Archive for the ‘Arts’ Category

Historic postcards featured in 2011′Bridgeport By the Sea’ calendars

Thursday, December 23, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis A.S. Boros

Jeffrey Williams, publisher of the Bridgeport By The Sea calendars, wants to remind the public that copies of the 2011 edition are still available at 17 locations throughout the region.

Here’s his notice: “Colorful, nostalgic and historic postcard images once again bring to life Connecticut’s largest city in the earlier part of the 20th century. “

”Frolic & Fun in the Park City” is the theme of this calendar, which is the sixth that Williams has created as ”testaments to Bridgeport’s glorious past in an effort to educate younger residents while providing scrapbook pictures for those who still ‘remember when.’ “

Williams says that next year’s calendar will celebrate Bridgeport’s 175th anniversary as well as marking the 50th anniversary of the closing of Black Rock’s beloved Ritz Ballroom.

Calendars, which are $12 each, are available at the following:

BRIDGEPORT – Helen Antoniak’s Greeting Cards, Barnum Museum, City Lights Gallery, Hillview Superette, Lupe’s Drug Store, White’s Diner

STRATFORD – Clough’s Hardware, Oronoque Pharmacy

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield Stationers

EASTON - Easton Library

TRUMBULL – Frances Bakery

MONROE – Jennie’s Pizza

SHELTON - Center Services, Sassafras Restaurant, Written Words Bookshop

MILFORD – Graphic Image Printers

Phone orders may be made by calling (800) 529-8497. A limited number of 2010 calendars are also available at $5.00 each for those who missed getting one.

Milford group honors Revolutionary War soldiers in New Year’s Eve program

Thursday, December 23, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of Arts Writer Phyllis A.S. Boros

This just in from the Milford Preservation Trust. . . The group will pay tribute to the 200 Revolutionary War soldiers who were put ashore in Milford by the British in 1777 with a Dec. 31 program at Gulf Beach and Milford Cemetery.

Here’s the group’s announcement:

Milford Preservation Trust will light luminaries at Gulf Beach and at Milford Cemetery on Dec. 31 at 4:30 p.m. in an annual ceremony that honors the 200 Revolutionary War soldiers put ashore in Milford Harbor in 1777.

According to the Trust, the men were put ashore in Milford harbor because they were sick and dying; in fact, 46 of these Revolutionary War soldiers (all imprisoned by the British following New York battles) as well as Capt. Stephen Stow, who cared for them, died of smallpox. The monument in Milford Cemetery commemorates the event. The soldiers are believed to be buried nearby in a mass grave.

The public is invited to attend and participate, in period dress costume if desired. The ceremony will begin at Gulf Beach at 4:30 and then proceed to the cemetery.

For more information, contact Regina Cahill, president of the Milford Preservation Trust, at 203-877-7620.

‘Bridgeport’s Bravest’ a thing of beauty

Monday, December 13, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis A.S. Boros

The 2011 “Bridgeport’s Bravest”calendar may not be high art (like paintings from Monet or van Gogh!) but it is nonetheless a thing of beauty!

That was overwhelming response to the calendar at a recent launch party at the Bridgeport Holiday Inn’s Blue Martini bar. The calendar features the alluring (but perfectly respectable) portraits of 12 Bridgeport firefighters — three women and nine men.

There’s still time to purchase calendars for holiday gift-giving, points out mayoral spokeswoman Elaine K. Ficarra, who spearheaded the calendar project. All the calendar portraits were shot by veteran photo-journalist Wayne Ratzenberger, and Dr. Jennifer Lynne was in charge of calendar fundraising and sponsorship.

Proceeds will benefit the Fallen Firefighters Fund, created in memory of 16-year veteran Lt. Steven Velasquez and three-year veteran Firefighter Michel Baik, who lost their lives in the the line of duty while battling a blaze on Elmwood Avenue on July 24.

Copies of the calendar ($15) may be purchased at The Backstroke, 181 State St. (across from McLevy Green) in downtown Bridgeport and at the following:

Milford Photo, 22 River St., Milford;

Wood’s End Deli, 900 Wood Avenue, Bridgeport;

Harborview Market, 218 Harborview Avenue, Bridgeport;

and at The Engine 7-Ladder 11 Firehouse, at 245 Ocean Terrace, Bridgeport.

They also may be ordered online from the Bridgeport Firefighters Union Local 834 at www.local834.org ($15, plus $5 for shipping and handling).

Ficarra says that a similar calendar, devoted to Bridgeport’s Police Department, is being considered for next year.

