Two art venues showed up on the calendar today. One was the Shoreline Arts Trail, a series of open artists' studios along the Connecticut shoreline http://www.shorelineartstrail.com/. The other was the reception for the West Hartford Art League's Members' Juried Show.
The Shoreline Arts Trail is important to me because it's close to the Guilford home of family friends Meg Furniss Weisberg and her daughters, Sophie and Gwynnie. Meg is like an adopted daughter to me and my husband Joe, and so Sophie and Gwynnie are like adopted grandchildren. I gave those girls a gift of time for their last birthdays, and this outing was to be one installment in that gift.
Besides which, I love driving to Guilford, a trip that involves a considerable stretch along Connecticut Rt. 77, a designated scenic route. There are a lot of scenic barns along this route, but I especially liked this one :
Can you read the sign on the barn? Insulting Manor. A Monty Python reference, I'm thinking.
The Shoreline Arts Trail is important to me because it's close to the Guilford home of family friends Meg Furniss Weisberg and her daughters, Sophie and Gwynnie. Meg is like an adopted daughter to me and my husband Joe, and so Sophie and Gwynnie are like adopted grandchildren. I gave those girls a gift of time for their last birthdays, and this outing was to be one installment in that gift.
Besides which, I love driving to Guilford, a trip that involves a considerable stretch along Connecticut Rt. 77, a designated scenic route. There are a lot of scenic barns along this route, but I especially liked this one :
In addition to my wanting to spend time with Sophie and Gwynnie, I also wanted to behold, in person, this felted and woven rendition of Gustave Klimt's The Kiss, by Laura Lyons of Wildwood Farm, Madison, CT, one of the venues on the Art Trail.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraclyons
If I were Klimt, I'd be proud to see that someone was inspired enough by my art to recreate it in this alternative medium:
Not only is Laura Lyons an amazing felter, she also raises her own sheep and uses their wool in her art. I wanted to see her and her studio, and I also wanted to take Meg, Sophie and Gwynnie to see the wonderfulness.
Here are Meg, Sophie and Gwynnie watching Laura create yarn from wool roving.
Meanwhile, there were a lot of wonderful felted and woven items on display in Laura's studio. How about this felted purse?
I bow in awe.
I also let it be known that I wouldn't object if someone were to give me this woven shawl/poncho as a holiday gift:
After being inspired by this studio, and having lunch with Meg and the girls, it was back to West Hartford for me, because one of my pieces had been selected for the West Hartford Art League's Members' Juried Show.
On the way from Guilford to West Hartford, I passed this building, a former rural school, now used as the Shoreline Outdoor Education Center. I'm no architect, but I know a hip roof when I see one, a jerkinhead gable, a fieldstone foundation, and a Richardsonian arched entryway. I believe this is a building designed in the Arts and Crafts vernacular, my favorite architectural style. If someone who is reading this can correct me, let me know.
Meanwhile, I bow before a small town--that would be Guilford--that would erect this building as the County Road School, AND preserve it after school morphed into the Melissa Jones School and relocated to a more modern building a few miles away.
Arriving back in West Hartford after my Guilford adventure, I visited the opening reception for the West Hartford Art League's Members' Juried Show.
http://westhartfordart.org/
And the subject matter of this one:
I also visited my felted piece, Tree Spirit:
It's probably fair to say that, even now, nobody knows what it's supposed to be. But by this point I'm going to let it speak for itself.
And that was today in art.
On the way from Guilford to West Hartford, I passed this building, a former rural school, now used as the Shoreline Outdoor Education Center. I'm no architect, but I know a hip roof when I see one, a jerkinhead gable, a fieldstone foundation, and a Richardsonian arched entryway. I believe this is a building designed in the Arts and Crafts vernacular, my favorite architectural style. If someone who is reading this can correct me, let me know.
Meanwhile, I bow before a small town--that would be Guilford--that would erect this building as the County Road School, AND preserve it after school morphed into the Melissa Jones School and relocated to a more modern building a few miles away.
Arriving back in West Hartford after my Guilford adventure, I visited the opening reception for the West Hartford Art League's Members' Juried Show.
http://westhartfordart.org/
There were so many--SO many--wonderful pieces in the show. 132 in all. I didn't take photos of everything, but I did snap a couple. I especially liked the spirit of this one:
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| Cruisin' by Kurt Suydam |
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| Orange Pamet by Joan Jardine |
And that was today in art.
Yay!
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