Westport Farming: Then  & Now
Wakeman Town Farm: Modeling Sustainable Farming in Westport
Barn Again! Westport Barn Survey Results
In Our Little Gallery: Rock On! Our Stone Wall Heritage

 Summer-Long “Back to Our Roots” Festival Showcases Westport Farming, Then and Now

What’s cooking at the Westport Historical Society? In recent years, for nutritional, health and gastronomic reasons, Westporters have joined a larger national consumer movement back to local produce and organic growing methods. As supermarkets, manufacturers, restaurateurs and even school curriculum planners know, this shift in demand selectively is undoing a century of “improvements” to land use, fertilization, water management, food growing, pest control, packaging, shipping and menu preparation.

Responding to this popular trend, the Westport Historical Society proudly announces Back to our Roots, a ground-breaking, summer-long, townwide festival that will use exhibits, programs and field trips to explore and celebrate 350 years of Westport farming heritage, and how that experience is shaping our lives today. Local barns, stone walls, artifacts and archival records–dating to the 17^th century–will link generations of crops, livestock, tools, fertilization and food preservation wisdom to today’s farmers markets, community gardens and CSAs. Specific periods covered will be: pre-Contact through Puritan/Colonial Settlement, the Long Lots through the American Revolution, Local and Regional Market Trade (War of 1812 to Civil War), Interstate and National Trade (Civil War to 1900) and Farming Decline and Resurgence of Sustainability in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries. This event will conclude the WHS’s year-long celebration of Westport’s 175^th Anniversary as a town.

Developed collaboratively with Wakeman Town Farm, Green Village Initiative, the Westport Farmers Market, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and the WHS’s own Hidden Garden Tour, Back to our Roots will run from Memorial weekend until Labor Day weekend.

The flagship exhibits, at the Westport Historical Society, open Friday, May 27^th. Featured elements will be: Westport Farming: Then & Now, with a special focus on Wakeman Town Farm: Modeling Sustainable Farming in Westport, in the Sheffer Gallery; Barn Again! Westport’s 2011 Barn Survey, in the foyer; Rock On! Westport’s Stone Wall Story, in the little gallery, and, finally, an exhibit of authentic vintage farm tools in the WHS’s very own 1846 Bradley-Wheeler Cobblestone Barn/ Museum of Westport History.

Through an illustrated timeline and local artifacts, Westport Farming: Then & Now explores evolving local farming practices from the Pre-Contact era/indigenous tribes, through the Colonial Puritans and Connecticut Yankees, to today’s return to local produce. The spectrum includes crops and livestock, shell-fishing and even ice harvesting, along with related commerce such as food shipping by market boat and rail. During the early 19^th century, Westport market boats supplied fast-growing Manhattan with fresh produce. During the Civil War, Westport was a major supplier of onions to the Union Army. Culminating this Exhibit section are Larry Silver’s black and white photos of Westport farms and farmers.

The Wakeman Town Farm section compares WTF’s legacy as a family farm with its new role, developing a model of sustainable farming practices for Westport and other towns. Throughout the term of the exhibit, WTF will host sustainable farming demonstrations for the public on its Cross Highway property.

In the Foyer, Barn Again! Westport’s 2011 Barn Survey features a map of nearly 250 extant (in 2010-11) barns (structures that once had an agricultural use) in Westport. The WHS team that canvassed the town were trained by the CT Trust for Historic Preservation, as part of its Statewide Barn Survey initiative.  Paintings of local barns, by Hardie Gramatky are another highlight.

The Little Gallery houses Rock On! Westport’s Stone Wall Heritage, including photographs of colonial-era dry-stack stone walls, by Larry Untermeyer, and notes on the geological origins of local fieldstone, by UConn Geology professor, Robert Thorson, who is head of the Stone Wall Initiative and author of Stone-by-Stone.

