Green Street Blog

                                                                     “Above & Below”             30″ x 48″                 Oil on Canvas

On Thursday, May 1st, from 6-8:00 p.m. (in conjunction with Middletown’s Gallery Walk series) there will be an opening reception for Connecticut artist Catherine Doocy.

Catherine Doocy is very interested in the science of memory and the powerful ability of the mind’s eye to “fill in the gaps” when asked to do so. Doocy’s landscape paintings and drawings purposefully provide areas devoid of paint and imagery allowing the viewer’s mind to participate in the completion of the memory she has initiated. Her exhibit,  Transitions, will be on display May 1- May 29, 2014.  The gallery is open M-F, 9a.m.-5p.m.

The Vintage Players marks its 20^th anniversary with three performances of Brian Friel’s award-winning play, Dancing at Lughnasa, on April 25, 26, and 27 at the Green Street Arts Center in Middletown. This hauntingly beautiful memory play is a semi-autobiographical reminiscence of the impact of change on the lives of five sisters and their family in a rural Irish community during the summer of 1936.

Jane McMillan founded the Vintage Players in 1993 specifically to present Dancing at Lughnasa. She saw the original production at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1991 and came home determined to stage it in Middletown. Little by little over two years the play took shape, and the Vintage Players presented a staged reading of Dancing at Lughnasa in April 1994. In the early years the organization was greatly strengthened by the help of Richard Kamins and the late Doris Hallie, and although actors have come and gone, the core group has stayed together. John Hall and Lynne Fiducia from the original production are part of this 20^th anniversary show.

Over the years the Vintage Players has staged 18 plays, including Wit, The Dead, The Curious Savage, The Torchbearers, Juno and the Paycock, Driving Miss Daisy, and Chasing Manet. With the addition to the company of actor/director Carolyn Kirsch in 2005, the group has moved from “script in hand” presentations with little sets or props to more professional productions.

Dancing at Lughnasa is set in Ireland’s Donegal County in the fictional town of Ballybeg. Brian Friel has infused his writing with reflective memories of his mother and her sisters. As seen through the eyes of a 7 year old, now grown, a narrator embraces the poetry and humor of this master playwright, and we are able to join the family as these indomitable women struggle with social mores, the Catholic Church, and the coming industrialization of cottage industry.

Under the direction of Vintage Players founder Jane McMillan, the 20th-anniversary cast includes John Hall, Linda Kaskel, Carolyn Kirsch, Pat Farrell, Lynne Fiducia, Terri Klein, Nat Holmes and Gerry Matthews. Music is by Ceol go Maidin. Assisting the production are Cookie and Eggie Quinones, Peggy Welsh, Marian Katz, Susan Hall,  Ellie Howard, and Cora Rodenheizer. Tate Burmeister is the Technical Director.

Performances are Friday, April 25 at 7 pm; Saturday, April 26 at 7 pm; and Sunday, April 27 at 3 pm. All performances are at the Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green Street, Middletown. RESERVATIONS ARE NECESSARY and may be made by calling Claudia Wolf at 860-685-7797. All performances are free, but donations are welcome. All proceeds will benefit the Children’s Programs of Green Street Arts Center and Oddfellows Playhouse.

$158,483 grant supports the creation of an Intel Math Institute to provide intensive professional development for area K-8 teachers

IntelMathBrochure

Teachers – Apply here by April 21, participants will be notified of acceptance by April 30.

Middletown, Conn. – Wesleyan University’s Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science has been awarded a CT State Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant to create an Intel Math Institute for Middletown and Meriden teachers starting this summer. The Institute will include a content-intensive, 80-hour math course with ongoing academic year professional development and arts integration workshops to support teachers in linking Common Core concepts to classroom instruction.  Participants will be mentored in implementing math standards and practices, as well as improving pedagogy knowledge and understanding for math classroom instruction. The project involves teaching artists from Wesleyan’s Green Street Arts Center who will take the intensive math course alongside the teachers and develop workshops for K-8 educators that integrate the arts into math instruction.

