LiveNewCanaan

Christmas Playtime at the Mansion
2021-01-02 12:00 - 14:00, 2021-01-03 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, 295 West Ave., Norwalk, CT, 06850
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum kicks off the Holiday Season with a new exhibit titled, Christmas Playtime at the Mansion, which will open to the public on Wed., Nov. 11, 2020 and run through Sun., Jan. 3, 2021, at 295 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT.
From 1868 to 1938, children played on the third floor of the Mansion, which was filled with toys and dolls and even featured a theater where they may have performed. This year, after undergoing expert restoration, the Museum’s doll collection along with several vintage toys will be exhibited as part of Christmas Playtime at the Mansion, an exhibition that will recreate those playful times during the Victorian era.
The first floor of the Mansion will feature Christmas trees decorated with period-appropriate ornaments, a dining table adorned with dazzling antique silver and china, several playful dolls and toy vignettes, and sumptuous Victorian gowns curated by Stacey Danielson, with generous loans from the Wilton Historical Society.
The exhibit will also feature magnificent contemporary displays and trees decorated by renowned interior designer Victoria Vandamm of Vandamm Interiors, while silk garlands embellished with ribbons and trimmings will drape the grand Victorian staircase beautifully decorated by Danna DiElsi, owner of The Silk Touch in Norwalk, CT.
The exhibition is made possible with the assistance of the Curatorial Committee co-chaired by Trustees Mimi Findlay and Paul Veeder.
The Museum’s 2020 cultural and educational programs are made possible in part by generous funding from LMMM’s Founding Patrons: The Estate of Mrs. Cynthia Clark Brown; LMMM’s Leadership Patrons: The Sealark Foundation; LMMM’s 2020 Season Distinguished Benefactors: The City of Norwalk and The Maurice Goodman Foundation; LMMM’s 2020 Distinguished Benefactors for Education: The Daphne Seybolt Culpeper Memorial Foundation, Inc. Photos are courtesy of Alex Rosenfeld Photography and Sarah Grote Photography.
The Museum will offer tours of the new exhibit on a limited basis. 45-minute tours of the first floor Period Rooms will be available on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Due to the continued threat of COVID-19 and to achieve safe distancing measures, the tour capacity will be reduced and all tickets must be purchased online through the Museum’s website: www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com/programs. Walk-ins will not be accepted until further notice. Schedule may be subject to change.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. For more information on schedules and programs please visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.

January Series “Presidential Trappings: First Ladies, Inaugurations, Libraries, and Ballot Design” Presented by New Canaan Library and New Canaan Museum & Historical Society
2021-01-05 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
As we part with an energized election season, welcome the new year, and look towards a presidential inauguration, New Canaan Library and the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society are pleased to collaboratively present “Presidential Trappings,” a series that explores the history of many intriguing aspects of our nation’s highest office. Presented via Zoom, the series begins on Tuesday, January 5 at 7 PM EST and continues Tuesdays throughout January. Please visit newcanaanlibrary.org for a full schedule and to register. Sign in information will be provided upon registration; each session must be registered for individually.
“Presidential Trappings” begins with a focus on America’s unelected leaders – our First Ladies. Katherine Jellison, Professor of History at Ohio University, will present an overview of the role first ladies of America have played from 1789 to the present. Attendees will learn about first ladies over the years and the four major categories they fall into: the celebrity, the controversial first lady, the reluctant first lady, and the political partner. Professor Jellison will focus particular attention on a first lady who embodied all four categories: Eleanor Roosevelt.
KATHERINE JELLISON is Professor of History at Ohio University, where she teaches courses on U.S. women’s and gender history. Her publications include Entitled to Power: Farm Women and Technology, 1913-1963 (University of North Carolina Press, 1993) and It’s Our Day: America’s Love Affair with the White Wedding, 1945-2005 (University Press of Kansas, 2008), both of which include “guest appearances” by a few first ladies. She also wrote the biography of Jacqueline Kennedy in Katherine A.S. Sibley, ed., Blackwell Companion to First Ladies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016).

NCBL Presents: The Art of Gardening at Chanticleer
2021-01-06 09:30 - 11:00
New Canaan Beautification League presents “The Art of Gardening at Chanticleer”, with Executive Director and Head Gardener Bill Thomas, on Wednesday, January 6th via a zoom webinar at 9:30 a.m. Mr. Thomas will give a virtual tour of one of the most artistic public gardens in America. Chanticleer, located in Wayne, PA., is an ever-evolving garden, designed to delight all the senses in every season. His book, The Art of Gardening: Design, Inspiration and Innovative Planting Techniques, will be available at Elm Street Books.
This program is free and open to the public. To register, please go to newcanaanbeautification.org

Toddlertime Nursery School Virtual Open House
2021-01-06 19:30 - 20:30 | Zoom
We are thrilled to announce that early enrollment is now open for the 21-22 school year! We invite you to join us for a discussion about our exciting, innovating and active learning experiences in a secure and nurturing environment. While enrollment season will look a bit different this year, we are committed to giving prospective families an opportunity to understand what makes Toddlertime special. Don’t forget to ask about our Covid tuition refund policy. Please RSVP for the invitation/link to our upcoming Virtual Open House on January 6th, 2021 at 7:30.