The Westport Historical Society is a private, member-supported, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that receives no taxpayer subsidies. Major support for Back To Our Roots comes from annual sponsors, including lead sponsor, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, along with the Betty R. & Ralph Sheffer Foundation, Janet & Fred Plotkin/the Ruth and Adoph Schnurmacher Foundation, Berchem Moses Devlin, Kowalsky Brothers, The Leapley Financial Group/Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, TD Bank,  Weichert Capital Properties and Fountainhead Wines. Additional exhibit sponsors include Green Village Initiative, Webster Bank and Tauck-Romano Innovative Philanthropy (TRIP), Westport Farmers Market, Catamount Wealth Management, Gault, Gilberties Herb Gardens and Bank of Fairfield.

Special Back to Our Roots programs for food and farm lovers of all ages will run every Saturday at Wakeman Town Farm on Cross Highway, Thursdays at the Westport Farmer’s Market, and at a variety of times at the Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place. For more information, contact us at 203.222.1424 or check the website.

“Write what you know” is the first advice given to any young writer. For about a decade, ending in 1958-59, Westport, Connecticut, already a haven for artists, also became a mecca for TV writers and novelists. Most were young World War II veterans, recent GI Bill college grads, newly married and starting families. Career opportunity drew them to New York City, and arts-friendly, family-friendly Westport and its commuter lifestyle drew them here. For some, “writing what they knew”—in I Love Lucy, The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit, The Twilight Zone and Rally ’Round the Flag Boys–made small-town Westport and its commuter lifestyle a national TV and film sensation, culminating with Look Magazine and the National Municipal League naming Westport, among towns its size, “All-American City” in 1958.

Meanwhile, national fear of Communist infiltration, invasion or nuclear war also was a fact of life. This was the era of the Sen. Joe McCarthy hearings, blacklisted writers, Chairman Khruschev’s “We will bury you” speech and the defensive proliferation of fallout shelters and Nike Missile sites, including silos on North Avenue, in Westport, where Bedford Middle School now stands, and companion launch facility, on Bayberry Lane, where Rolnick Observatory is now.

From January 29^th through April 30^th, the Westport Historical Society presents two complementary and thought-provoking exhibits, Next Stop: Westport, The Inspiration for 1950′s TV & Film Writers and, as counterpoint, The Cold War in our Backyard, An Archival Film Compilation by Lisa Seidenberg.

Looking back in a recent interview, artist and long-time Westport resident, Tracy Sugarman, described the era as “Discovery time for us all…Everyone was moving into town together, socializing and going to each other’s birthday and anniversary parties.” According to Sugarman, it was Dick Berg–owner of The Paint Bucket store and Poor Richard’s Art Gallery at Sconset Square, and also a freelance TV scriptwriter—who introduced the Artists and Writers to each other.

Soon, recalls Linda Gramatky Smith, daughter of artist Hardie Gramatky, there were Artists vs. Writers Basketball Games (to benefit the March of Dimes), with manners moderated by etiquette doyenne, Amy Vanderbilt. Artist Miggs Burroughs remembers that, in season, his father, artist Bernie Burroughs, would bring him along to the weekly Artists vs. Writers Softball Game.

Novelist Max Shulman, author of Rally ’Round the Flag Boys, already was well-established, according to Sugarman, who was reading Shulman’s work in Europe during the War, and notes that Shulman, later a major factor in Westport’s Famous Writers School, was far more comfortable at parties than rising star, Rod Serling. Sugarman was fond of Serling, an avid model airplane maker, and used to tease him about his car, a fancy white convertible.

            Then, TV production technology changed from live broadcasts to film, and the TV writers, following opportunity, moved from metro New York to Los Angeles. “Between 1958 and 1959, my wife and I lost about ten good friends among the writers. They all moved to California,” says Sugarman.

But the inspiration and friendships evidently endured. In the final year of “I Love Lucy” episodes, all written in California, former Westporter Bob Weiskopf and his co-writer Bob Schiller, whose ex-wife was from Connecticut, featured Lucy & Ricky Ricardo—and Fred & Ethel Mertz, of course!—moving to Westport. Rod Serling’s famous “Willoughby” episode in The Twilight Zone features a man who commutes to work by train. In 1961, Serling—who had moved with his family from their High Point Road home in Westport three years prior—was featured in the launch promotion for Westport’s Famous Writers School.

