Dolphin Trio Visits Saugatuck Island
Saugatuck Island residents had three more visitors for their weekend plans as this small pod of dolphins enjoyed the calm waters and warm air of Bermuda Lagoon over Saturday and Sunday.
Video and photo courtesy of Gina Oliveira Beranek, who kayaked out into the Lagoon today after first seeing them yesterday to record their playful nature from a safe distance. Beranek said a neighbor had put a call into the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) to alert them to the unusual sight, who said they would give them a few more days before they assisted them in leaving the lagoon if they were stuck.
Although difficult to discern, the coloring may allude to their being white-beaked dolphins, according to NOAA. “White-beaked dolphins are found in colder temperate and subpolar waters throughout the North Atlantic Ocean. Their range includes the waters of eastern North America (Massachusetts to Newfoundland), northern Europe (north of Portugal), Scandinavia, Greenland, the United Kingdom, and the Barents Sea. Their distribution in U.S. waters is limited. They prefer waters less than 650 feet deep.”
Photo by Gina Oliveira Beranek Click to watch video courtesy of Gina Oliveira Beranek
Michael Brennecke Exhibits Paintings at Westport Book Shop’s Drew Friedman Art Space for March
Contributed photoThe Westport Book Shop is pleased to welcome artist Michael Brennecke as its guest art exhibitor for the month of March, at the Book Shop’s Drew Friedman Art Place.
Michael’s focus is the creation of abstract paintings, in oils or watercolors. He typically begins with a non-representational drawing, employing random, intuitive movement and accident to create a composition without any preconceived image. Then, in the tradition of Rorshact, through the addition of color and texture, he develops and emphasizes the evocative parts of the image that draw his attention. While his compositions are conceived as abstractions, they may still evoke a sense of landscape or figure, or have the suggestion of natural geology, or appearance of rock formations, vegetation or water.
Michael describes his process with each piece as a mental landscape, or overgrown archeology in which he has to tease out an underlying structure and sense of space. While some of his works, including those on exhibit at the Book Shop, are mostly in the landscape category, sometimes his compositions evolve to be more figurative, even portrait-like. Michael names his works after completion, depending on visceral impressions.
Michael is exhibiting four recent oil paintings at the Book Shop:
“Night Lights”, which turned out as an inadvertent homage to Van Gogh’s “Starry Night Over the Rhone”, of Arles lights reflected on the river;
“Paradise”, which ironically refers to the California town destroyed by the Camp fire. This piece walks the line between the beauty and destructive power of fire;
“Monteverde”, evocative of the sunlit, vine-draped rainforest area of Costa Rica; and
“Backside”, which the artist says he has no clear idea about. “It is possibly somewhat figurative.”
Michael attended The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and earned a BFA at Tufts University. He is a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists, the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, the Rowayton Arts Center and the The Artists Collective of Westport. Michael is a lifelong resident of Westport. You can see more of Michael’s works on his website, at www.michaelbrennecke.com
Westport Book Shop, a nonprofit used book store, is downtown Westport’s only source for gently used and antiquarian books, vintage vinyl records, and other media. It is located at 23 Jesup Road, right across Jesup Green from the Westport Library.
The Book Shop’s “Drew Friedman Art Place” is an area of the store dedicated to exhibiting the work of community artists year-round, on a rotating basis. Miggs Burroughs, a Trustee of the Drew Friedman Community Arts Center, and a founding member of The Artists Collective of Westport, is curating these exhibits, which change monthly.
The art exhibit is open to the public during the Book Shop’s business hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays from Noon to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays). Michael Brennecke’s artwork will be on exhibit through March 31, 2022. All artwork on exhibit is available for purchase.
“Sea and Discover Zone” Opens for Preschoolers at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
(L-R): Johnathan Gibson, director of the Maritime Odyssey Preschool in Norwalk; State Sen. Majority Leader Bob Duff; Dr. Alexandra Estrella, Superintendent of Norwalk Public Schools; Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling; and the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Curtis of Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk. (Bottom Center): Jason Patlis (center), President and CEO of The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. Contributed photoMaritime Aquarium:
Preschoolers and their parents can explore the aquatic world through books, artifacts, live animals, dramatic play and simple scientific tools in the “Sea & Discover Zone,” a new learning center now open in The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
Designed in accordance with the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards, the unique, permanent educational space debuted today [March 2]. Attending the special ribbon-cutting ceremony were Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling; State Sen. Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk; Dr. Alexandra Estrella, Superintendent of the Norwalk Public Schools; Johnathan Gibson, Director of the Maritime Odyssey Preschool in South Norwalk; and the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Curtis of Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk.
The exhibit underscores the priority of early-childhood STEM education for later academic achievement and success in 21st-century jobs.
Because the “Sea & Discover Zone” includes an area for books and reading, the opening event included a story time that celebrated national Read Across America Day.
Tom Naiman, Vice President for Education, said the enclosed second-floor center provides a child-sized introduction to the work of the Aquarium. Young children are invited to discover and investigate aquatic animals and environments in fun, tactile and immersive ways.
“The ‘Sea & Discover Zone’ is devoted to how we learn about marine animals, how we take care of them and how we protect them,” Naiman said. “It's a stimulating, content-rich, free-choice environment for our youngest guests and their care-givers, while also providing an improved space for our early-childhood programs, such as the weekly ‘Fish Tales’ story times.”