“This award is very exciting,” says PIMMS and Green Street Arts Center Director Sara MacSorley. “It embodies the direction of the partnership of PIMMS and the Green Street Arts Center. We want to create a space for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. This is the first time we’ve formally integrated the arts into a math professional development opportunity. The arts, like science and math, build skills in observation, visual thinking, pattern recognition, and problem-solving – all valuable skills for the next generation.”

The Institute will be co-taught by Wesleyan Assistant Professor Christopher Rasmussen and Math Education Specialist Sharon Heyman, currently the only CT-based Intel-trained instructors.

“I am proud and thrilled that Wesleyan has been awarded a Connecticut State Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant to implement an Intel Math Institute,” says Wesleyan President, Michael Roth. “We have long practiced interdisciplinary math and science education on campus, and we are eager to share what we’ve learned with teachers from across the state.”

PIMMS, with 35 years of demonstrated experience in delivering high-quality professional development for math and science teachers, will lead this partnership.  Sara MacSorley, who will serve as Project Coordinator, cited the award as a model for the State’s commitment to maintaining the competitiveness of its workforce through improved instruction in mathematics and science with an arts integration twist.

About PIMMS

Wesleyan University’s PIMMS began in 1979 as a joint effort of a diverse group of volunteers from education, business, government, and industry to foster increased understanding and appreciation of mathematics by Connecticut high school graduates.  It was established under the direction of Robert A. Rosenbaum, the University Professor of Mathematics and the Sciences.  In 1983, the organization broadened its scope to include science and began the PIMMS Fellowship Programs. In 2012 PIMMS joined the Green Street Arts Center in a strategic move to develop a new partnership to provide integrative teaching and learning opportunities in art, math, and science. 

 About the Green Street Arts Center

The collaborative spirit of Wesleyan University, the City of Middletown, and the North End Action Team helped create the Green Street Arts Center in 2005. Being located in Middletown’s historic North End allowed the Center to become a beacon of change for the community and a gathering place for people from all walks of life to come together through art. Since opening, more than 20,000 people have experienced Green Street’s programs in the visual, performing, and media arts.

For more information about the Green Street Arts Center or PIMMS, please call 860-685-7871 or visit www.wesleyan.edu/greenstreet.

Email: gsac@wesleyan.edu

Address: 51 Green Street, Middletown, CT 06457

Spring is coming and we are ready at Green Street with a new growing and gardening-themed class for kids and their parents.

Call us today to sign up you and your children for our springtime Rainbow Music Class with Miss Veronica Voorhies.

Bond with your children through the joy of music! Children will learn basic music concepts like rhythm and pitch. Families will take away music activities that they can do at home. Classes include songs aligned with the pre-school curriculum, percussion (drums, rhythm sticks, egg shakers), movement (scarves), and a story time about gardens.

Classes are on Saturdays from 10:30-11:15am starting April 5, 2014. You pay $60 for a 7-week class, families with multiple children receive 25% off per sibling. Classes are best suited for children from 6 months-5 years old and at least one adult must stay for class.

Please call or email the Green Street Arts Center today to sign up 860-685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu – Register by April 1st, space is limited. Class contingent on minimum enrollment.

The Pysanka workshop is returning to the Green Street Arts Center just in time for Easter.

Last year we had a full house for our Pysanka egg decorating workshop with Wesleyan Dance Department Chair, Katja Kolcio.  Katja and her husband have been using the technique for many years and offered to share their skills with us.

The design is created using wax and you have to think about your color pattern in reverse. The wax creates a barrier where the dye won’t stick. So wherever you put wax first on the egg will remain white. Then you pick your first color, say yellow. After you dye the egg yellow, you add the next level of wax and all those spots will stay yellow.  At the end, you carefully melt off all the wax and blow out the contents of the egg.  The traditional technique produces beautiful geometric patterns.