ArtScapades at New Canaan Library Starts New Year with Crossing Cultures: From the Mexican Muralists to African American Modernists
2021-01-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
ArtScapades at New Canaan Library moves into the second part of its 2020-2021 series, “A New Look at Modern Art.” with a presentation that looks at the art of other cultures. On Monday, January 11 at 7 PM EST, Artscapades will present Crossing Cultures: From the Mexican Muralists to African American Modernists via Zoom. Please register at newcanaanlibrary.org; Zoom sign in information will be provided upon registration.
In this lecture, Robin Hoffman and Jodi Stiffleman will discuss how the leading Mexican muralists, José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, had an impact on the African American artists working during this period. The work of the Mexican muralists inspired American artists including Hale Woodruff, Elizabeth Catlett, and Charles White, to use their art to protest economic, social, and racial injustices.
Robin Hoffman and Jodi Stiffelman of ArtScapades began teaching art appreciation in 1998. They have presented at libraries and museums in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Florida, and are returning for their twelfth season at New Canaan Library.

Professor Ronald Schurin Explores the History of Inaugurations in Session Two of “Presidential Trappings,” Presented by Library and NC Museum & Historical Society
2021-01-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
January’s “Presidential Trappings “series, presented by New Canaan Library and the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society, continues Tuesday, January 12 at 7 PM EST with Ronald Schurin, PhD, Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, examining the history of inaugurations. The four-part series continues Tuesdays throughout January. Please visit newcanaanlibrary.org for a full schedule and to register. Zoom sign in information will be provided upon registration; each session must be registered for individually.
As a nation, we have experienced 53 formal Presidential inaugurations since 1789 and another nine subdued ceremonies in which vice presidents took the place of presidents due to death or resignation. Some were moments of drama, many were forgotten quickly, and a few stand out as pivotal moments in American history. In this lecture, Professor Schurin will examine the four categories that our 62 inaugurations fit into– ritual of orderly transition, moment of reassurance, sign of dramatic change—or something else? Attendees will also learn about special topics such as security issues in wartime, presidential health and stamina, and the tradition of outgoing and incoming presidents riding together.
Ronald Schurin is Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches courses on American political parties, Connecticut politics, education policy, and politics and literature. A native of New York, he holds a Master in Public Affairs degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D in Political Science from The City University of New York, where his dissertation focused on Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to transform the American party system. Prior to joining UConn, Schurin served in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare during the Carter administration and at CUNY. At UConn, in addition to his faculty role, he has served as Chief of Staff to the President. Outside of academia he has engaged in citizen-level political activity, serving on the Mansfield Town Council and the local board of education. In 2012, Schurin was one of Connecticut’s seven presidential electors.

The Science Behind Today’s Marijuana with Ben Cort
2021-01-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual
Join us for a conversation about today’s marijuana and its impact on developing brains with Ben Cort, author, TEDx Talk speaker, and treatment & recovery advocate. Teens are welcome, and there will be plenty of time for Q&A.
Go to ncparentsupportgroup.org to register and get the Zoom webinar link.

Virtual Celebration of the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2021-01-18 10:30 - 11:00 | New Canaan Channel 79
Monday, January 18, 2021, at 10:30am, on local Channel 79, the Interfaith Council of New Canaan will share an Interfaith recognition of Dr. King’s accomplishments, celebrated through beautiful music, with messages from clergy and members of our local Houses of Faith, as well as the young men of the ABC House.
Tune to New Canaan’s Channel 79, or view at: youtube.com/NCTV79

New Canaan Library’s “Presidential Trappings” Series continues with “The Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum: Presidential Papers and the National Archives”
2021-01-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
January’s “Presidential Trappings” series, presented by New Canaan Library and the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society, moves into session three on Tuesday, January 19 at 7PM EST. Jeffrey Urbin, Education Specialist, will present The Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum: Presidential Papers and the National Archives. His in-depth discussion will cover the famous Roosevelt Presidential Library (the nation’s first Presidential Library), as well as the history of the Presidential Library System in general. Please register at newcananlibrary.org; Zoom info will be provided upon registration.
Presidential Libraries are hallowed halls and invaluable museums of our collective history. Containing more than 17 million pages of primary source material, the Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York is a vast and fascinating resource for shedding light on the documents, photographs and artifacts that explain the lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and World War II. Among the topics Urbin will address are what an archive is, the difference between primary and secondary sources, how materials are preserved and how archives are used to explore and explain the past.
Jeffrey Urbin is the Education Specialist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York. He is responsible for all the Library’s education offerings,
from the second grade to adult and senior learning programs. Jeffrey designs and presents teacher workshops and advises and trains museum educators in museum education program development across the country. He is head of the Pare Lorentz Film Center at the Roosevelt Library, which produces document and film-based curriculum guides and distance learning presentations for students around the world.

