Tag Archives: Silvermine Arts Center

Roundup: First Responders, Short Cuts Film Festival, “Wicked” …

Posted on January 11, 2024 | 1 comment

Yesterday’s “06880” Unsung Hero award came from Marty Yellin. The 84-year-old fell into a creek by his house, and was 15 minutes from possible death when he was saved by the Westport Police and Fire Departments, and Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service.

Marty did not have the names of those who helped.

Chief Foti Koskinas does. He writes:

“First and foremost we are extremely grateful as a department that Mr. Yellin is doing well ,and we were able to get to him in time.

“Two of the officers who responded to the incident are currently in their field training program, as they are new officers. Officer Melissa Bike was with field training officer Greg Gunther, and Officer Ryan Kardamis was with field training officer Taylor Field.  The supervisor on scene was Sergeant Richard Bagley.

“It’s calls like these that our new officers get to see the level of expectation that we have of them, and how we value human life and how we treat people.

“This was truly a team effort in getting Mr. Yellin to the ambulance safely,  without further injury in a timely manner .

“Westport EMS staff on scene: Crew chief James  Schwartz, Westport Volunteer EMT David Harmston; Norwalk Hospital paramedic Marcos Rodriguez.

“Westport firefighters on scene: Lieutenant Kevin Dumas; firefighters Ron Burgess, Chris Carroll, Ryan Farrell,m Liz Ferguson.

“Thank you to all!”

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Speaking of police: Westport’s Department made 2 custodial arrests between January 4-11

One man was arrested for evading responsibility, following an accident in the Coleytown Elementary School parking lot.

One man was arrested for larceny and identify theft, after a check for $25,500 was intercepted in the mail, fraudulently endorsed and cashed.

Westport Police issued these citations:

  • Traveling unreasonably fast: 27 citations
  • Failure to obey a stop sign: 7
  • Distracted driving: 6
  • Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 5
  • Failure to obey traffic control signals: 3
  • Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 2
  • Failure to register a commercial motor vehicle: 2
  • Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 2
  • Passing a standing school bus: 1
  • Speeding: 1
  • Evading responsibility: 1
  • Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 1
  • Failure to renew insurance: 1
  • Failure to insure a motor vehicle: 1
  • Falsification of marker: 1
  • Failure to return plates: 1
  • Illegal operation of a motor vehicle class: 1

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The final installment of the Westport Library’s Short Cuts Film Festival will be entertaining, thought=provoking — and wide-ranging

Award-winning short films from the US, China, Canada, France and Australia will be screened next Thursday (January 18, 7 p.m.; $26.50; popcorn and refreshments provided).

All were curated from the Tribeca Film Festival. They include:

  • Chat Mort (Dead Cat) (Canada), a humorous look at parents trying to protect their daughter from the truth about her cat.
  • Sealed Off (China, Macau, US), set in 1940s-occupied Shanghai during an air raid lockdown.
  • Et Maintenant? (What Next?) (France), about a ballet dancer who ages out after 30 years.
  • Shadow Brother Sunday (US) about a sibling rivalry.
  • Blood (Australia), a sensitive look at Tamil customs around fertility and menstruation.

Audience members can ask questions after the show.

For more information, click here. To purchase tickets, click here.

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“Good Witch/Bad Witch” — a concert by artists who played the roles of Glinda and Elphaba in Broadway’s “Wicked” — is set for the Westport Country Playhouse stage.

There are 2 shows on Saturday, January 20: 3 and 7:30 p.m.

The show features vocals and banter by Alli Mauzey and Dee Roscioli. In addition to “Wicked” music, the performance features songs from “Frozen,” “Funny Girl” and more.

For tickets and more information, click here.

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Carter Wiseman is feeling young. He writes:

“I’d like to salute whoever trains the checkout team at Trader Joe’s.

“My cart this morning included 2 six-packs of beer. The checker politely asked me for ID.

“At the age of 78 I was at first surprised, then flattered, to be considered under age.

“So I tipped my hat, revealing a mature hairline, but provided my driver’s license just in case. Being carded made my day, which is probably why TJ has its staff pick out the random grown-up for special attention.”

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Combining hands-on learning and art, Earthplace and Silvermine Arts Center together create a memorable experience for 2nd and 4th grade students from 4 Bridgeport elementary schools.

Youngsters from Wilbur Cross, Dunbar, Hallen and Beardsley travel to Earthplace to experience the great outdoors with naturalists, and meet resident animals. Earthplace’s lesson plans are aligned with state standards, and augment the school curriculum.

Silvermine Arts Center Outreach then visits the students in their classrooms to create mixed media artwork that helps reinforce new knowledge and vocabulary.

