Over 80 Kids from 9 Clubs Race in Opti Sailing Regatta off of Westport
With vessel names like “Pegasus”, “Usain Boat”, and “Trash Panda” - over 80 kids from around Fairfield County joined the Optimist Area C Open Regatta this afternoon, hosted by Cedar Point Yacht Club off of Compo Beach. Photos by WestportLocal.com
Area clubs included Cedar Point Yacht Club, Norwalk Yacht Club, Noroton Yacht Club, Pequot Yacht Club, Shore & Country Club, Black Rock Club, Roton Point Sailing Association, Stamford Yacht Club, and Milford Yacht Club. Full results of the regatta can be found here.
Optimist sailing boats are of the smallest type of sailing vessels, easily spotted for their size and flat bow - resembling “bath tubs.” Used by some of the youngest of sailors, the small boats are used by Westport and other area clubs to help educate and train kids ages 8-14 years old. Raced locally and internationally, the opti boats are a popular site from Westport’s shorelines each summer.
Photos by WestportLocal.com. Click to enlarge gallery. 
Firefly Glows on Wedge Wood Road
A lightning bug glowed on the sidewalk of a Wedge Wood Road home late Sunday night. WestportLocal.com photo
Beechwood Open Brings Art and Music Back for 2021
With good weather and eager guests, Frederic Chu and Jeanine Esposito opened up their 200 year old farmhouse for the Beechwood Open as guests sat on their patios to enjoy the festivities. Beechwood Arts and Innovation has served the arts and cultural community as a non profit for nearly ten years, with the husband-wife team founding the center to “expand what the arts experience can be for artists and audiences by fostering collaboration across genres and generations and promoting all-arts immersive and intimate events that marry traditions of the past with cutting-edge innovations of the future.” Chu has travelled the world as a concert pianist, while Esposito creates as an artist and as an innovation consultant. To learn more about Beechwood Arts, a non-profit, visit their website: beechwoodarts.org
Photo by Jerri Graham Photography for WestportLocal.comWestport Little Leaguers Still Smiling; Winning Friday, Saturday Matches of State Finals
The Westport Little League 10U team continues to win this season, with a 10-7 win over Shelton on Friday and 14-1 win over East Lyme last night. The boys will continue through the State finals, playing tomorrow night at Scalzi Park in Stamford, beginning at 7:00 PM. Contributed photo to WestportLocal.com
Dancing-Room-Only at Levitt’s Sold Out Rita Harvey Concert
With all tickets for the Saturday evening Levitt Pavilion concert gone, it was dancing room only on the green as Rita Harvey performed on stage. Photo by J.C. Martin for WestportLocal.com
Rita Harvey Dazzles at Levitt Pavilion
Rita Harvey “Heart Like a Wheel” concert excited the sold out crowd Saturday evening. A tribute to the music of Linda Ronstadt, Harvey is a broadway performing actress - being cast in shows like the revival of Fiddler on the Roof and the Phantom of the Opera. Photo by J.C. Martin for WestportLocal.com
Good Humour hits Soundview Drive
The local Good Humor truck stopped to chat with beachgoers this afternoon as sunshine and seasonal temperatures made for a picture perfect day at Compo Beach. WestportLocal.com photo
WAAC Culture Corner: Bringing the Heat for August
Prepared by Diane Lowman, Westport Poet Laureate and WAAC Member
Lauren Gelgor Kaplan. Photo by Jerri Graham PhotographyWelcome back to the Westport Local Press’s Westport Arts Advisory Committee’s “Culture Corner.” Each month, the WAAC scours our 33.45 square miles and highlight one of the many artists – visual, written, performance, and other – who call Westport home. These artists create a spectrum of color that shines over town like the rainbows often seen over the Saugatuck, so we have made “color” our theme.
In August we honor orange, for the heat of summer, and the heat of featured artist’s Lauren Gelgor Kaplan’s kiln. Lauren and her family, natives of South Africa, moved here after living in Switzerland over 20 ago. I have known and admired her and her work for nearly all that time. Her life’s guiding principal, “life is not about give and take, but give and give,” resonates deeply and reflects in everything she does.
Her family arrived in the States a month prior to 9/11, and the event naturally shook her. To relieve that stress and meet new people, she looked for a creative outlet that would tap into her love of architecture and art (both grandfathers were artists). Having pursued ceramics as a hobby for the prior 30 years, she began classes at Silvermine to learn how to “throw on the wheel,” and spent several years there honing her craft.
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A serendipitous transaction with another local artist who created a painting for her entry way brought Westport Magazine to her home to photograph that. There, they noticed her work in her African-inspired living room, and eventually featured her in a cover story. From there, Takashimaya and Bergdorf Goodman both sold her earthy, unique pieces.
The heat features heavily in her method, called Raku. This ancient Japanese technique, meaning “good surprise,” involves removing the piece from the kiln at a temperature of approximately 2,000 degrees, and submerging it in a trash can full of combustibles (newspaper, cardboard, or sawdust) so that the glaze cools more quickly than the clay. This results trademark Raku crackle reveals the black burnt carbon underneath, or as Lauren calls it, “painting with fire.” She delights in the unpredictability of this alchemy between art and science. Because the product of each firing is unpredictable, every single one of her thousands of pieces is unique. She notes that, as in life, there is only so much you can control, but the ceding of that control can produce tremendously gratifying results.
Lauren finds inspiration every day, everywhere in all her surroundings and encounters, and as such her art evolved constantly. While classic potters Hans Coper and Lucie Rie have influenced her, so have artists in her native Capetown. Her current series includes many natural elements such as twigs, twine, and Hawaiian driftwood. Lauren also practices the Japanese method of kintsugi to repair pieces. She loves the “perfect imperfections” implicit in some of her work – they represent embracing and honoring the scars we all earn throughout life.
She works in her home studio five days a week, using protective gear and tongs to extract her work from the kiln, each piece taking between four and six weeks to complete. In the spirit of “give and give,” Lauren has donated many of her pieces to charitable causes, including Pink Aid in support of Breast Cancer patients and survivors. The Brady Collection here in town, and Gallerie 1831 Paris represent her work. We are lucky to have her “hot” art here in our hometown. Please visit her website and Instagram page to see more of her work: LaurenKaplanCeramics.com, or @LaurenGelgorKaplan on Instagram
Breakfast on Thomas Road
A fawn and a young buck graze on green grass found on the lawn of a Thomas Road home this morning. WestportLocal.com photo
Homeward Bound
A sailing boat sails home Wednesday evening off of Compo Beach. WestportLocal.com photo