Sloan Wilson’s novel, The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit, set and later filmed in Westport, starring Gregory Peck, likewise portrays a rail commuter.  Wilson’s parents were writers; his mother, a New Yorker writer; his father, an NYU Journalism professor.

Rally ’Round the Flag Boys is set in fictional “Putnam’s Landing”, filmed largely in Los Angeles and stars (rail commuter) Paul Newman and (civic-minded volunteer) Joanne Woodward, but one need not look far from Max Shulman’s River Lane home to find the inspiration for his satire. In January, 1955, the Civics Committee of the Westport Woman’s Club organized a well-attended public forum to review the proposed siting, in Westport, for the defense of Bridgeport, of a Nike Missile. Eric Sevareid and a CBS News crew came to Westport to film the forum, later broadcast nationally on Sunday afternoon’s “American Week”. The Woman’s Club also was well-known for its history pageants, including, in 1920, the Plymouth Rock tercentenary, a rather elaborate re-enactment of the Pilgrims’ landing. The work of long-time RTM Moderator Ralph Sheffer—also a commuting executive–as RTM Nike Site Committee Chair inspired the Harry Bannerman character played by Newman.

Satire notwithstanding, Westport’s proximity to the Atlantic Coast and New York City made nuclear war a real everyday fear, for adults and children alike. Along with Lisa Seidenberg’s cold war archival film documentary, in continuous loop, The WHS Little Gallery’s The Cold War in our Backyard will present images and artifacts that recreate the rational and irrational responses to the fear of that era.

Research and production of these Exhibits was accomplished by the WHS’s all-volunteer Exhibits Committee: Larry Untermeyer, Brian O’Leary, Lisa Seidenberg, Anne Levine, Sue Kirby, Janine Brown, Ellen Naftalin and Dorothy Curran.

Next Stop: Westport, The Inspiration for 1950′s TV & Film Writers and The Cold War in Our Backyard, An Archival Film Compilation by Lisa Seidenberg are made possible by Exhibit Sponsor, Thomas & Jeanne Elmezzi Foundation, with additional major support from Annual Sponsors: BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Betty R. & Ralph Sheffer Foundation, The Leapley Financial Group/Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Berchem Moses Devlin PC, TD Bank, Weichert Capital Properties & Estates.

This exhibit will honor Peters contribution to the landscape of Westport.  The exhibit will include photographs of his houses, artifacts and a model of stone construction method and materials highlighting his construction methodology and stylistic characteristics. Text will illuminate his story and progression from chemist, to farmer, to builder, writer and architect, his attention to site planning, and philosophy.  His family home built in Westport will be the focus of a case study.

Frazier Forman Peters, architect, builder, teacher, writer was born July  20, 1895 at the end of the Victorian era and on the eve of the 20th Century to a New York Episcopalian clergy family. Peters graduated from Columbia University as a chemical engineer but was quickly disgruntled with the chemical industry and he came to Westport in 1919 with the desire to work the land as a farmer.  He soon found his calling as a designer and builder  of stone houses gaining his architecture license from the state of Connecticut in the 1930′s.  Frazier Forman Peter’s  homes can be found from Virginia to Maine with a concentration in Connecticut.  He designed and built over 36 known stone houses in Westport between 1924 and 1936.  His designs are well known for his unique fieldstone wall construction method as well as their spatial organization and sensitive placement in relation to the natural environment.

 Both exhibits continue the celebration of Westport’s 175 anniversary of becoming a township:  Putting Westport on the Map takes a look at our town  using maps old and new, while Zoom in on Westport  looks at us today from the air, on the ground and through the eyes of our children.

