Thanks for visiting our website! Here you will find updates on our latest events, beautiful photos of artwork, information about the Arts Center, details on becoming a member, and more. Scroll down to see posts regarding events, or use the top bar to navigate through other pages of our site. Take a look around and get familiar with the Marlborough Arts Center, located at 231 North Main Street in Marlborough, CT.
The Marlborough Arts Center is pleased to announce that its annual Members’ Art Show is scheduled to open on Sunday, April 23rd, 2023.
All media will be accepted, including paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery, woodwork, and jewelry. Artist members are invited to bring up to three pieces of artwork to the Arts Center, 231 North Main Street, Marlborough on Sunday, April 16th, between 1:00 and 4:00 PM, or on Monday, April 17th, between 5:00 and 7:00 PM. The entry fee is $20 for two pieces, and an additional $5 for a third. Membership dues must be up to date.
Alicia Meluzzo, an artist from Old Saybrook, will judge the show for awards.
The show will be open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons from 1:00 – 4:00 from April 28th to May 28th.
Full details below can be found in the Prospectus HERE, and Entry Forms can be downloaded HERE.
Tom Hagymasi, Pat Ryan, Kenn Morr, Tito Holtkamp
The Kenn Morr Band is on a roll in 2023, pleased to be touring in support of its latest release, “Open Field”. Recorded at Sandy Brook Studios in Colebrook, CT, the album features ten new songs penned by Morr, highlighted by the cohesive playing of the Kenn Morr Band.
The result is an organic collection of lush, three-part vocal harmonies and sparkling instruments—real musicians playing soulful music in real time. United Kingdom’s Folk Word states: “Among its many vagaries life offers some certainties – they include the flow of memorable melodies and deeply-thought themes that permeate Kenn Morr’s mix of folk rock Americana. The latest album from The Kenn Morr Band, ‘Open Field’, serves up a selection of laid-back warmth, involving softly embracing songs and pin sharp observational lyrics.”
Growing up on Long Island, Kenn was inspired by such lyric and melody-minded acts as Gordon Lightfoot, Simon and Garfunkel, Graham Nash, and Jackson Browne. Rex Fowler of Aztec Two-Step became his friend and supporter and recorded Morr’s “Following the Moon.” When a college baseball scholarship didn’t work out, Kenn turned—appropriately—to Communications, a field for which he is well-suited. He’s got a radio announcer’s rich baritone and the kind of humor and charisma that enthralls audiences of all sizes, from intimate coffeehouses to the stages of venues as demanding as the famed Bitter End in New York City and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas on the New Haven Green.
Kenn left Long Island and found in Connecticut a home, new friends, and—eventually—the band that brings his music to life featuring: violin virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist Tom Hagymasi, Berkeley College of Music grad Pat Ryan on (soulful, melodic) bass, and “the heartbeat of the band” drummer Tido (T-Bone) Holtkamp. Known for its close three-part vocal harmonies and fiery instrumental interplay, the group has been together for many years, becoming fast favorites on the outdoor festival scene. They’ve paid dues of every kind and played gigs of every stripe, along the way sharing the stage with artists like John Sebastian, Al Kooper, Eric Burdon, and John Wesley Harding.
Kenn’s 2003 album “New Moon Rising” was produced by legendary producer Bob Johnston (Dylan, Cash, Simon & Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen and many others). The experience of working with Johnston greatly influenced Kenn to continue to write and produce honest and pure music. “Open Field” is Morr’s seventh album since the Johnston collaboration.
With airplay across the country and in Europe (England, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands), “Open Field” is set to bring the Kenn Morr sound to many new listeners.
The Kenn Morr Band will perform on Friday, March 24th in the Charles W. Hall Gallery at 7:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 7:00 p.m. Admission remains $10 at the door. Masks are suggested but not required. The facility is fully accessible and there is ample parking.
Click on the YouTube videos below to hear some of the Kenn Morr Band’s music:
“Bad Days”
“Morning Light”
“Footprints to the Sea”
Hover your mouse over an image below if you wish to pause the slideshow.
The Marlborough Arts Center is pleased to announce that we will once again be hosting the annual Student Art Show for students from Marlborough, Hebron, Gilead, and Andover. The Show is coordinated by Sue Hollister and Lin Gotta, collaborating closely with art teachers from all schools in Regional School District #8. The art teachers are: Denise Ketterer of Marlborough; Roseanne Modzelewski of Hebron; Susan Giammarco of Gilead; Jessica Waine of Andover; Micaela Gradie of RHAM Middle School; Bev Fisher, Shelly Osowiecki and Carrie Dinunzio of RHAM High School; and Nicole Van Sicklin of both RHAM Middle School and RHAM High School. These talented teachers stimulate their students’ creativity in myriad of ways so that every annual show is unique and impressive.
