The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to host its annual Community Day celebrating art, creativity, and connection through a wide range of free activities for all ages across the Museum’s campus on Saturday, October 17 between 10:30 am and 5 pm. Visit www.thealdrich.org for more information and to view the schedule of events.
Spend the day exploring the current exhibition The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me, a forty artist group show celebrating work made by artists living in Connecticut. Throughout the day, visitors can enjoy guided tours of the exhibitions and Sculpture Garden, hands-on art making, family activities, artist-inspired experiences, live music-making, a special performance, and activities presented in collaboration with Connecticut community organizations.
Families can begin the morning with a special Story Time presented in collaboration with Ridgefield Library (pre-registration required), then spend the day creating art in The Studio, exploring the Sculpture Garden, and participating in interactive activities inspired by the exhibitions. Visitors can also bring seeds to swap or pick up something new for their garden at the Caudatowa Garden Club’s Seed Exchange Table and explore the intersection of art and the natural environment during a special guided tour of the Sculpture Garden.
From 12:30 to 4:30 pm, drop into The Studio for hands-on art making with Aldrich Educators inspired by The Aldrich Decennial and participate in a Scavenger Hunt featuring stops both indoors in the galleries and outside in the Sculpture Garden. Make-Modern will also join us in The Studio with a special textile arts activity, offering another way for visitors of all ages to experiment with materials and make something of their own.
Visitors can also take part in Do the Dots – Aldrich Wall for Community Day, a special participatory activity with artist and creative director Bri Emery. Through color, attention, and guided sensory experiences, visitors will be invited to explore emotions and sensations in the body and contribute to a collective visual body map that grows and connects throughout the day.
Outdoors, Connecticut Music Therapy Services will lead an interactive music activity from 12 noon to 2 pm, and Pop Art! Kids will offer a playful outdoor art experience from 1 to 3 pm. We are also delighted to welcome back Woodcock Nature Center for another Community Day, bringing opportunities for visitors of all ages to connect with the natural world. Additional details about their activities will be announced soon.
Artist Anindita Dutta will debut a new performance from 2 to 3 pm, presented in conjunction with The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me. For The Dream of Being, Dutta explores themes of duality, considering how opposing realities can coexist. At the center of her performance is a freestanding, double-sided composition that offers visitors two contrasting views: one representing day and the other night. Through the transformation of found and worn garments, shoes, purses, and more, marked by traces of previous use, Dutta metaphorically explores themes of love and loss, pain and pleasure, and identity and belonging.
Food will be available for purchase throughout the day from Chez Lenard, serving their gourmet hotdogs on our campus and Bridge Street Premium Ice, offering a variety of sorbet flavors.