Asked why do an exhibit on maps, Bob Weingarten the exhibits’ curator replied that it had all started with a Westport Historical Society volunteer who found a tossed out cardboard poster mailer while doing a site cleanup about ten years ago.  He put it aside, thinking he would have use for it later and stored it in his attic.   

Recently, when he decided to recycle it, he found that the mailer still contained a map of Connecticut, gritty, dirty and falling apart.  Taking a closer look he saw it was dated 1812. 

 Wondering if it was worth saving because of its age, he brought the map to the Society  and  consulted Bob Weingarten, WHS House History chairman.  They later showed it to Gordon Joseloff, our First Selectman and also a map collector.  He agreed that it might have some historical value both to the town and WHS and should be seen by a legitimate map dealer.  He suggested Westporter Robert Augustyn, of  Martayan, Lan,  Augustyn Inc.  a dealer specializing in antique maps, globes, city views and rare books in New York City. 

 Augustyn believed the map to be an original and offered to restore it, if it was donated to the Westport Historical Society archives.    Following its restoration by Augustyn, it was framed (thanks to Westport Town Clerk Patricia Strauss) by using funds from a Connecticut grant, established especially for the restoration of our state’s maps and town records. 

 Following this exhibit, the map, although it remains the property of the Westport Historical Society, will be on view near the Tax Collector’s office.

 “By the time we had framed the map, we had decided that maps were very interesting and certainly provided information not available through any other source.  We also checked the Society archives and found a treasure trove of maps showing our area before and after it actually became a township in 1835,” said Weingarten.

 Included in the Betty & Ralph Sheffer Gallery exhibit will be an introduction to where the oldest maps were found, rare antique maps of pre-Colonial America and early American maps from private collections.  There is a map that shows Washington’s horseback journeys and stops in our town and a humorous map drawn in 1921 by Westport artist John Held, Jr. A historic collection of globes marking changes in the world’s political geography will be on display. 

Zoom in on Westport on view in the Little Gallery shows stunning aerial views of Westport today taken by Larry Untermeyer, plus a map of how Main Street looked with its Mom and Pop shops, researched by Susan Malloy and designed by Miggs Burroughs.

Maps on display from our education department take a  look at Westport through our children’s eyes. 

Be prepared to see all this and much more! This is an exhibit you will want to visit more than once  before it ends on January 8, 2011. Keep checking our website  for updated postings and special events for young and old.

Kids' Wall

The 10th Anniversary of the Kid’s Wall
Longshore: Treasured Memories
Westport’s 175th Birthday as a Town

Designed & Created by  Katherine Ross & Miggs Burroughs
Kids’ Wall Facts: The Kids’ Wall is 6 feet high by 44 feet long, making it the largest piece of public art in Westport.    It cost $18,000.

One of a series of special events and exhibitions being organized this year by the town-appointed Longshore 50th Anniversary Committee, “The Art of Longshore” exhibit is curated by Helen Klisser During, Director of Visual Arts for the Westport Arts Center. This exhibit is on view in the Great Hall at the Westport Public Library from June 1 – July 31. 

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the acquisition by the town of Longshore Club Park, art depicting its natural beauty is displayed here. From its graceful  tree-lined entrance to its vistas of verdant fairways and fescue-draped bunkers to its scenic water views, this unique landscape and seascape has attracted generations of artists from around the world, each in their own way inspired by “The Art     of Longshore.”

This much-loved recreational facility along the shores of Long Island Sound is widely regarded as the most significant land acquisition in the town’s history. The 169-acre Longshore Club Park was opened to townspeople on May 28, 1960. Generations of Westporters have enjoyed its recreational amenities, which today include a golf course, marina, swimming pools, tennis courts, ice-skating rink, picnic areas, and playgrounds. They and many others also benefit from the nationally renowned Longshore Sailing School as well as The Inn at Longshore, a popular venue for weddings, banquets, benefits, and other social and  civic functions.

