On Saturday, June 8, from 12-4:00pm (in conjunction with the State of CT Office of Tourism’s Open House Day), Green Street Arts Center will offer free origami demonstrations by local origami artist, Andrea Cassella, including brief hands-on origami activities for children and adults. Families are invited to stop in to visit, and to enjoy the fascinating and fun art of origami at our community arts center. This event is free.
Gallery Walk with Roslyn Carrier-Brault
Roslyn Carrier-Brault will be the featured artist for the June Gallery Walk. The opening reception will take place on Friday, June 7, 5-8pm.
Roslyn’s new project will be presented as “Count Your Blessings: A Vision of Hope,” where she has challenged herself to reinvent her photographic style by revisiting her vast body of digital negatives to select images to be layered to create surrealistic, beautifully odd, maybe scary, always elegant and dream-like images. This project is her autobiographical, introspective journey.
Roslyn is also one of our teaching artists in the Art and Science AfterSchool Program.
The exhibit will be on display at the Green Street Arts Center through July 2. Come check it out.
by Roslyn Carrier-Brault, 16×20″, digitally blended photograph, 2012
Knitting Group at Green Street
Are you an experienced knitter or someone who has always wanted to learn?
Every other Wednesday starting next week, May 15th Green Street will host a knitting group with our very own Claudia Foerstel.
No experience necessary. Please bring your own yarn and needles if you can. We’ll have some supplies available.
Call us today to find out more information – 860-685-7871.
$5 suggested donation to fund more yarn for community projects.
First Gallery Walk of the year with Meredith Arcari
Meredith Arcari was our featured artist for the first Middletown Gallery Walk this year. Her work emphasizes Connecticut architectural landmarks like the Colt Building in Hartford and the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown.
Meredith is also one of our teaching artists in the Art and Science AfterSchool Program. Her visual arts classes like Art Around the World and Environmental Art are very popular with our students.
The exhibit will be on display at the Green Street Arts Center until the end of May. Come check it out.
PIMMS receives the Dr. Sigmund Abeles Science Advocate Award
On April 24 at the New Haven Lawn Club, the Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science (PIMMS) at Wesleyan University was recognized for its successful, effective, and influential program in professional development for mathematics and science teachers in Connecticut.
PIMMS received the Dr. Sigmund Abeles Science Advocate Award at the annual awards banquet of the Connecticut Science Teachers and Connecticut Science Supervisors Associations for Excellence in Science Education and Supervision. The award is designed to recognize individuals or organizations that have demonstrated staunch advocacy for science education in Connecticut as evidenced by their substantial and sustained support and contributions. The award was established to honor Dr. Sigmund Abeles, State Science Consultant emeritus for his outstanding leadership and service to science education in Connecticut.
The Chair of PIMMS, Dr. Robert A. Rosenbaum, who started the organization in 1979, and new Director, Sara MacSorley, accepted the award together at the ceremony.
“It’s such an honor to come into a well regarded organization and to be able to work with Dr. Rosenbaum. I’m looking forward to continuing to support the professional development of Connecticut’s science and math teachers,” says MacSorley.
Dr. Rosenbaum’s humble words in response to this tribute reminds us all of why we feel so passionate about him. As an extraordinary educator and gifted thinker, his accomplishments have affected countless teachers in their careers. The evening came to a close with a beautiful song sung by Marjorie Rosenbaum.
PIMMS would like to express its immense thanks to the Connecticut Science Teachers and the Connecticut Science Supervisors Associations for this recognition, to all the math and science teachers who participated in PIMMS training, and to the many classroom students who benefitted from their instruction.
Come to our last Middletown Potluck on Sunday, May 5, 5:30-8pm
This will be the last Potluck of the semester. This is a wonderful way to share great food, and enjoy the company of other community members. At this gathering, there will also be a discussion and teaching on Middletown History–very exciting!
This Potluck will be held at 200 Church Street (Wesleyan’s Social Justice dorm).
Create Your Own Wearable Art – Scarf Felting Class – May 19th
Call today to sign up for our Scarf Felting Class with Irene Dizes. Irene’s work is on display at Green Street until May 2, 2013.
The class is on Sunday, May 19th from 9:30am – 4:30am. No experience needed.
Irene is a 20-year veteran fiber artist who will teach workshop participants the Nuno felting method in this day-long scarf making workshop. Each participant will design and construct a one-of-a-kind scarf in which wool and silk fibers are artfully intermingled, such as the one Irene is modeling in the picture here.
There is a $100 registration fee which includes materials. Call us today to sign up as space is limited – 860-685-7871.
URI Conference: Talking Beyond Disciplines-Rising Tides and Sea Change
New Director, Sara MacSorley, gave a Pecha Kucha talk at the URI Graduate Student Conference – Talking Beyond Disciplines: Rising Tides and Sea Change – to talk about our new partnership here at Green Street.
Sara was on a panel called Facilitating Creativity in Interdisciplinary and Multimodal Spaces. All the speakers touched on common themes like empowering students, building community, and the importance of creativity to solving problems. Her talk, Creating a Space for Art, Math, and Science to Play, focused on how art and science are the same at their core. Both fields are about asking questions, finding solutions, and exploring the world around us. Sara also talked about how arts integration is critical to teaching other topics like math and science because the arts can help kids learn important skills like observation, visual thinking, and pattern recognition.
The Greening Green Street project served as the example of how we are creating a space to bring art, math, and science together in our community.
Greening Green Street, Part 2: Making mosaics and building community
The Greening Green Street project truly turned into a community effort.
During Part 2, we made pebble mosaics. Our After School Students and community members who have been important players in our history came together to make mosaics for the planters.
People from the community also made generous donations of plants from their own gardens and gave their time to help with the project.
One telling moment was when Pat Charles, the superintendent of Middletown Public Schools, joined us to make a piece. How often do you see school administrators and their first graders participating, hands on, in the same project? That was pretty incredible to see.
