CityWideOpenStudios This Year

Erector Square, located at 315 Peck Street in New Haven, was once home to the most popular kids' building toy in the world.  Envisioned by A.C. Gilbert just about 100 years ago, his invention, inspired in trainsit between New Haven and New York, on the train line which is now Metro North.

Today, it houses the studio spaces for many of the more prolific artists in town, as you will see in the video below.  In the words of Steve from Hulls on Chapel Street (an independently owned art store downtown), Erector Square's open studios helps New Haven by "giving something to the ages; i think that's very exciting for the whole city."


CWOS from #NHV on Vimeo.  Music by L.S. Aristotle

We went and took a random sample of a few artists and composed a video featuring a few of their works, arbitrarily; even the length of footage in each segment is different.  But the point remains the same:  New Haven artists are working hard to keep up with the level of ingenuity of A.C. Gilbert, and the creative spirit of the building seems to reverberate in the works made visible to the public during this annual event.

Organized by ArtSpace, CWOS (CityWide Open Studios) is the largest arts-oriented event in the city all year, and is the largest public event in the month of October (overshadowed only by the inauguration of Yale presidents on a rare occasion).

The Official Guide to CityWide Open Studios can be found by clicking the words you just recently encountered (the only hypertext link in this sentence).  It's in PDF format.

The schedule for this year's events are as follows:
Oct 4      Opening Party
Oct 12–13      Erector Square, 315 Peck Street
Oct 19–20      Passport Weekend, Private Studios
Oct 26–27      Alternative Space, Goffe Street Armory

Artwork seen in the video (in order of appearance):

Jaime A. Kriksciun - Stained Glass
specilaizing in unique stained glass work

Martha Lewis - Drawings, "The Elaboratory"
marthalewis.com

Bregamos Theater Unidad Latina en Accion
ULAccion.org

Regina Thomas - Collage, Mixed Media
reginathomas.com

Lani Asuncion - Video Artist
LaniAsuncion.com

In particular, you can watch parts of Lani's videos here.  Unidad latina en Accion is hosting a "Day of the Dead" Parade and Celebration on Sat. November 2 at 4pm (see calendar).

Bregamos Theater, within the Peck St. (A.C. Gilbert) facility will also be making giant puppets, instruments, and et cetera on Sundays all month in October from 1-5pm.  That's free and for all ages.  You can call them if you'd like to be a part of it.

meeting artists (*unlisted)
Inquiries about any of these artists may be reached, if no website is available, via the email address of this website:  nhv.org@gmail.com

Click for CWOS.Org

Web Versions: Arts Council

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents Web Versions

image: Suzan Shutan

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven is pleased to announce Web Versions, its second show at Perspectives… The Gallery at Whitney Center at 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden, Connecticut, south entrance. An artist reception will take place on Saturday, February 23rd from 2 to 4 p.m. There will be an artist talk at 1:30 p.m. and origami artist Benjamin Parker will be demonstrating his unique paper tessellations process.

Web Versions was curated by Debbie Hesse and Steve Olsen. According to Hesse, “While the title Web Versions suggests the online realm of virtual interconnectedness, this exhibit explores ways artists embrace the low tech, often labor-intensive material world to present meditations on the passage of time.”

Artwork in the show, diverse in media, by Sean Boggs, Kevin Daly, Sarah Beth Goncarova, Mary Judge, Benjamin Parker, Suzan Shutan, Marjorie Sopkin and Thomas Stavovy, share a fascination with repetitive pattern, scale and color to reference traditions of textiles.

Boggs’ oversized, swirling, bulls-eye wall sculpture, constructed from fake fur and googly-eyes, creates a compelling optical illusion. Googly-eyes, a simple craft supply that evokes childhood memories of toys, dolls and school craft projects, serve as a module to create an abstract, mandala-like motorized object that turns 360 degrees so slowly that only a few sections of googly-eyes gently flicker at a time.

Geometry plays a role in the paintings on view by Kevin Daly, who orchestrates brilliantly colored, hard edge abstract shapes that are slightly off kilter to confound perceptions of order and space. 

Goncarova, in her large-scale textile sculptures, turns piles of muted, monochromatic, painted, ripped up canvas, thread, and beads into cavernous, organic topographies. These works, titled by the month(s) they were made, emphasizing the amount of time she spends creating each piece.

Mary Judge combines dry pigment and stenciled pinhole patterns in her mandalas, a process she adapted from Renaissance painting transfer techniques, that are both restrained and complex.

Benjamin Parker takes the craft of origami to new heights in his intricate, paper folding tessellations. His mathematically complex diagrams and patterns are the result of pleating and corrugating a single sheet of paper to create modular sculptural forms. 

Suzan Shutan’s organic sculpture “Loopy” is an aggregate of rolled strips of tar paper formed into molecular-like structures that transverse a large section of wall. Her use of tar paper, made in part from asphalt, warns us that these playful, whimsical forms are, in fact, created from toxic materials; here she draws attention to sustainability issues such as our need for and dependence upon oil.

Marjorie Sopkin’s colorful pastel paintings, filled with overlapping, energetic and gestural marks, create a rich tapestry reminiscent of color field painting. 

