I-Park to hold annual art residency, biennale

EAST HADDAM » I-Park will hold its sixth international, multi-disciplinary Site-Responsive Art Residency & Biennale starting May 15. The three-week residency culminates with a ticketed fundraising preview event on June 2, and a public exhibition on June 4.

The residency is devoted exclusively to the 12 artists who have been invited to create new works for the exhibition. IPark views site-responsive art as a multi-disciplinary, multisensory field – at its most impactful when the installations and performances are developed and experienced in-situ. The term ‘site-responsive’ is construed broadly to encompass the various aspects of the project site: natural, built, social – and sensitive to the various dimensions of time. All works are ephemeral in character.

The public exhibition on June 4 coincides with Connecticut Trails Day. As part of the Connecticut Trails Day celebration, join us for an afternoon exploring I-Park’s 26 trails and experience the exceptional natural beauty that they reveal. Guests will be able to get up close to see, hear and experience the 12 new site-responsive, site-specific installations and meet the artists from around the country and world who created the artworks during their 3-week residency.

This is a rare opportunity to see, hear and experience art, meet the artists who created the works, enjoy walking the beautiful trails at I-Park’s 450acre nature preserve, which are not typically open to the public.

Tickets to the 2017 Site-Responsive Art Biennale - Exclusive Preview on Friday, June 2, from 6-9 p.m. are $50 per person. You can chat with the participating artists over wine and hor d’oeuvres and preview the new art installations. Some evening surprises are in store. Proceeds help fund the SiteResponsive Art Program.

I-Park’s 6th Site-Responsive Art Biennale on Sunday, June 4, from 2-6 pm is a free public event, but a ticket is required for admittance. Due to parking limitations at I-Park, the number of tickets will be restricted.

To prepare for the June events, I-Park is holding its Spring Volunteers Day on Saturday, May 20, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meet and assist the artists participating in the SiteResponsive Art Residency and help with preparations for the June 4 public exhibition. Lunch is on us. Please contact Lisa Simonds at 860873-2468 if you’d like to spend an enjoyable, productive day and help make the artists’ residency experience, and Biennale, even better.

I-Park is both an open-air and a closed-studio laboratory for individual artistic pursuits in the fields of music composition/sound art, the visual arts, architecture, moving image, creative writing and landscape/garden/ecological design. From insights developed in the laboratory setting, it also develops and sponsors specially-themed cross-disciplinary projects of cultural significance – and brings these discoveries to light in the public domain.

I-Park supports these individual and collaborative investigations through its international artists-in-residence program, the aesthetic engagement of its natural and built environments and with onsite exhibitions, performances and collegial exchanges. Since its founding in 2001, I-Park has sponsored over 800 fullyfunded artists’ residencies.

MARC Community Resources ‘edger’ event scheduled for today

MIDDLETOWN » In partnership with Over the Edge USA, MARC Community Resources is raising critical funds in support of programs and services that empower adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to realize their dreams and make choices about their lives, including housing, employment and social/recreational activities.

Over the Edge participants, known as “edgers” obtain pledges and have the exhilarating opportunity to rappel over the edge of the State House Square building, knowing that they are supporting people of all abilities. Liberty Bank is the Presenting Sponsor of MARC the Edge and is devoted year round to MARC Community Resources’ vital mission.

Linda Iovanna, President and CEO of MARC Community Resources, invites the community to come down to MARC the Edge Saturday and cheer on the “edgers,” including MARC participants Mary Hallissey and George Johnson. There will be games and prizes provided by Dave & Buster’s, music by 96.5, and a few surprises.

The Connecticut Sun and the New England Black Wolves mascots, Blaze and Hunter, are also rappelling over the edge and competing to see who is the most popular by raising the greatest amount of sponsorship money.

MARC Community Resources was founded in 1955 by eight families who wanted their children with developmental disabilities to have opportunities to learn, thrive and fulfill their dreams. Over sixty years later, their legacy continues. It provides programs and services to several hundred individuals and their families in Middlesex and Hartford counties. Programs include independent and supported employment, residential options, as well as a vast array of recreational and educational opportunities.