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Summer is officially here, and it's a great time to explore our state and discover the Connecticut
 Art Trail's cultural gems.
With so much to see, why not spend the night? Visit our website for Lodging Packages, Trail Getaway itineraries or recommended lodging, dining and area attractions near each museum.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY
GREENWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
(formerly Bush-Holley Historical Site)
Cos Cob/Greenwich
Weekly Green Market
Every Tuesday and Friday through October
 Shop for seasonal organic and local produce, herbs, fresh cut flowers, and local honey and jams every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and every Friday from noon to 6:00 p.m.
A Farm-toTable Dinner is scheduled on Friday, July 16. The program will feature a conversation with chef Michel Nischan, winner of two James Beard Foundation awards, owner/founder of Westport's Dressing Room Restaurant, and President/CEO of the Wholesome Wave Foundation. A leading figure in the sustainable food movement, Mr. Nischan is the author of a new book Sustainably Delicious. Copies will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
Diners will enjoy a cocktail reception and book signing from 6:00 – 7:00 pm set amidst the same lush landscape that inspired the many artists who visited Bush-Holley House when it was the hub of the American Impressionist movement. A garden-to-table dinner and a conversation with Mr. Nischan will follow at 7:00 pm. Ingredients for the evening's offering will be based on local, seasonal fare and will be catered by homegrown chef Jeff Pandolfino, who will collaborate with Mr. Nischan.
Cocktail hour and book signing only - $25
Cocktails, books signing and full dinner (including wine) - $125
Group tables for eight and ten are also available.
For more information on the Green Market and Barn Dinner, please visit the website or call 203-869-6899, ext. 18.
CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY PRINTMAKING
Norwalk
Footprint International Print Competition
Through Labor Day
View fine-art prints from around the world in a contemporary format. Every print in the exhibition measures exactly 12” x 12”, considered an artistic challenge. The square format was uncommon in art until the advent of 20th-century abstraction.
Over 400 entries from 20 countries are on view. All works are original fine-art prints and include woodcut, intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, monotype, and original digital media. All art is hand-pulled and generated on stone, block, or plate using printing processes. Computer generated art incorporates hand-pulled printing or handwork.
All prints are for sale. Admission to the exhibition is also free. Visit the museum's website for details.
BRUCE MUSEUM
Greenwich
The Dressmaker's Art: Highlights of the Bruce Museum's Costume Collection
Through September 5, 2010
Twenty-four elegant gowns and dresses from the 1820s through 1920s tell the story of a revolution in textile manufacture – and other industries as well -- that saw a dramatic shift from labor-intensive hand methods to more efficient machine production. Displays also feature lavishly embellished accessories and underpinnings such as taffeta and lace petticoats, silk stockings, and shawls.
RIVER VALLEY
NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
New Britain
M.C. Escher: Impossible Reality
July 16-Nov. 14, 2010
 One of the largest, most comprehensive collections of the work of M.C. Escher (1898-1972) comes to
New Britain via the
Herakleidon
Museum,
Athens,
Greece. Artist Maurits Cornelius Escher (1898-1972) earned worldwide acclaim as a printmaker, draftsman, book illustrator and muralist with his graphic work of unforgettable visual puzzles and impossible structures.
One hundred and thirty works spanning Escher’s career—the most representative as well as rare works of the artist—will be on view including seminal, instantly recognizable pieces such as Ascending Descending and Drawing Hands. “This will be with regard to quality; the finest Escher collection exhibited in the world. Most works come directly from the estate of M.C. Escher.” Nicholas Kondoprias, Managing Director of Herakleidon Museum, Athens, Greece. Presented with support from the Melinda and Paul Sullivan Foundation for the Decorative Arts in cooperation with the Herakleidon Museum, Athens, Greece. For more information, visit the museum's website or www.herakleidon.com.
WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART
Hartford
Sol LeWitt: Hartford's Native Son
Through August 15, 2010
Sol LeWitt: Hartford's Native Son will focus on the artist's personal, life-long connection to the Wadsworth Atheneum and his role as a seminal figure in the contemporary movements of Minimalism and Conceptual art since the 1960s.
Drawn from the museum's extensive LeWitt holdings, the exhibition will feature more than 25 works of art produced over a 30-year span including serial prints, sculpture, photographs, drawings, ephemera and a stop-motion, time-lapse video depicting the creation of the Wadsworth's most recent wall drawing Whirls & Twirls (2004), see featured image. For more information, visit the museum's website.
MYSTIC COUNTRY
SLATER MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Norwich Free Academy, Norwich
The Slater Memorial Museum is closed July 1 through September 5, 2010 to ensure the safety of collections and visitors during the construction of the exciting new atrium which will make the museum more accessible and offer more exhibition and gathering space.
WILLIAM BENTON MUSEUM OF ART
University of Connecticut, Mansfield/Storrs
The museum is closed for renovation through January 18, 2011. However, check the museum's Calendar of Events for campus art walks, lectures, films and other programs.
GREATER NEW HAVEN
 YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
New Haven
Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection
Through September 12, 2010
Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection features some 60 paintings from the 14th through the 17th century. The exhibition draws from the wide-ranging collection assembled by noted author, collector, and dealer Richard L. Feigen, B.A. 1952. This presentation provides a rare opportunity for Gallery visitors to view significant examples
of Italian art, ranging from the greatest of Giotto's followers to the Baroque masters of Bologna, Rome, and Florence. For details, visit the museum's website.
LITCHFIELD HILLS
MATTATUCK MUSEUM ARTS AND HISTORY CENTER
Waterbury
Where Lies Beauty
Through October 24, 2010
This exhibition features the work of five contemporary artists who produce beautiful objects while challenging traditional notions of subject and style. Leah Joo (see featured image) mediates the space between public and private spaces utilizing the window as a virtual space between them. For centuries artists have used the curtain as an internal frame on the canvas to serve as a pictorial window. Joo lifts the curtain to tempt us with voyeuristic fascination.
The exhibition contains more than forty works including painting, sculpture, and mixed media. For more information, visit the website.
ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
Ridgefield/Wilton
Various Titles
Through January 2, 2011
KAWS, The Wall (detail), 2010, Courtesy of the Artist
As the title of one of the seven new exhibitions aptly states, there will be something for everyone at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum this summer.
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Rackstraw Downes: Under the Westside Highway, looks into the creation of an important three-panel work by the veteran painter of the urban landscape
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Fritz Haeg: Something for Everyone, introduces five interactive ecological projects that challenge our definitions of nature and culture
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KAWS - the iconic street artist's first museum exhibition provides a retrospective look at his earlier work, a selection of never-before-seen paintings and sculptures, and his largest onsite mural to date (see featured image)
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Beryn Korot: Text/Weave/Line - Video, 1977-2010 debuts the latest digital work by a seminal video artist
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Gary Lichtenstein: 35 Years of Screenprinting, presents a career survey by the master printer/painter and fine art publisher
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Gina Ruggeri: Immaterial Landscape, gives food for thought with a constellation of large-scale paintings on Mylar that create a trompe l'oeil effect in the atrium
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John Shearer: America (Continued), shows a selection of the photographer's thought-provoking images that explore immigration from a personal perspective
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For more information, visit the museums's website
Discover all fifteen museums on the Connecticut Art Trail with the $25 Art Pass. The Art Pass is valid for two months (you decide the timeframe); children twelve and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. To purchase, visit the website. The Art Pass is also for sale at most member museums.
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