Workshop Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Time: 6:00-9:00pm

Location: 51 Green Street, Middletown

Fee: $10.00 per person

This workshop is for teens and adults.

There is a limit of 25 people, so early registration is encouraged.

To register please call us at 860-685-7871 or email us at gsac@wesleyan.edu

On Tuesday, April 29th, 2014 come to a visual arts workshop from 6:30-8:30pm led by Green Street Teaching Artist Lindsay Behrens. This hands on workshop explores the creative methods used by Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci. As a scientist, engineer, inventor, and artist, da Vinci exemplified a new way to see beauty in nature. Learn the history of da Vinci, as well as create a Renaissance style portrait using egg tempura paint. No experience needed, workshop open for teens and adults.

Leonardo da Vinci truly highlights the valuable connections between art, math, and science.

Workshop fee – $45 (includes $20 worth of supplies)

Please call or email the Green Street Arts Center by Friday, April 25th to reserve your space.

860-685-7871 or gsac@wesleyan.edu

*All workshops are contingent on a minimum enrollment.

The Greening Green Street Mosaic Project started last year as a collaboration between the Green Street Arts Center AfterSchool Program, teaching artist and nationally known mosaicist Debora Aldo, and members of the Middletown community. Watch the project video from last semester. 

The goal is to create a common space to celebrate the integration of art, math, and science – a space that serves as a beautiful entryway to Green Street, a living laboratory for education programs, and an artful representation of our community here in the North End of Middletown.

The Greening Green Street Mosaic Project continues this spring.

Debora and our teaching staff are developing garden-based activities for a series of elementary and middle school half days to explore the plant cycle, plant identification, weather cycle, pattern making, and use spatial skills to make the mosaics.

The AfterSchool students will have the opportunity to make their own pebble mosaics that will become a part of the permanent installation in front of the building. Every day they come to Green Street, the students will be able to see and show off their work.

To celebrate the project, we will have an unveiling as part of our Green Street Open House (part of CT Open House Day) on Saturday, June 14^th, 2014. Save the date!

We are asking our community to come together and help with the project. There are lots of ways you can get involved. You can:

1. Sponsor an AfterSchool student’s mosaic 
2. Make your own mosaic
3. Volunteer to help with installation — come get down and dirty to install the heavy mosaics in our garden in late spring. Call or email Green Street at 860-685-7871 or gsac@wesleyan.edu if you are interested in helping us with installation in late spring/early summer.

This project is made possible by a CT Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Arts Catalyze Placemaking Grant.

Our AfterSchool students are the heartbeat of Green Street. We want to involve them in our community arts activities and help them discover their passions. This spring, we are doing that through the Greening Green Street Mosaic Project. The AfterSchool students will have the opportunity to make their own pebble mosaics with nationally known mosaicist Debora Aldo that will become a part of the permanent installation in front of the building. Every day they come to Green Street, the students will be able to see and show off their work.

Your sponsorship of an AfterSchool student’s mosaic will help us pay for the materials to complete the mosaic project. Our garden is a large space and it takes lots of pebbles and cement to create the beautiful mosaics.

You can sponsor an AfterSchool student’s mosaic at several levels.

• Level 1 – only $10! Level 1 sponsors will receive recognition on our website.
• Level 2 – $25. Level 2 sponsors will receive a student-made thank you card for their support.
• Level 3 – $50 and up. Level 3 sponsors will receive recognition on our donor tree so all Green Street visitors can see how they support community youth programs in art, math, and science.

All sponsors will receive an invitation to the mosaic unveiling at our Green Street Open House on Saturday, June 14, 2014 and recognition on our website.

To sponsor an AfterSchool student’s mosaic, you can either call Claudia with your credit card information at 860-685-7797. We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Or you can send a check to the Green Street Arts Center at 51 Green Street, Middletown CT 06457. Please make checks payable to GSAC/Wesleyan and note “Mosaic Sponsor Level 1, 2, or 3” in the notes section.