Around Town

‘Va Va Vroom’ Opens at Carriage Barn Arts Center [PHOTOS]

By |

Dozens of patrons of a widely anticipated new show at Carriage Barn Arts Center got a sneak peek Saturday evening during a special Patron Preview Opening Reception. “Va Va Vroom! The Art of the Vehicle” will run April 19 to June 14, with the correlating Monaco Grand Prix Fundraiser (tickets here) scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 16. Featuring contemporary paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures by 35 artists from Connecticut and New York as well as vintage advertising posters, motorcycles and car models, the show celebrates the 1895-built Carriage Barn’s own heritage as the Lapham family’s garage for horses, carriages and cars. With live tunes from New Canaan Music playing in the background and three vintage motorcycles from Buzz Kanter on stage, guests mingled over small bites and wine on a picture-perfect evening, greeted by a row of classic cars outside including from Caffeine & Carburetors (it’s on tomorrow morning, downtown) founder Doug Zumbach and “The Drive through Waveny: A Vehicular Timeline” series of poster boards, from Rose Scott Long of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance.

Around Town

VIDEO: Laughter, Dancing at Carriage Barn’s ‘Night in Havana’

By |

A Night in Havana, May 17, 2014
Carriage Barn Arts Center Board of Directors President Serena Gillespie says there are two major reasons that inaugural fundraiser “A Night in Havana” sold out two weeks before the event. “One, the directors [Eleanor Flatow and Arianne Kolb] over the course of this year have had an amazing push in PR and marketing, and the community is responding,” Gillespie said from under a tent outside the Carriage Barn, home of the New Canaan Center for the Arts, as 160 supporters arrived to mingle, dance and laugh (see video above) on a picture-perfect evening for “A Night in Havana.” The fundraiser featured live Latin music from Manchado, plenty to drink, silent auction and a Cuba-inspired menu—all amid the “Absolut Kuba!” exhibition which runs through June 1. “Our turnouts at openings have been astronomical, and now on top of that, we have an exhibition going on that is really caught the eye of a lot of people,” Gillespie continued. “We brought in a lot of people to the lecture last week and to the openings for people who had never set foot in the Carriage Barn before. So I think between the two there is newfound interest.”

It showed.