4th Friday @ the Arts Café on May 23rd

The Marlborough Arts Center at 231 North Main Street in Marlborough, CT features musician Susan Lowenkron,  performing Renaissance and Celtic Music at the next 4th Friday @ the Arts Cafe on Friday, May 23, 2014.

Susan Lowenkron is the founder and director of the trio “Tapestry”, a chamber ensemble of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Celtic music. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, received her Master’s Degree from Hartt College of Music, and teaches both at the Hartford Conservatory of Music and Dance, and the Thames Valley Music School at Connecticut College. She is active as a performer throughout New England and New York.

A 1972 winner of the Bodky Award for Early Music with the Boston-based Renaissance Consort, she plays a variety of instruments including flutes, recorders, krumhorn, whistles, and harp. Her concerts are very interactive as she adds commentary on the more unusual instruments and the colorful texts of the times from medieval motets to dance music of Queen Elizabeth I’s Court, and 18th century music meant for kings and commoners.

The intimate nature and great acoustics of the art-lined Charles W. Hall Gallery at the Marlborough Arts Center is perfectly suited for this musical evening that will bring music of the past into the present.

The concert is from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m., but doors open at 7:00 p.m. so come early, browse the Gift Shop, choose your seats, and settle in for a delightful musical event. Admission at the door is $8 per individual or $15 for two. BYOWine. Other refreshments are available.

Town Hall Gallery

The Marlborough Arts Center continues its sponsorship of artists at the Marlborough Town Hall Gallery with the photography exhibit of Edith (“Duffy”) Royce Schade from May 2 – June 26, 2014. The Town Hall is open 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Tuesdays, and 8:00 – noon on Fridays.
 
            Edith Royce Schade fell in love with photography in her teens, starting her business “Photographs by Duffy” when she was just nineteen. She took the few photography courses offered while at Stephens College, then studied with the Famous Photographers School and developed her techniques while on the job as a darkroom assistant in Brookline, MA and San Diego, CA. 
 
            She did all her own black-&-white processing in her chemical darkroom until about eight years ago. Her attempts at color processing proved frustrating, so she welcomed the advent of digital printing, and using her own equipment is able to control the quality of her photographs from the click of a shutter to a finished ink jet archival print.
 
            Her photography skills have been joined over the past few years by her growing skills with watercolors and acrylics. With her interest in off-beat processes, she creates collages of various substances and has also developed ways to extract parts of photographic images by scanning and then uniting them in layers to form unique montages. Examples of a few of her collages and montages are included in the overall photography exhibit.
         
            The Marlborough Arts Center will have a Juried Photography Show in June, 2014 where Connecticut Photographers will compete for cash awards. As a precursor to that event the Art Center will sponsor this Town Hall Gallery exhibit, as another way to stimulate interest in Photography.  The Marlborough Arts Center is a non-profit regional center for the arts located at 231 North Main Street in Marlborough, CT. Visit the website www.marlborougharts.org for up-to-date details on membership, activities, exhibitions, classes, and myriad artistic events. Their telephone number is (860) 295-9389.

Yoga Flags Class – for children 4-6

Marlborough Arts Center is pleased to announce a new class for young children. Starting on Monday, May 5th, Mandee Morris will teach them, along with their adult buddy, the amazing KAY system that incorporates cardiovascular conditioning, fun and original music; plus all the traditional benefits of yoga: meditation, breathing techniques, peace and deep relaxation. After each class, with the help of Mandee and their buddy, the children will make a peace flag with a different symbol.  At the last class, the flags will be strung into a banner for the children to take home.

Kids Yoga HandoutThe class will be held for five Mondays from 9:30-11am at the Arts Center classroom on 231 North Main Street Marlborough. Fee for the series is $75 ($67.50 for Marlborough Arts Center members, ​and others who mention where they saw this ad).

Participants ​should bring their own mats.

Mandee is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher and a certified KAY (Kidding Around Yoga) teacher.  For more information about KAY, see www.kiddingaroundyoga.com.

