Around Town

Q&A: ‘Art in the Windows’ Kicks Off Friday

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A partnership that brings together the New Canaan arts and business communities is set to kick off a popular annual exhibition this week. “Art in the Windows” is a storefront exhibition organized by the Carriage Barn Arts Center in partnership with the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. They’re hosting an Art Stroll Kickoff event at Elm Street and South Avenue from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, June 2. 

We put some questions to Carriage Barn Executive Director Hilary Wittmann ahead of the launch. Here’s our exchange. New Canaanite: What is ‘Art in the Windows’ and what is its history in New Canaan?

Around Town

Podcast: Downtown New Canaan Arts Festival

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This week, on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Hilary Wittmann, executive director of the Carriage Barn Arts Center, about the organization’s Downtown New Canaan Canaan Arts Festival. To be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the festival is a kickoff to the Carriage Barn’s 15th annual Art in the Windows exhibit, presented in partnership with the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Art in the Windows

Art in the Windows Celebration Event

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On Thursday, June 11 from 5-7pm, the Carriage Barn and New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, along with other community organizations and business partners, will host a downtown celebration of creativity! Art-inspired window displays, live music and a community art project will be part of this kick-off event. Stop by the corner of Elm Street and South Ave and create some art at the family art bar, enjoy the pop up gallery and Artist showcase and listen to live music by Acoustic Quarantine. Art will remain in store windows downtown from June 3rd through June 18th. Come and help celebrate downtown New Canaan and our creative community through this annual exhibit!

Around Town

‘Art in the Windows’ Kicks Off Downtown Thursday

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Dozens of New Canaan shops will stay open late Thursday, as live music, artist receptions, wine tastings and other special events are held throughout the business district to mark the launch of Art in the Windows. Residents are invited to stroll the streets of New Canaan from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for the 10th annual Art in the Windows. A record-70 stores are participating in this year’s event, featuring photos, paintings, sculpture and mixed media pieces from as many artists, 31 of them New Canaanites (see gallery above), according to Hilary Witmann, executive director of the Carriage Barn Arts Center. The Waveny-based nonprofit organized the event, which is sponsored by Bankwell, New Canaan Board of Realtors and Hutchinson Tree Care Specialists, in partnership with the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. “It’s great that we have more stores than ever and a lot of New Canaan artists, which is one of the things I really wanted to bring in this year, in addition to the great artists who are members of the Carriage Barn and exhibit in a lot of shows,” Witmann told NewCanaanite.com.

Around Town

New Downtown Stroll to Kickstart ‘Art in the Windows’ on May 22

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Three springs ago—her first in New Canaan—Serena Gillespie found herself walking downtown when she noticed, and felt moved by, works of art in storefront windows. Attracted to a display that included peonies flowers, Gillespie made inquiries and discovered that she was experiencing Art in the Windows. That’s how she came to find out about the Carriage Barn Arts Center (home of the New Canaan Society for the Arts), which organized the event. “For me, art has always had to connect with me personally,” Gillespie, now president of the art center’s Board of Trustees, recalled on a recent evening as fellow board members, Carriage Barn staff and business owners gathered at the Waveny property during a kickoff/planning gathering for the Seventh Annual Art in the Windows. “If it talks to me and brings back a memory, that’s when it connects with me.