One of a series of special events and exhibitions being organized this year by the town-appointed Longshore 50th Anniversary Committee, “The Art of Longshore” exhibit is curated by Helen Klisser During, Director of Visual Arts for the Westport Arts Center. Visit the Westport Historical Society to view the “Longshore Treasured Memories” exhibit, on display through the summer. For more details about the Longshore 50th Anniversary project, visit www.westporthistory.org/longshore50.
 

The Kid’s Wall is composed of approximately 1500 lbs of tile and adhesive; 1000 lbs of “Wonder Board” (onto which the tiles are glued): and 200 lbs of grout (the material between the tiles). The tile panels are secured to a specially designed hurricane-proof “fence”.  There are 64 panels, each measuring 18″ x 33″ wide. There are approximately 500 pieces of broken tile, and other objects on each panel, adding up to about 32,000 individual pieces on the entire mural.  1,400 students from the 5th, 6th 7th & 8th grades participated in the mural design and in the placement of every object and every piece of tile in the mural.   Each panel was completed in one 50-minute art class, taking about 2 months to schedule each of the 64 classes.  Look for special messages in each panel spelled out with small alphabet beads by the students in each class.  The approval process for the Kids’ Wall spanned 2 years, including 3 Planning & Zoning Commission hearings; 2 Architectural Review Board hearings; a Parks and Recreation of Public Works, Police Dept., and Conservation Commission; an RTM hearing; an Arts Advisory council meeting; and a Board of Selectman meeting.

Longshore 50 VideoA short documentary film, Celebrating Longshore’s 50th will premiere at the Westport Historical Society on Memorial Day at 1 PM. Following its debut, it will be shown on a continuous loop as part of the Longshore Treasured Memories Exhibit in the WHS Little Gallery.

The film’s committee, under the direction of Jenniann C. Barile,executive producer includes: Scott Smith, documentary script writer; Dan Woog, script supervisor/on-camera interviewer; Doreen Birdsell, producer and cinematographer; Gemma Tummolo, director and Frank DeFord, narration.Westporters Gordon Joseloff, Allen Raymond, Mimi Levitt, John Kantor and Stuart McCarthy are among those whowill share their recollections of Longshore’s past and present.

Have a fun introduction to Westport History through the exhibits in our rare heptagonal, cobblestone Bradley-Wheeler Barn Museum
Audio guide narrator: Joanne Woodward. The Bradley Wheeler Cobblestone Barn, renovated in 1994, houses the Museum of Westport History that chronicles the history of Westport  from the time of the native Americans to the present day. A fascinating panorama of Westport’s development is created through a combination of large historical photographs and authentic local artifacts.  Visitors will see the growth and development of trades and occupations in the agricultural, mercantile, industrial and maritime lifestyles that have contributed to the history of Westport. 

On the second floor of the barn is The Swezey, the very same train that moved around the store window of Swezey Jewelers. The train was meticulously restored and put together with devoted admiration by Westport resident and train enthusiast Carles Reedy and his son Josh. Carles spent many hours determining which trains needed to be replaced and how to get the exhibit moving with sound and elegance. Giovanni Urist, Staples graduate and a history major, researched information about the railroad’s historical impact on Westport, and this information is on display next to the exhibit.

For more books available in our gift shop, visit: www.westporthistory.org/books

Longshore Gate

Photo by Laurence S. Untermeyer

 Adams Academy, 15 Morningside Ave North
Saturday May 29th  12-2pm 
Sunday  May 30th  12-2pm
                     and
Woody Klein’s book-signing of his hardcover book Westport Connecticut-The Story of a New England Town’s Rise to Prominence  

 Westport’s historic treasure, our authentic one-room school house, will be open for the Memorial Day weekend. The formidable Ebenezer Adams ran his private Academy from 1837-1867 offering a comprehensive classical curriculum. He had purchased an existing Academy from the Greens Farms Congregational Church after graduating from Yale University.