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Imaginatively designed, the new center offers three areas where young guests can play the role of marine explorers, conservationists and animal-care specialists:
• a beach zone, with books and comfortable reading nooks under a colorful mural, as well as an area for story times and live-animal presentations.
• a science lab with such tools as tweezers, simple microscopes, hand lenses and other tools to examine shells, feathers, fur and other “biofacts.”
• and an ocean zone set up with objects for dramatic play, as well as a mock coral reef for seeking and finding animals.
First to enjoy the “Sea & Discover Zone” on March 2 was a class from the Maritime Odyssey Preschool in South Norwalk, of which the Aquarium is a partner. In marking national Read Across America Day, the students listened to a storybook read by Lauren Magliola, the Aquarium’s manager of early childhood programs.
Jason Patlis, President and CEO of The Maritime Aquarium, welcomed the “Sea & Discover Zone” for toddlers and preschoolers as a complementary addition to the Aquarium’s other classrooms, research vessel and traveling-teacher programs for older students.
“Before this, we really did not have any space dedicated to that age demographic,” Patlis said. “This space is not just about entertaining kids; it teaches them the heart and soul of what we do here in the Aquarium. It teaches them about the animals but also how to care for the animals.”
Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling praised the hands-on aspect of the “Sea & Discover Zone.”
“It will provide young people with the opportunity for experiential learning, which is the easiest or fastest way to learn, and to have an appreciation for our Sound, our beaches and where we’re located,” Rilling said.
State Sen. Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk said he frequently hears from people who have loved visiting the Aquarium.
“Now we can say, ‘Make sure you bring your littlest ones because there’s a spot here for them to learn even more,’” Duff said. “And they’re learning to be good stewards of the environment and they may not even know it.”
Johnathan Gibson, Director of the Maritime Odyssey Preschool, called the new learning space “innovative and imaginative.”
“It’s so important that children at the earliest ages be exposed to STEM-based curriculum,” Gibson said. “I am amazed by this playspace but I’m not surprised because we know the Aquarium to be a world-class institution of learning and an emerging leader in the field of early-childhood education.”
Dr. Alexandra Estrella, Superintendent of Norwalk Public Schools, celebrated the close relationship between the schools and the Aquarium’s Education department.
“Today opens the door to another opportunity for our students to immerse themselves in great learning and take the learning experience from the classroom into the real world and look at how science is applied throughout everything we do in life,” Estrella said.
The Rev. Dr. Lindsay Curtis of Great Baptist Church, a partner in the Maritime Odyssey Preschool, applauded the collaborations that have benefited Norwalk.
“Their vision and our vision has gone beyond what we ever thought could be,” he said.
The opening of the “Sea & Discover Zone” completes a lively transformation of the Aquarium’s second-floor gallery, which includes the ever-popular meerkats in a big new space (including three “pop-up bubbles” for guests) as well as a large display for the leopard tortoises. Meerkats and tortoises are native to African deserts, and that theme continues along an exterior wall of “Sea & Discover Zone” with built-in displays of a live scorpion, tarantula, African spiny mice and species of fish from African desert regions. These new animals are presented in displays built at preschoolers’ height.
The “Sea & Discover Zone” is free with Aquarium admission.
“Sea & Discover Zone” becomes the home for “Fish Tales,” an interactive story time for toddlers and parents/caregivers that includes songs, rhymes, dance and sometimes visits by a live animal. It’s offered each Friday at 10:30 a.m., is led by an Aquarium early-childhood educator and is free with admission.
Learn more about exhibits and programs in the South Norwalk family attraction – and reserve your tickets in advance, as recommended – at www.maritimeaquarium.org.
Chamber of Commerce Announces Supper and Soul Concert Series
Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce:Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce (WWCC) and The Westport Library are pleased to announce the return of Supper & Soul, the hit Dinner and Concert series, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The event will be held on Saturday, May 7th. This long-awaited night will be capped off by a concert with the dynamic Cris Jacobs at the Forum of the Library following dinners at various restaurants throughout Downtown Westport.
This is the eighth Supper & Soul event, after ten sold out Drive-In shows held in the interim on the Imperial lot, as the partnership between the Westport Library and the Chamber continues to bring music to the ears of our community.
“The time is right to bring this back, people are ready to enjoy energizing downtown and spending a great Saturday night out on the Town,” said Matthew Mandell, Executive Director of the Chamber. “Cris Jacobs is the right act, he blew everyone away at the 2017 Blues Views and BBQ and now he’s back, just like this event.”
The single ticket multi-faceted event entitles participants to enjoy a 3-course meal at one of eleven downtown restaurants, then see the concert and return to any of the same restaurants for happy hour pricing for drinks after the show. The ticket for this event will be $90 per person for the dinner and concert, with concert only tickets available for $40. Tickets go on sale this Friday March 4th at 10am.
Participating downtown restaurants include: 190 Main, Amis, Arrezo, Basso, Capuli, Da Tapas, Don Memo, Manna Toast, Spotted Horse, Wafu and Walrus Alley each within walking distance of the Library. The dinner seating will take place at 6pm with the concert beginning at 8pm.
“The Library’s forum space is the perfect venue for Jacobs with his rock and bluesy sound and what a cool opportunity get people out and about again,” said Bill Harmer, Executive Director of the Westport Library. “We are thrilled to be partnering with the Chamber on Supper & Soul to bring this event to downtown and we look forward to continuing this partnership with more concerts.”
For more information and to purchase tickets please visit www.westportwestonchamber.com/supper.