Join us on Tuesday nights for free swing lessons & dancing at Sidebar!
7:30 - 8 pm Beginner Lesson
8 - 10:30pm Dancing
$3 suggested donation

No partner or experience necessary! For more info or to sign up for our weekly updates on where to dance in CT, contact us at hartfordunderground@gmail.com. 

Hartford Underground is a non-profit organization which promotes vintage swing dancing and has been preserving lindy hop, charleston, balboa, & blues in Hartford since 2007. Check out our website, www.hartfordunderground.com, for additional info.

Exhibit and programs commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and its significance over time, featuring Abraham Lincoln’s signed copy, rare slavery artifacts, prints, political cartoons and more.

Exhibit and programs commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and its significance over time, featuring Abraham Lincoln’s signed copy, rare slavery artifacts, prints, political cartoons and more.

Franklin Street Works presents the original exhibition Working Alternatives: Breaking Bread, Art Broadcasting, and Collective Action, on view from October 27, 2012 - January 13, 2013. The exhibition looks at three threads of alternative art space histories and examines how engaged, inclusive strategies are still being used to break down perceived barriers between contemporary art and its audiences. The themes covered in Working Alternatives are conviviality and food, artists who use media (newspapers, television, and radio) as platforms for artworks, and artist collectives in the US, explored through an open archive gathered specifically for this exhibition.

Originally Working Alternatives was designed to be the backdrop for our first annual fundraiser, but Franklin Street Works is postponing that event until the spring so the indoor/outdoor extravaganza will coincide with warmer weather and have less proximity to long-standing regional art events. If you saved the date for our fundraiser, however, don’t despair and keep it on your calendars – there is still a party! Working Alternatives will open on the same night, October 27, from 5 p.m. -8 p.m. with a free, public reception. The evening will include a lively performance of San Francisco artist Tom Marioni’s “Drinking Beer Sonata with 13 Players” where thirteen people will create music by blowing into beer bottles based on Marioni’s instructions.

For Working Alternatives, curators Mackenzie Schneider, Terri C Smith, and Jess Wilcox explore three threads of alternative art platforms and production: conviviality and food as components in alternative art space programming and mission (Wilcox); artists using media such as radio, television, and newspapers as alternative venues for presenting work (Schneider); and artist collectives presented in a living archive with weekly changing exhibitions using archive materials (Smith). In addition to historical examples, the exhibition also includes original artworks by contemporary artists that reflect and expand on the showʼs themes. Working Alternatives’ artists include: Paul Branca, Jaime Davidovich, ESP TV, Group Material, Ann Hirsch, Tom Marioni, Anna Ostoya, Legacy Russell, Chris Sollars and Jerome Waag. Franklin Street Works is also excited to collaborate on several off-site artworks, including the live radio broadcast of an Ann Hirsch performance on WPKN, Bridgeport, and collages by Anna Ostoya in the Stamford Advocate via four, monthly ads during the show’s run. 

Guilford Art Center's annual Artistry Holiday Sale of Fine American Craft features handmade works by more than 300 artists from across America, including pottery, jewelry, glass, fiber, ornaments, accessories, toys, specialty foods and more. New works are added throughout the course of the event, encouraging visitors to return to find one-of-a-kind finds. Support American artists, the arts, and small businesses.

This mixed media exhibition will be held at the Center Stage, Shelton, from November 30 through January 12, 2013.  It opens with a reception on Friday, November 30, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the first performance of, “A Christmas Carol: The Musical.”  Admission to the reception and exhibition is free.

Open during Box Office hours: Tuesday - Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Closed Sunday and Monday

In Pegasus Gallery

 November 16, 2012—January 3, 2013

 Reception on Thursday, November 29th, 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

Judith Randall De Graffenried’s painting process considers the varying degrees of analytical, emotional, sensual and spiritual human sensibilities.  In watercolor works like “Resort City,” pictorial plays of space and compositional juxtapositions create a multilayered series of visually charged settings.  In other works painted in oil, figure model session poses are adapted into invented backgrounds.

            Judith de Graffenried is associate professor of fine arts/graphic design and program coordinator at Middlesex Community College. She earned a B.A.at the University of South Carolina, an M.A.T. at the University of South Carolina, and an M.F.A. at City University of New York.  She also attended a year-long painting program at the Art Academy of Munich, Germany and studied art at Queens College and Indiana University. She has exhibited her paintings in more than 50 national juried exhibitions and received awards at: Maryland Federation of Art, (2008, 2005) The Montpelier Center for Arts & Education, Montpelier, VA (2008, 2006), Strathmore Award for Excellence, “Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition”, Golden, CO (1995). 
 

Pegasus Gallery is located within the library on the first floor of Chapman Hall

Hours: Monday - Thursday 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m., when classes are in session. 

For more information please contact:

Matthew Weber, Art Curator

860.343.5806, mweber@mxcc.commnet.edu

http://www.mxcc.commnet.edu/Content/Art_Exhibits.asp

Mystic Aquarium’s Winter Waterland holiday celebration returns Saturdays and Sundays in December and Thursday, Dec. 27 – Tuesday, Jan. 1 with festive entertainment for all to enjoy. This month-long series of events features visits from Santa, elves diving among fish, live music by local artists, seasonal crafts and scavenger hunts, all against a backdrop of fascinating marine animals and holiday décor.

Guests can also enjoy The Polar Express 4-D Experience, a holiday favorite brought to life with the visual drama of a 3-D film and a variety of sensory effects, including wind, snow and scents.

Winter Waterland activities and entertainment take place Saturdays and Sundays in December (1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 23) and December 27 - January 1 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are included with aquarium admission. The Polar Express 4-D Experience is included with Mystic Aquarium membership and the value ticket option, or tickets can be purchased inside the aquarium for $6 each.

Through January, the Geary Gallery of Darien proudly presents “By Land and By Sea,” featuring the stunning landscapes and seascapes of Fairfield painter, Karl Soderlund. Also featured this month, “Essence of a Painting,” the work of the late New York artist, Michael Lowenbein (1935-2009). The Geary Gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 576 Boston Post Road, Darien, CT 06820. (203) 655-6633. www.gearygallery.com