Arts, culture scene gets new life this fall in New Canaan
NEW CANAAN — The most treasured venues in town are coming back to life.
The Museum and Historical Society will offer October4design with a month of events; New Canaan Chamber Music will play at the First Presbyterian Church; Grace Farms is opening with new experiences in September and the Glass House has recently opened it buildings.
The New Canaan Museum and Historical Society has organized a month-long series of more than 20 events, for October4design, a celebration of architecture, art, and design.
“Having served on the New Canaan Community Foundation board for four years, and now as first selectman, I have come to view our nonprofits as what makes New Canaan special,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said.
Encouraged by the Tourism and Economic Development Advisory Committee, the October4design was planned for 2020, but aside from a few activities, it was canceled due to the pandemic.
The program will stress the modern architectural history of New Canaan, which was a hub for the Harvard five architects, with nearly 80 mid-century moderns structures still standing in town.
The museum, at 13 Oenoke Ridge, will offer a biophila exhibit during the month of October, with solar lighting and sustainable design by Nina Anker. Biophilic design is used in architecture to help improve the occupants wellbeing through a connection to nature. The opening will be held Sept. 19.
Throughout October, there will be a lunch with ceramicist Frances Palmer; a local gallery stroll featuring the work of Heather Gaudio, Cas Friese, Jean Jacobs, and the Tonk Gallery; and lectures about architecture and design, including speakers such as Sean Godsell, Nina Anker, Fred Noyes, Robert Gregson and Mark Markiewicz.
“October will be an exciting time to be in New Canaan,” said Nancy Geary, executive director of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. “Visitors can see, explore, learn, and engage with the history of architecture, art, and design, as well as with visionaries of their future.”
Children will be invited to participate in the second annual Builders Challenge, in which children create a structure using LEGO bricks or Mega blocks to be displayed in store windows. Also, children can pick up a coloring page of Gores Pavilion at Irwin Park from Walter Stewart’s, where the winners’ artwork will be displayed.
A reception at the home of renowned architect and industrial designer Eliot Noyes, will held Oct. 2. Noyes led MoMA’s industrial design department and designed IBM’s Selectric Typewriter and some of the company’s buildings. The architect’s son, architect Fred Noyes, will greet visitors to the iconic mid-century modern home.
Grace Farms
Grace Farms, a humanitarian and cultural center, will open its award-winning River building, designed by SANAA, to the public on Sept. 8, along with new activities and exhibits.
On the 80-acre property, the foundation will offer mission-activated public programming, including nature walks, astronomy programs; art and architecture tours; lectures and panel discussions; and community dinners.
“We look forward to offering enlivened experiences, which can enhance our relationships and understanding of each other, our local and global communities, and our natural environment,” said Sharon Prince, CEO and Founder, Grace Farms Foundation.
The reopening will feature the debut of Alyson Shotz’s commissioned site-specific sculpture, Temporal Shift, which is made of mirrored polished stainless steel.
A gallery featuring rotating exhibition in the East Barn will be open to the public on Oct. 9.
There will be 10- to 15minute pop-up talks and family-friendly activities developed in partnership with the STEM Educators at the Connecticut Science Center.
Chamber Music
Andrew Armstrong, artistic director and founder of New Canaan Chamber Music, announced he will be joined by two musicians for a concert at 4 p.m. Aug. 8, indoors at the First Presbyterian Church on 178 Oenoke Ridge. The program includes works by Bach, Brahms, SaintSaëns, Still, Janácek, and Kernis. In addition to Armstrong, the concert will feature violinist Arnaud Sussmann, and horn and French horn player R.J. Kelley.
Kelley will give a talk at 3 p.m. about the social and musical evolution of the horn, from a simple valveless instrument used during hunts, to a mainstay in symphonic and operatic repertoire.
Armstrong played at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Rudolfinum of Prague, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. Kelley is a recording artist and has played in New York Philharmonic; Metropolitan Opera, and American Ballet Theater.
Grammy Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has appeared with the American Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Paris Chamber Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony.
Glass House
The Glass House buildings are open, including architect Philip Johnson’s home, Sculpture Gallery, and the Painting Gallery.
People will be able to stroll the 49-acre National Historic Landmark, enjoy the pastoral landscape with the fourteen structures.
This fall the Glass House is featuring David Hartt: A Colored Garden and Anni Albers’ Pliable Plane and Frank Stella artworks on view in the Painting Gallery.
Johnson’s career spanned nearly 75 years. His works were shown in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he later served as the institution’s first curator of architecture and design. He was awarded the American Institute of Architects’s Gold Medal in 1978 and the first Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979.