He attracted hundreds of students from near& far, the majority of whom continued on to Yale, his Alma Mater. Many of his students, including E. T.Bedford, went on to attain fame and fortune. The Academy was indeed a highly regarded educational institute and a credit to the Town. Bring your brown bag lunch, stroll through the past and learn of the historical background and events that culminated in the inauguration of the Town of Westport in 1835 carved from the three surrounding towns of Fairfield, Weston and Norwalk. Our incredibly interesting and colorful past includes the final battle of the Pequot War, the Great Swamp Fight, the arrival of the Puritans led by Roger Ludlow, then Witch trials, the involvement with George Washington and the Revolution, and our mighty Yankee Sea Captains, and Yankee traders. The historical period continues after the Town’s inauguration with the advent of the Victorian period in 1837. Learn also of the town’s ancestors–the Jesups, the Sherwoods,Coleys, Staples, Bedfords & Jennings families.

For more books available in our Gift Shop, visit www.westporthistory.org/books

 

This beautiful photographic exhibit showcases the Westport Historical Society’s startling recent discovery of over two dozen important modern buildings in our comunity.  Also featured:

• a timeline spanning the period from 1930-1960 listing international,   national and local milestones
• an introduction to local modernist architect Victor Civkin
• mid-twentieth century furniture, accessories and paint colors of the period
• film excerpts from 1939: I Have Seen the Future, a documentary featuring the 1939 New York World’s Fair by Westport film maker Lisa Seidenberg

In our Little Gallery: Victor Civkin: Modern Genius Rediscovered . This special exhibit reintroduces Victor Civkin, who, after escaping from Russia in the 1920s, settled here in our community. While employed by General Electric, he developed the “triangle plan” kitchen that is commonplace today.  Civkin was also responsible for designing GE’s exhibit The World of Tomorrow at the New York 1939 World’s Fair as well as the design for a newkitchen at the FDR White House. Following World War II, he was  the architect of the GE-sponsored Young American Homes; 74 of which were built across the country. After his retirement from GE, he opened his own architectural practice, completing over 900 private  commissions. This is a not-to-be-missed American success story.

Special  events that will take place during the run of this exciting exhibit include:

When Cool Was Hot! Film Series: Three period movies, each introduced by  Doris Jacoby, co-chairman of the Friends of the Library Film Committee: My Man Godfrey Sunday, January 31, 2 PM  The Fountainhead Sunday, February 28, 2 PM North by Northwest Sunday, March 28, 2 PM Westport Public Library McManus Room • Free Admission

Play it Cool!  theatre-lunch program produced in cooperation with Play with  your Food using the exhibit as the background and setting.  Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place Thursday, March 18, 2010, noon to 1:30 PM. Reservations required 203-222-1424  Ticket $39

Victor Civkin: Rediscovered: A panel  featuring  Rena and Carla Schine,  Civkin’s daughter and granddaughter and Civkin expert, Mark R. Halstead, AIA.  Owners of Civkin houses are encouraged to bring photos and share stories. Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place Sunday, March 21, 2010 2-3 PM. Refreshments • Donation $5

The Unitarian Church: Still Cool at 50: A special tour of this award-winning  building, designed by well-known architect Victor Lundy.  Tour guides are John P.  Franzen FAIA and John T. Stevens AIA, of J.P. Franzen Associates, Architects. Continuing Education hours will be reported for AIA Connecticut members. Unitarian Church. 10 Lyons Plains Road, Westport Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 1-3 PM Refreshments following tour. Reservations Required 203-22-1424  Ticket $20
Classic Mid-Century Furnishings, Still Hot: by Jane Swergold, an expert  in this field, takes a fascinating look at the evolution of furniture from the 1930s to the 1960s.   Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place Tuesday, April 27, 2010 from 1-2 PM. Refreshments • Donation $5
1939: I Have Seen the Future: Westport filmmaker Lisa Seidenberg’s  documentary featuring the 1939 New York World’s Fair, offers a contemporary  look back at the future envisioned 70 years ago. Premiere screening:  Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place , March 4th, 7:30pm,  Resfreshments Donation $5