Local artist to make ESPN appearances

Thursday, October 28, 2010 by:Amanda Cuda

Fairfield native Craig Smith is slated to take the national stage Friday and Sunday when he will appear on two separate ESPN programs with some of his “pumpkin art.” The local artist — whose creations include the

“Metal Monster,” a 22-foot-long , 10-foot high dinosaur that now sits at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport — will appear on “ESPN First Take” tomorrow. The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon on ESPN2. Smith said he’s going to appear with a pumpkin that he’s engraved with the image of NBA star LeBron James. On Sunday, he’ll appear on “Sunday NFL Countdown,” which airs 11 a.m. on ESPN, with 11 pumpkins he’s carved with the images of various athletes and ESPN personalities.

Timex unveils new sundial for Shakespeare theater

Friday, October 22, 2010 by:Brittany Lyte

Timex unveiled a new sundial at the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford Friday, Oct. 22. It replaces the old one that was also made by Timex.

Scenes from the Shippan Designer Showhouse

Sunday, October 17, 2010 by:Lee Steele

Got these photos from the Shippan Designer Showhouse in Stamford. Click ‘em to see ‘em larger.

The Showhouse folks are roughly halfway through their run, so if you’ve been meaning to go, don’t put it off any longer. The Showhouse benefits the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.

There’s a blog for the Showhouse at www.leesteele.com.

Art and engineering: City Lights Gallery in motion

Monday, October 11, 2010 by:Lee Steele

Suzanne Kachmar

Today being Columbus Day, downtown Bridgeport was practically shut down. Practically nothing was moving. Then I wandered into the City Lights Gallery, where the Kinetic Art show was being installed. Everything was in motion.

As I walked in, Brooklyn artist Daniel Wurtzel was experimenting with some household-type fans in a circle on the floor. They were aimed at what looked like gigantic beach balls and he was trying to keep them suspended. The orbs wouldn’t obey and kept drifting outside the space. Then Suzanne Kachmar, the gallery director, brought in bags of packing foam. The dread inside me started to rise.

“View art that whirls, rolls and spins; on the walls , on the floor, in the air,” promises gallery director Suzanne Kachmar in the publicity for the show. But I couldn’t imagine packing foam doing anything but creating havoc. Would I be spending the rest of the day picking foam pieces out of my hair?

I turned my back to the whole thing as Suzanne showed me some pieces already installed. Dan Makara, Richard Griggs, Helen Zajkowski all had works in place. Curator Suzan Shutan did a marvelous job. I know they spent months trying to find those rare artists capable of creating objects of beauty that also incorporate small feats of engineering.

Then I turned around and in the corner of a far wall, like a sorcerer in “Fantasia,” Wurtzel made the foam pieces dance in the air at his command. The small blizzard was contained to his corner of the room. It was a stunning and beautiful sight to behold. Later, I saw other examples from his website that convinced me he’s in familiar territory. He knows exactly how to combine fans and common objects dance and swirl with either seductive moves or sheer fury.

City Lights is up against a tough deadline, so they’d better keep moving. Kinetic Art opens Wednesday, Oct. 13 . runs until Tuesday, Nov. 16. This exhibit is sponsored by the Aquarion Water Co. — Lee Steele

Fairfielder donates Moore painting to Housatonic museum

Friday, October 1, 2010 by:Phyllis Boros

From the desk of arts writer Phyllis A.S. Boros

Robbin Zella, director of the Housatonic Museum of Art, announced Friday afternoon that retired Fairfield lawyer Joseph H. Sweeney has donated “Ice at Bass Cove,” by the Maine artist Robert Eric Moore, to Housatonic Community College’s permanent art collection.

The acrylic painting isfrom Sweeney’s personal collection, which also includes the works of Connecticut artists George Strickland and J. Von Hammill, as well as Asian works in various media.

The museum’s permanent collection, considered among the finest of any two-year college in the United States, includes works by such masters as Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Miro and Chagall. All pieces were donated to the college.

Robert Eric Moore (1927-2006) was raised in New Hampshire, but spent his school vacations at his grandparent’s summer home at York Beach in Maine, Zella explains.

Zella says his painting style skillfully combines both abstract and representational features, and is characterized by stylized natural shapes set against hard-edge abstracted forms. This juxtaposition creates a tension and an explosive energy that seems at odds with his predominately cool, muted palette. His use of traditional transparent washes of watercolor is typically integrated with the less common use of opaquely painted areas; both are often covered with a pattern or texture suggestive of flowers, crashing waves, falling snow or the tracks of an animal.

This mixture of disparate perspectives, styles and techniques result in unique images that make Moore’s work immediately recognizable and widely appreciated, she adds.

Details on where and when the painting will be displayed were not immediately available.

Moore’s watercolor and acrylic paintings have been exhibited in such major venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the De Cordova Museum, the Portland Museum of Art and the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.

The HMA is at Housatonic Community College, 900 Lafayette Boulevard in downtown Bridgeport (exit 27 off Interstate 95). The collection, which is hung in hallways and other public areas throughout the college, may be viewed during hours when the college is open. For more information, call 203-332-5052. Free parking is available in the HCC garage.

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