“The Confluence of Art, Religion and Science in Small Works: Past and Present”
Lecture at the Carriage Barn Arts Center

Co-Director Dr. Arianne Faber Kolb Joined by Exhibiting Artists in Discussing Historical and Current Inspirations for Small Works

Wednesday, November 19, 2014
6:30 pm – Wine reception
7:00 pm – Lecture

NEW CANAAN, CT, November 4, 2014 — The Carriage Barn Arts Center, Editor’s Pick of Moffly Media’s Best of the Gold Coast, is hosting a lecture in conjunction with its latest exhibit of Small Works! on the evening of Wednesday, November 19. The Center’s Co-Director, Dr. Arianne Faber Kolb, will talk about “The Confluence of Art, Religion and Science in Small Works: Past and Present” and then be joined by two of the show’s artists, Robbii Wessen and David Barnett, in a further discussion of historical and current inspirations for small works. A $10 fee for members; $15 for non-members includes a wine reception at 6:30pm, followed by the lecture/discussion at 7pm.

In this lecture Kolb will provide a brief historical background of the miniaturist approach in art, referencing the early works on view. Her talk will trace the evolution of such works and their different functions and meanings within the context of patronage and the culture of collecting. She will highlight the early masters, Albrecht Durer and Jan Brueghel, who produced small scale paintings and drawings with microscopic precision. Barnett and Wessen will add their perspectives on how these early works relate to contemporary works, such as their own innovative and carefully crafted assemblages that recall the inventive creations exhibited in Renaissance and Baroque cabinets of curiosity.

The Small Works! exhibit includes pieces by 50 contemporary artists that range from delicate drawings, paintings and photographs to finely crafted sculpture and ceramics. Early miniature works of art, including a miniature illuminated manuscript leaf, Old Master prints, and miniature portraits are juxtaposed with those pieces to provide historical and educational context.

Registration required: www.carriagebarn.org.
RSVP by November 17
$10 members; $15 non-members
The talk is sponsored by the New Canaan Community Foundation.
More information about Robbii Wessen is at http://www.foundlings.us/. More information about David Barnett is at http://www.david-barnett.com/.

About Arianne Faber Kolb

Dr. Arianne Faber Kolb, Executive Co-Director of The Carriage Barn Arts Center, has a Ph.D. in art history and was a former curator of paintings and drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She was visiting professor of art history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and was a researcher in the Paintings Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has been on the Collections Committee of the Bruce Museum, where she formerly served as Co-Chair of the Art Council. As a board member of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance, she founded an architecture education program for elementary school children and published the children’s book From the Saltbox to the Glass House: Places that Matter in New Canaan. Kolb’s other published work includes a book on Jan Brueghel the Elder, co-authorship of Getty Museum Paintings catalogues, as well as articles and exhibition catalogues on Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture.

About The Carriage Barn Arts Center

The Carriage Barn Arts Center, located on 681 South Ave., New Canaan, Connecticut, is the home of the New Canaan Society of the Arts. The mission of the New Canaan Society for the Arts, Inc., is to promote the visual and performing arts and to enrich the community through exhibitions, education, and cultural experiences, and to operate the Carriage Barn Arts Center. It offers artists opportunities to exhibit their work in an exceptional gallery space in a unique nineteenth-century stone barn. Exhibits, lectures and educational workshops, concerts and other events are held in this adaptively reused historical building on the grounds of a former estate, now Waveny Park. In 2014 the Center received the Editor’s Pick of Moffly Media’s Best of the Gold Coast. More information about the Center and the current exhibit can be found at www.carriagebarn.org.