Around Town

Q&A: The Glass House ‘Summer Party’ Set for June 14

By |

The Glass House “Summer Party”—called “our town’s best party” by “Who Knew?” columnist Laura Ault—is scheduled for Saturday, June 14 (tickets and info here). We put some questions to the organization’s communications director, Christa Carr, about the party itself and its importance to The Glass House. Here’s our exchange. ***

New Canaanite: Talk to us about how your single annual fundraiser, the Summer Party, showcases the campus and its structures. 

Christa Carr: The Summer Party honoring legendary designer Gaetano Pesce is generously sponsored by Max Mara, with additional support from Design Within Reach and Land Rover Darien. This is truly a unique opportunity to experience The Glass House in a way that no standard tour can offer.

Around Town

‘They’re Excited, They’re Proud’: Social Justice Youth Art Showcase Opens at Carriage Barn

By |

Dozens of Students, families and art appreciators from New Canaan and throughout Fairfield County visited the Carriage Barn Arts Center on Saturday for the opening reception of an exhibition focused on social justice. Presented by Stand Together Against Racism or “STAR,” in partnership with The Glass House, Carriage Barn and NewCanaanite.com, the Third Annual Fairfield County Social Justice Youth Art Showcase, titled “Through Your Looking Glass,” will run through Nov. 24 at the popular gallery in Waveny Park. The number of students participating in the exhibition has tripled since its first year, according to Susan Borst, co-chair of the Showcase together with Blessings Misomali. “It has grown, especially by age,” Borst told NewCanaanite.com as artists mingled with friends, family and art-lovers, taking in a wide range of media including paintings, sculpture, photography, drawings, mixed media and poetry.

Business

Holiday Shopping 2023: The Glass House Design Store

By |

For this new installment of our local holiday shopping series, we visited  The Glass House Design Store at 199 Elm St. There, we spoke to Dominica Baharian, manager of the Design Store and the Visitor Center, and Christa Carr, communications director for The Glass House. Here’s a transcript of our conversation. ***

New Canaanite: Could you please give us an overview of the Design Store? What can people find here and how does it fit into The Glass House program?

Around Town

‘Through Your Looking Glass’ Student Social Justice Art Showcase Opens at Carriage Barn Arts Center

By |

The number of students contributing their work to an annual social justice art exhibition doubled in its second year, organizers say. Launched by Stand Together Against Racism or “S.T.A.R.,” in partnership with The Glass House and Carriage Barn Arts Center, the exhibition— titled “Through Your Looking Glass” —saw student contributors increase from 21 in its inaugural year to 45 this year, according to S.T.A.R. Founder Fatou Niang. “I’m amazed,” Niang told NewCanaanite.com amid the buzz of an opening reception held Saturday at the Carriage Barn, where crowds of people took in dozens of paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, mixed-media pieces and other art work contributed by students and professional artists brought in as a special part of this year’s show. “I’m amazed because we all know art has a power of reflecting society,” Niang continued. “And the mirror that these kids have sent us through their art is just stunning.

Around Town

Greg Sages, Longtime Executive Director of The Glass House, To Step Down

By |

Greg Sages, with characteristic modesty, views the eight years that he’s led The Glass House as executive director in terms of the organization’s larger goals and history. 

When the historic Glass House building and campus on Ponus Ridge opened to the public in 2007 following the deaths of Philip Johnson and David Whitney, the then-director’s priority was “getting the place open,” Sage said. The second director was from the art community and had strong ties to Manhattan galleries and architects, and focused on those connections in raising the visibility of The Glass House. 

For Sage, “the most important thing was integrating the site into the fabric of New Canaan,” he said. “My predecessors had not focused on that effort,” Sage said. He added that he and Christa Carr, The Glass House’s director of communications, “have been pretty active in local organizations and also we set out to do a number of partnerships with other not-for-profits in town including the library, the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society, Grace Farms, S.T.A.R in this past year, and others.”

“And I think we have maintained a very positive reputation in the museum community with visitors coming from around the country and from around the world,” he said. Sage recently notified his employers at the National Trust for Historic Preservation that he’s stepping down as director.