Library’s “Movements in Cinema” Series Explores Italian Cinema of the 1960s, Presented by Professor Michael Cramer
2021-01-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Although Italian cinema first gained international notoriety with neorealist films such as Open City and Bicycle Thieves released after WWII, it reached perhaps its greatest commercial and artistic heights in the early 1960s. Join New Canaan Library in welcoming Michael Cramer, Professor of Film History at Sarah Lawrence College, who will explore the various factors and influences that produced some of Italy’s most renowned and artistic films. Professor Cramer’s talk is the second in New Canaan Library’s new cultural series, Movements in Cinema, and will take place via live webinar on Thursday, January 21 at 7 PM EST. Zoom sign in information will be provided upon registration at newcanaanlibrary.org.
An economically burgeoning Italy resulted in a vital film industry willing to produce stylistically innovative and challenging films. Professor Cramer will focus on three major films released in 1960: Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura. Despite taking radically different approaches, each of these films dissects Italy’s post-war “economic miracle” and the new culture and lifestyles that it made possible; all three directors combine inimitable personal signatures with the analysis of a newly prosperous Italy that seemed at once exhilarating and horrifying.
Michael Cramer holds the position of Professor of Film History at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. His areas of teaching and research expertise include Italian, French, and American cinema of the 1960s and 70s, as well as film and media theory. He is the author of the book Utopian Television: Rossellini, Watkins, and Godard Beyond Cinema (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) and co-editor of the forthcoming Fredric Jameson and Film Theory (Rutgers University Press, 2021).

“Martin Kline: Allover” exhibition
2021-01-23 10:30 - 2021-03-06 17:30 | Heather Gaudio Fine Art
HEATHER GAUDIO FINE ART is pleased to present “Martin Kline: Allover,” his third solo exhibition at the gallery. The show will open on January 23rd and run through March 6th, 2021.
Throughout the course of his career, Kline has examined systems of historicism and presentation, his focused and disciplined approach creating bodies of works in series, each with their distinctive visual language. Among his many investigations, Kline has looked to notions of authenticity, sincerity and originality, and, as he states, there comes a point when an artist “cannot escape Jackson Pollock.” For this exhibition, Kline presents his newest group of paintings entitled Allover, inspired by the drip technique he utilized in Dream of Pollock (for Kirk Varnedoe) back in 2007.
The multi-colored Allover series consists of, for the most part, strictly monochromatic abstractions. Created in a looser, automatist fashion, these paintings have a more fluid sensibility, with random thread-like rivulets of pigment networked in and out of broader, purposeful bands of color. Unlike previous series, these paintings lack compositional focal points, nor do they possess narrative characteristics seen in his Hammocks assemblages. The viewer’s eye is free to wander all over and engage with the painted surface indiscriminately.
While Kline may be revisiting the spontaneous technique for which Pollock became famous, the approach to painting with the panel positioned horizontally has been very much decidedly his own from early on. Kline has mostly worked on his surfaces laid horizontally, typically on a tabletop—his signature additive approach to painting requiring the pull of gravity to fasten the pigments in situ while drying. For the most part, Kline’s hand has had a direct touch through the use of a paintbrush on the paper, panel or canvas. In the Allover paintings, Kline is still working horizontally but he has severed the traditional anatomical connection, distancing himself from the surface even more by placing the panels on the floor. This increased space relinquishes control for the drips and pours to act more randomly and allow for elements of surprise to occur. Most of the panels in this series lack confining frames and the sides are free of splashed pigments that reveal the process. The resulting suggestion is that the drips and thicker gestures of color travel beyond the picture plane. It is as if the viewer is getting a snapshot, a window into elements that exist outside the painting’s boundaries.
Kline has enjoyed a prolific artistic career, creating a continuum of output that draws from a wealth of sources including his own works. His paintings, drawings and sculptures are represented in many notable private and public collections worldwide, including the Albertina, Vienna, Austria; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of Art, New York and the Yale University Art Galleries, New Haven, CT.
Heather Gaudio Fine Art specializes in emerging and established artists, offering painting, works on paper, photography and sculpture. The gallery provides a full range of art advisory services, from forming and maintaining a collection, to securing secondary market material, to assisting with framing and installation. The focus is on each individual client, selecting art that best serves his or her vision, space, and resources. The six exhibitions offered every year are designed to present important talent and provide artwork appealing to a broad range of interests. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday; 10:30am to 5:30pm; and by appointment.