Thomas Stavovy’s etchings are drawn with delicate gestural meshes of interwoven lines that correspond to states of being. 

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Web Versions will be on view through March 30^th, 2013. The gallery is open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.

For more information about Web Versions and Perspectives...The Gallery at Whitney Center, call the Arts Council at (203) 772-2788.

#Nhv On Kickstarter

This page, curated by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, features many successful "Kickstarter" platform fundraisers.  You can stay up to date on some of the upcoming happenings by checking this feature regularly.

June 16th-30th: International Festival of Arts and Ideas

most of the events are free.

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas (ArtIdea.Org) begins June 16th.  There are tons of events (too many to list) but worth diving into their Calendar.

From Their Site:  
"The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a 15-day festival of performing arts, lectures, and conversations that celebrates the greatest artists and thinkers from around the world. Each June, the Festival takes over the theaters, open spaces, and courtyards of New Haven, Connecticut with performances and dialogues that tickle the senses, engage the mind, and inspire the soul."

"More than 80% of Festival programs are completely free to the public, including events that feature some of the most prestigious jazz, classical, dance, and theater artists in the world. The Festival’s programs have an impact throughout the year, including engagement and educational programming such as the Festival Fellowship Program for underserved youth, and the Visionary Leadership Award held in autumn of each year." [source]


Check out their official website ArtIdea.Org for a full list of events and more information.  The festival runs for two weeks straight and there are dozens of events planned everyday.  There is also a comprehensive list of video previews to watch on their site.

Something fun for today.

As seen on Calendars.  Something fun for this weekend!  Saturday, June 2.  Also, InsideoutNHV will be hanging their wheatpastings at the corner of Humphrey and State....

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Creative Arts Workshop Schedule 2012

[Link]

Sculpture Review: Ark II

Location:  John Slade Ely House, 51 Trumbull St.  (http://www.elyhouse.org/)

Artist:  Peter Waite (see his site for a collection of escalator paintings here)

You too can "stumble upon" great things in real life.
Here are a few pretty good photographs, taken with the artist's permission:

The artist, Peter Waite, has this to say:

"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air, you can never recapture it again." -Eric Dolphy

"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."
-Prof. Irwin Corey

The Ark II is blasting off...watch out for those pesky take-offs and landings! Things were hobbled together in a hurry but all systems are GO. Animals were paired off as best as possible in the limited time remaining, but some didn't make the cut and there's one really pissed off Black Panther! There seems to be a whole bunch of pigs...one lone wolf contributes to the general excitement of the moment by howling into the PA system. The original Noah was not to be found, so a "new" one has stepped up to the plate...he's a retired business man from Wallingford, ( once owned a plumbing supply company) and he's done an admirable job so far, considering the enormity of the task...he's there on the bow, he's a determined man to be sure, facing forward, in spite of the fact that there may not be a mate for him either... oh well! The Ark II is launched! Dinosaurs, automobiles, unicorns and world religions make up the fuel source...can't mix it any other way, it'd be too rich to burn just one and it'd surely all blow...

Stay tuned for great arts coverage.

Sound Hall

On November 15, I was invited to yet another free and amazing New Haven happening, Sound Hall. In the words of its organizers, “The SOUND HALL series gathers diverse audiences together in various public spaces throughout New Haven, with the aim of creating meaningful spaces for collective listening.” That night, the event happened to take place in Beinecke library which is pretty much the perfect hosting ground for anything.

The topic of the night was Johnny Otis- a musician, educator, advocate, disc-jockey, and one of the most influential people in the development of R&B and Rock and Roll, among about a hundred other things. A very engaging speaker, Mr. George Lipsitz, shared intimate and familiar stories of Johnny Otis’ life. What was even more engaging was that he discussed the parallels and intersections of music and social justice movements. In particular, he discussed Mr. Otis, his music, and the Civil Rights Movement. He highlighted that both social justice and music movements necessitate practice, accompaniment, and improvisation. It was beyond refreshing to see someone so passionate about their work evidenced by his dedication as well as his head swaying and foot tapping to the music. But also, that Mr. Lipsitz, offered at least some sort of framework for a solution to the social and class issues of today; practice, accompaniment, and improvisation.

It makes me truly happy to be able to attend such events in the Town of New Haven. Feel free to add comments if you attended this event as well. It’s hard to do Johnny Otis and George Lipsitz justice, but hey, it’s a start.

Check out Sound Hall, I will most definitely be back! http://www.facebook.com/soundhall

Autumn Transition

Do you like original music and you're a New Haven resident?  Check out the song "Autumn Transition" by artist Mould (Ryan Norman Cyr).  You will find its sound to be quite appropriate for this time of year.

The link to his music page is here, and your'e welcome to listen to all of his music but the focus of this article is particular to the song "Autumn Transition" (1) because I like it, and (2) because it's fall.

The song contains Cello and chimes.  It has a sound and feel that you can only get when listening to something produced by none other than local artist "Mould." (mouldmatic.com)

Mike Hamad On Twitter

New Haven Arts Scene