Artwork from this initiative is on display at Earthplace through the end of January.

Artwork on display at Earthplace.

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In 2014, Team Velominati has raised funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. They do it through the Pan-Mass Challenge, a great event that crosses the state of Massachusetts. Since the Challenge began, participants from across the country have raised nearly $1 billion,

Team Veelominati does it in conjunction with Coastal Bridge Advisors, the Westport-based investment firm. Last year, the team raised more than $560,000.

This year’s goal: $1 million.

The kickoff comes Monday (Jaunary 15, 6:30 p.m., 54 Wilton Road), at an event hosted by Coastal Bridge founding partner and Westporter Bill Loftus.

The event includes food, beverages, and a presentation about the team and the Pan-Mass Challenge. For more information, email dchilds@coastalbridgeadvisors.com.

Team Velominati, in 2022.

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Turkey vultures fill the sky, in today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature. These were spotted above Bayberry Lane, at Long Lots Road:

(Photo/Tammy Barry)

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And finally … here’s one more “Wicked”-ly good song (see story above):

(“06880” is your hyper-local blog. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Children, Entertainment, Library, Local business, Police, Westport Country Playhouse

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Roundup: Splatz, Immigration, Turkey Dogs, More …

Posted on November 24, 2020 | 3 comments

Kids don’t have a lot to laugh about these days. And — let’s face it — Harvard and MIT scientists are not usual much for giggles.

But Westport mom Alli DiVincenzo — an accomplished entrepreneurial designer — has joined forced with those university researchers. They’ve created playful personal care products for kids, turning “ordinary tasks into extraordinary experiences.”

The first product from One Fun Company is a hand soap called Splatz. A gentle squeeze makes a “splat.” Each Splatz soap bubble “turns this essential, often tedious task into good clean fun,” Alli says.

She should know. Her son did not like washing his hands. But he enjoyed playing with slime, and anything else tactile.

She tracked down those scientists, and pitched them the idea for a popping hand soap. They loved it. For a couple of years they all tinkered in their kitchens.

When Alli dropped off 100 samples with friends, kids used up the entire test bottles in a day. She and the scientists knew they were on to something.

For the holidays, One Fun has teamed up with WestportMoms’ Local Love initiative, and Westport elementary schools’ Pay It Forward campaign. And in conjunction with the upcoming Small Business Saturday, One Fun offers 10% off Splatz all weekend long. Just click here, and use the code WOOG10.

PS: Keeping it local, Splatz’s packaging and distribution comes courtesy of Randy Herbertson’s The Visual Brand.

How’s this for a provocative title: The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America.

 That’s Daniel Okrent’s latest book. The insightful observer of American politics and history — and the first New York Times public editor — will be featured in a virtual talk December 2 (7 p.m.).

He’ll discuss his new work. It’s a chilling tale of how anti-immigration activists of the early 20th century — most of them well-born, many of them progressives –used the bogus science of eugenics to justify closing the immigration door in 1924.

Okrent’s appearance is sponsored by the Westport Library and Silvermine Arts Center. The center’s current exhibit, “The Golden Door” — an exploration of the complex histories and cultural identities that define and enrich contemporary America — runs through January 16.

Click here to register for Okrent’s free virtual talk.

Daniel Okrent

In other Library news:

The Westport Book Sale is temporarily suspending book donations effective today, until further notice. The decision is a result of rising COVID cases, and concern for volunteers who stand in the cold for hours accepting donations.

They invite everyone — in Westport and beyond — to shop the Online Holiday and Winter Book Sale.

I don’t know if Winslow Park Animal Hospital treats turkeys, as well as dogs.

But the Post Road East veterinary clinic always manages to mark holidays well.

(Photo/Rowene Weems)

And finally … on this day in 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

 

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Posted in Children, Local business

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Fine Arts Festival Focuses On Future

Posted on June 22, 2019 | 1 comment

It’s not easy getting into the Westport Fine Arts Festival.

Every year, organizers pick 175 artists from around the country. Every mid-July they fill Main Street with their painting, photography, sculpture, fiber, printmaking, mixed media, glass, ceramics, jewelry, wood and graphics.

Making the cut is tough. So is the juried competition that follows.

But the festival sponsor — the Westport Downtown Merchants Association — recognizes its responsibility to nurture up-and-coming artists too.

So this year — on July 20 and 21 — the 46th annual event will embrace artists you may not yet have heard about.

But with the Fine Arts Festival’s help, you certainly will.

Plenty of art — and art lovers — at Westport’s Fine Arts Festival.

The WDMA is partnering with the Drew Friedman Foundation and Silvermine Arts Center to highlight 3 young artists.