For more information and to make reservations call the Westport Historical Society  at 203-222-1424 or visit  www.westporthistory.org Photos: Unitarian Church, Westport: Michael Glynn Photo Mid-Century Nelson Ball Clock, Eastman Collection Oscar Levant House,Westport: Michael Glynn Photo

Mark Naftalin, Chance Browne and Barry Urich  will provide live music at the  reception.

in our Little Gallery: Cartoons and Comic Strips

Bird for Vietnam - Pastel by James Daugherty

The Opening Reception for the Westport Historical Society’s Fall Exhibit, Treasures from the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection (WSPAC) was held on Sunday, October 4 from 3PM to 5PM in the Betty & Ralph Sheffer Gallery at the Society’s headquarters, 25 Avery Place (opposite Westport Town Hall). At the same time, Cartoons and Comic Strips: The Best from the WSPAC Collection will open in the Society’s Little Gallery. The works shown record the ever-changing political and social scene. Using exaggeration and distortion cartoonists have portrayed the human condition – and dare us to laugh at ourselves.

“This year, the collection celebrates a significant 45^th birthday,” said Ann Chernow, whose involvement has been key to the growth of the Collection. “It has grown from its first donation – Singing Policeman, a pencil sketch donated by the renowned artist Ben Shahn – to a collection now numbering over 1000 artworks.”

The exhibit, dedicated to the late Burt Chernow – who in 1964 began assembling the Collection while an art teacher at Green’s Farms School will showcase over 40 artworks by some of the art world’s modern giants including Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Victor Vasarely, Robert Motherwell, Christo and Jeanne Claude and Alex Katz, plus some of WSPAC’s newly acquired donations.

“The Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection (WSPAC) is a unique community resource” commented Carole Erger-Fass the WSPAC Committee’s co-chairman. “It hangs in the hallways and offices in all our schools as well as in our public buildings, so our school children walk by it every day and learn at an early age that art can be an integral part of their lives and that it is an important part of their town’s artistic heritage.”

The exhibit also will feature an exciting tie-in to the ongoing ArtSmart program in the elementary schools. ArtSmart chairmen Stacia Jacobs and Rebecca Kudwitt and Kathie Bennewitz have planned an October training session for participating parents and the artworks in the exhibit will be the subject for ArtSmart projects.

The community is invited to the opening reception for this little-known town treasure which, in 2004, received the Governor’s Art Award from the Connecticut Commission of Culture and Tourism. Refreshments will be served and the admission is free. The exhibits will be on view until January 2, 2010.

]]> http://westporthistory.org/exhibits/treasures-from-the-westport-schools-permanent-art-collection/feed/ 0 http://westporthistory.org/exhibits/now-showing-years-in-the-making-ageless-artists-ageless-art/ http://westporthistory.org/exhibits/now-showing-years-in-the-making-ageless-artists-ageless-art/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 17:10:02 +0000 Barbara http://www.westporthistory.org/?p=1245 Celebrating Late Life Creativity, now through September 10, 2009

In the Little Gallery: Heads and Hands, A personal study of the artists

The Years in the Making: Ageless Artists, Ageless Art exhibit challenges the idea that creativity is somehow time-bound and limited to a younger generation. The passing of time, while universally lamented, fosters a sense of urgency that is tempered by the freedom of knowing that now, the only people they have to please are themselves.

Curated by Ann Chernow, Elizabeth Strick, Ada Lambert, Joyce Thompson and Stacy Landsdowne

Welcome to Years in the Making: Ageless Artists, Ageless Art, an exhibit of recent works by fifty Westport and Weston artists all over age seventy – still actively working, exhibiting and inspiring a new creative generation. These talented individuals have created bodies of work over their lifetimes that are much admired and represented in some of the world’s finest museums and collections.

As contemporary members of an artists’ colony that was established over one hundred years ago, this vibrant group is passionate about what they do. They consider their work as artists a career, something they do every day. They go to their studios much like many of us hop the train to New York City. Whether drawing, making maquettes or “dreaming ideas”, it is a daily process and one that is filled with passion.