​Please complete a c​lass registration form​ and send with your check to the Registrar. We expect to have a big response to this class, so please don’t hesitate to enroll.

April 4th Friday @ the Arts Cafe

The Marlborough Arts Center’s popular 4th Friday @ the Arts Cafe this month is a show for the whole family when dramatic acts come to its Charles W. Hall Art Gallery building at 231 North Main Street in Marlborough on Friday, April 25. The first part of the evening will be Brian Schroth’s  improv group, ” The Last Living Souls” from Epoch Arts in East Hampton, who will be performing short-form improv skits. The actors are: Brandt Sanderson, Brian Schroth, Ben Martin, Jennifer Harris, and Joshua Shook. They will be joined by some of the Epoch Arts’ teenage improv students. After intermission, the RHAM Drama Club, with Lindsay Halle faculty advisor and student director Stella Maranos, will present the one-act “The Hysterical History of the Trojan War”©, taking a comical look at one of the most famous battles of all time. The star-crossed lovers Paris and Helen take refuge in Troy but, in this play, the Greek gods step in and shake things up resulting in chaotic comedy. It’s a war where not everyone dies, but everyone in the audience has lots of laughs and great fun.

The program is 7:30 – 9:30 p.m., but the doors open at 7 so come early to peruse the Gift Shop, choose some refreshments, settle into your seats, and get ready to enjoy the show. Admission at the door is $8/individual or $15 for two.  NOTE: The Arts Center does not take reservations nor hold seats. And, because these performers include teenagers, there will be no alcohol on the premises this evening.

The Marlborough Arts Center at 231 North Main Street in Marlborough, CT is a non-profit regional center for the arts with website www.marlborougharts.org  where detailed information about classes, events, membership, and its history can be found. The telephone is (860) 295-9389.

President Joan C. Lester’s April 2014 Letter to Members

Interesting things are always happening in the art world around us. Locally, what is billed as “the world’s most famous public art event”, a Cow Parade, is coming to Hartford with winning cows displayed during late August through October 2014.  I hope some of our MAC artists will submit a design; artists selected receive an honorarium of $1000 plus the fun of creating one of the next great cows (contact Ronald Fox at rfox@cowparade.com). Proceeds will benefit the Connecticut Science Center and Hartford’s Camp Courant. If you ever visited West Hartford’s or other city’s Cow Parades, you know how much joy and delight comes from just walking around and viewing the decorated cows, so everyone wins.

Speaking of walking, I heartily recommend also letting your fingers do the walking by going on virtual tours of the world’s greatest museums. It is as easy as googling “Uffizi Gallery”, “Vatican Museums”, “Rijksmuseum”, etc. Every one of us can visit them, or visit them again as the case may be, without the hassle of travel thanks to the ease of 21st century technology. Having walked these and other museum halls often while living in Europe, I can confirm that virtual walking is a world easier on one’s feet! So do take the times to enjoy art this way.

At MAC, the Board of Directors is in planning mode with committees working toward our next big exhibition in June, new classes, and actually some spring cleaning and improvements in the Art Gallery and gardens. As the weather changes to warmth and light, we feel our energy increasing too. Please check out our newly designed website www.marlborougharts,org often to keep up with our artistic activities.

Our next “4th Friday @ the Arts Cafe”  on April 25 demonstrates our revived energy in that for the first time we will be presenting an evening of drama to join the long list of musicians who have performed for us. “The Last Living Souls”, a five-member improv group who mostly perform at Epoch Arts in East Hampton, will bring their creativity to our own Charles W. Hall Art Gallery space. A group of actors from RHAM High School will also perform. This will be fun for the entire family so I hope you will circle the date on your calendar and come on over. Let’s celebrate the coming of Spring together!

April is also a time of celebration in the Judeo-Christian calendar. I wish a Happy Passover and Easter to all who observe these religious holidays, and many moments of joy to everyone  throughout this month of rejuvenation and new life.

Sincerely,

Joan

Joan C. Lester, President

lee.lester@att.net            (860) 295-9565