The Foundation — part of the bequest of the late downtown landlord, restaurateur and arts lover — will award one $3,000 prize, and two more of $1,000 each. Applicants are artists currently enrolled in MFA programs, or recent graduates of one.

The first prize winner in the Emerging Artists Program — chosen by a professional jury — will also be exhibited at Silvermine. The 97-year-old New Canaan organization encompasses an art school, educational programs, artists’ guild, permanent collection and 5 galleries.

This year’s Fine Arts Festival outreach also includes the Westport Library.

In recent years, the Festival coincided with the annual book sale on Jesup Green. Recognizing that the audiences for art and books often overlaps — and that the downtown venues are complementary too — both institutions have strengthened their ties.

Now — with the Library’s transformation project complete — the Fine Arts Festival will set up a tent on the riverwalk. The young artists’ work will be exhibited there on Friday night. There’s a reception in the library’s new café.

They’re invited too to the established artists’ Saturday night reception. Also honored there: several high school student artists, who will receive $5,000 Drew Friedman Foundation scholarships.

WDMA president Randy Herbertson and Silvermine board vice chair Robin Jaffee Frank are excited about the chance to encourage — and showcase — emerging artists.

Check out their work next month. In a few years, you can say “I knew them when.”

(For more information on the Fine Arts Festival, click here.)

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Posted in Arts, Downtown, Library, Organizations

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Werner Liepolt Picks Up Painting

Posted on August 6, 2017 | 13 comments

Some folks retire with no clue what comes next.

Werner Liepolt was not one of them.

After 42 years as an English teacher at Staples High and Bedford Middle Schools, he knew immediately what he wanted to do.

His daughter Jordan — a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, working now as director of design for an international textile company — had left boxes of art material in her parents’ home.

She thought no one would use them.

But Liepolt — whose previous art experience consisted of doodling during English department meetings — did not want the supplies to just sit there.

He pulled out 2 boxes of pastels, and enrolled in Tom Brenner’s course at the Silvermine Arts Center.

Liepolt drew upon his Bridge Street neighborhood, his garden, his hiking experiences in Maine and the Adirondacks, and boating on Long Island Sound. He loved those places, and wanted to show them to others.

The Bridge Street Bridge inspired this work by Werner Liepolt.

Early recognition came at Seven Arts Gallery in Ridgefield. Fellow Westport teacher Paul Fernandez included 5 of Liepolt’s botanical illustrations in a show.

Liepolt — a longtime visitor to Mount Desert Island — submitted several pastel works to a juried competition sponsored by the Rockefeller Land & Garden Preserve there. Two were accepted. They’ll be shown starting Tuesday (August 8).

Great Marsh in Acadia National Park, by Werner Liepolt.

He also participated in an invitation plein air “Paint the Adirondacks” conference with 80 top artists at Lower St. Regis Lake.

Underneath his daughter’s boxes of pastels, Liepolt found water colors. Last spring, he began studying with Kristie Gallagher at Silvermine.

He notes, “I’ve had the good fortune to teach in a community that supports good education. I’ve found a receptive audience for my plays and screenwriting, and am enjoying the rewards of expressing my take on the world through visual expression.”

Werner Liepolt at work.

As an undergraduate, Liepolt heard John Cage speak. The composer cautioned students not to succumb to a corporate job.

“What will you do when there is no one to tell you what to do?” he asked.

Perhaps paint.

Werner Liepolt painted his son fishing in the Rockies.

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Posted in Arts, Education, People, Staples HS

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Get Shot; Help Haiti

Posted on January 24, 2010 | 2 comments

(Photo by Katherine Hooper)

Two Westport moms — Katherine Hooper and Moira Lynch — are taking a photography course at Silvermine Arts Center.

Both are very troubled by the plight of earthquake victims in Haiti.  They’re putting their photographic skills to use — by raising money for Oxfam America.

For a minimum $50 donation, the 2 women will meet you at your house, the beach — anyplace you wish.  They’ll photograph you, your family, your pets — whatever you want — and upload the shots to a Kodak Gallery album that can be viewed only by you, and whoever you give the password to.  Inexpensive prints can also be ordered.

“We’re not professionals — but we’re working on it!” Katherine says.  “We’re taking courses, and we need practice.  So help Haiti, and help us too.  Hopefully we’ll get some great shots — and you’re donating to a good cause.”

(For more information, and to schedule a session, email hoopermom@gmail.com or mois49@hotmail.com.  Be sure to ask your employer about matching your contribution.)

(Photograph by Katherine Hooper)

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Posted in Arts, Organizations, People

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