Not everyone represented here turned to art immediately after art school. Some pursued other professions to make ends meet and began later in life.

Some concentrated on raising families and still others worked in the commercial world of advertising before committing to their personal art.

Were they born this way? Many of these artists would say, “yes”, that their earliest memories were of drawing, coloring or painting before being able to read. Some had parents who nurtured their talents while others had parents who were completely disengaged. For most, art became the vehicle they chose to express a wide range of feelings from happiness to frustration.

The Years in the Making: Ageless Artists, Ageless Art exhibit challenges the idea that creativity is somehow time-bound and limited to a younger generation. The passing of time, while universally lamented, fosters a sense of urgency that is tempered by the freedom of knowing that now, the only people they have to please are themselves.

Curated by Ann Chernow, Elizabeth Strick, Ada Lambert, Joyce Thompson and Stacy Landsdowne

The Heads & Hands exhibit in our Little Gallery is a tribute to these fifty ageless artists by photographer Kristin Rasich Fox. Both exhibits celebrate their memorable achievements and add to the unique legacy created by their predecessors over a century ago.

Curated by Kristin Rasich Fox

Betty & Ralph Sheffer Gallery
January 25 – May 3, 2009

The Art of the Birdhouse

The Little Gallery-On View until May 3rd, 2009

Be among the first to view these unique, never-before-exhibited Folk Art Carvings from the extensive collection of Westporters Bob and Anne Levine. “Our collection of wood carvings of American historical figures, events and icons developed out of interest in American Folk Art, particularly pieces made of wood,” said the Levines. “It has obsessed us since 1988. Learning about these objects from various sources, we gradually accumulated many pieces of historical note and/or artistic merit. The over 800 piece collection encompasses both the folk and academic styles, either painted or unpainted, from the late 18th century through the 20th century, all in wood.”
The Society’s exhibit, subtitled American History in Wood – A Century of Change, will focus on the period from 1909 to 2009. Some of the pieces were executed during the period the person lived or the event occurred – and some created at a later date to commemorate or honor the person or event.

In the folk art tradition, the majority of the 137 carvings that will be on display are by anonymous, usually self-taught artists. If the artist is known, it is not someone of great prominence. While some works may have been commissioned and paid for by a third party, most were created because of the artist’s desire to make a statement about an event or person, rather than for remuneration. The provenance of these carvings varies greatly – from strict documentation, to obviously recognizable figures, to identification by a dealer or previous owner.

Be prepared for a trip down memory lane as each piece brings a moment in American history to life: World Wars I and II, presidents from Wilson through President Elect Obama, events including the meeting of the Big Four at Yalta, John-John Kennedy saluting his late father’s caisson and the raising of the flag at Ground Zero. Among the carvings on view from the Levine Collection will be those of the era’s newsworthy celebrities: Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart; actors James Dean, Bob Hope, John Wayne, Laurel & Hardy, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Barbara Stanwyck; writers Eugene O’Neill and Mark Twain; sports figures Joe Louis, Babe Ruth and Knute Rockne.

Also included is a painted wooden model of the airplane The Red Baron flown by the legendary flying ace, Manfred von Richthofen. Photographs of President Roosevelt’s cabinet in 1935 will also be featured. This wonderful diorama was too large and fragile to move, but is an outstanding example of the best in folk art wood carving. It includes individual carvings of Roosevelt and his ten cabinet members, seated around a semi-circular table, complete with a wood-paneled background and electrified chandelier.

Paintings by Gay DearbornThe exhibit Paintings by Gay Dearborn showcases an eclectic collection of watercolors, sketches and oils by Gay Dearborn who has been a Westport resident for 46 years. At age 92, she is still a working artist, fascinated by local Westport scenes and what is happening as the seasons bring change to her yard and garden. This exhibit will be on view until March 13, 2009.

[Show as slideshow]