For anyone interested in art, it is worth a visit even if you do not have a student exhibiting in the Show. The Show will be open on weekends from March 4th thru March 19th, every Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. Admission is free. There will also be a raffle to win an Artist Supply Gift Basket! Check out the flyer below for details.
The Marlborough Arts Center is a non-profit regional center for the fine arts, performing arts, and fine crafts that is located in a historic building at 231 North Main Street, Marlborough, CT. Ample parking is free and the building is fully accessible. Anyone who has particular questions or would like to speak with a Member of the Board of Directors can leave a message 860-467-6353.
Local artist Mary Horrigan will offer adult beginner and intermediate watercolor classes at the Marlborough Arts Center on Tuesday and Thursday mornings starting March 2 and running through April 11. Classes will run from 10 AM until noon. Click here to learn more about the course and to register!
| Beginner Course: 10 a.m. – noon | Intermediate Course: 10 a.m. – noon |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, March 7th | Thursday, March 2nd |
| Tuesday, March 14th | Thursday, March 9th |
| Tuesday, March 21st | Thursday, March 16th |
| Tuesday, March 28th | Thursday, March 23rd |
| Tuesday, April 4th | Thursday, March 30th |
| Tuesday, April 11th | Thursday, April 6th |
The Marlborough Arts Center welcomes the group Eclectica for the 4th Friday @ the Arts Center on February 24th, 2023. They are a very interesting and talented group, as is each one of them individually. Eclectica performs original arrangements of music from the Middle Ages to the present on an eclectic variety of instruments, including recorders, harp, violin, viola da gamba, hammered dulcimer, and more. Each program is a time-travel adventure, with historical commentary about the music. To learn more, continue reading below, and be sure to visit their Facebook page.
Kasha Breau (harp, percussion) plays original music and folk songs from around the world on modern reconstructions of medieval and renaissance harps, as well as the modern concert harp. A graduate of the Hartt School of Music, Kasha has taught harp, kantele, voice, piano, and organ, in addition to performing and conducting workshops in harp-playing technique throughout the United States. Music groups with which Kasha has played and/or sung include Wild Notes, CitySingers, Celtic Sessions, and Tree of Life (with Carrie Crompton). Kasha fills her life with more music as organist and music director at the Congregational Church in Portland, Connecticut. Kasha was an environmental teacher and educator for over 35 years, and is a state and federally licensed rehabilitator for injured and orphaned songbirds, raptors, various waterfowl, and bats.
Carrie Crompton (hammered dulcimer, bass viola da gamba, accordion) fell in love with the sound of the dulcimer in the 1970s at the beginning of a revival of the instrument in the United States. The dulcimer has been used in European folk music since the late Middle Ages, but it has no literature of its own – players create their own repertoire and arrangements. Carrie has explored many styles of music, from Medieval to pop, while finding ways to adapt the dulcimer to tunes written for other instruments. She has published numerous CDs and books for the dulcimer. An avid quilter, landscape designer and gardener, Carrie is also a Master Naturalist.
Monika Kinstler (bass viola da gamba, violin, viola, percussion) studied at the University of Cincinnati, receiving a Bachelor of Music in Music History and a Master of Science in Metallurgical Engineering. She is proficient on a variety of historical instruments and has performed with early music ensembles in Cincinnati, Phoenix, Hartford, and Buxtehude, Germany. Also a modern violinist, she has performed with orchestras in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Huntsville, Alabama, and is currently a member of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra. As a metallurgical engineer, she is employed as a manager in Pratt & Whitney’s Engineering department. Her musical and engineering interests collide in a passion for woodworking, and she has built several historical musical instruments, including a set of virginals and two vielles.
Deborah Robin (recorders) has played recorder with musical consorts around New England since the 1970s, including the Aston Magna Festival Orchestra, with whom she was featured recorder soloist in the first American recording on “original” instruments of Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 (Smithsonian Collection, 1978). Deborah performs regularly on programs with Eclectica and fellow members of the Musical Club of Hartford.
Eclectica will perform in the Charles W. Hall Gallery at 7:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 7:00 p.m. Admission remains $10 at the door. Masks are suggested but not required. The facility is fully accessible and there is ample parking.