as Arman, Richard Estes, Howard Finster, Red Grooms, Jacob Lawrence, and Fernand Léger; photographers Berenice Abbott and Walker Evans; as well as pop artists Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, and James Rosenquist. For more: brucemuseum.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.

May 20 – January 13, 2019 – The Domestic Plane at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT. The Domestic Plane (May 20 – January 13, 2019) This is a meta-group exhibition in five chapters—organized by five curators, including more than seventy artists—that will feature tabletop art objects from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The experience could be likened to theatre, as viewers encounter objects that interact with each other, their audience, their setting, forging relationships to be examined and meanings to be discovered in their adventurous methods of display.  Pictured, Double Cherry by Genesis Belanger, from Objects Like Us, from The Domestic Plane: Genesis Belanger, Double Cherry, 2017. For more: aldrichart.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 Center for 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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