This workshop will cover the fundamentals of wheel throwing with an emphasis on individual experimentation and expressive design. Explore surface techniques such as sgraffito, slip trailing and glaze applications.

Instructor: Kathy Cady

Wednesdays, June 25, July 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30, 2025

10 AM - 2 PM

Members: $378 / Non-Members: $420

MORE INFO & REGISTER

The Mystery Book Club will take place at the Morris Public Library on Wednesday, July 9, 6:30 PM. The group will discuss "Unusual Uses for Olive Oil" by Alexander McCall Smith.

Welcome to the insane and rarified world of Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of Romance Philology. Von Igelfeld is engaged in a never-ending quest to win the respect he feels certain he is due—a quest which has the tendency to go hilariously astray.

In Unusual Uses for Olive Oil, von Igelfeld experiences a series of new adventures. First, he finds that his academic rival Detlev-Amadeus Unterholzer has been winning undeserved recognition, a situation that must be addressed. Then von Igelfeld stumbles toward a romance with Frau Benz, a charming widow who owns her very own Schloss and a fleet of handsome cars—that is, until a faux pas lands him on the curb. Later, while on the annual student study retreat in the Alps, von Igelfeld fearlessly plunges 3000 feet into mountaineering history, and turns his survival into the subject of inspirational lectures. Finally, at a dinner party, he is the only kind soul who can aid an unfortunate dachshund whose sticky wheels are in need of lubrication.

E-book and e-audio are available via Libby app.

New registrations and book requests: 860-567-7440 or https://morrispubliclibrary.net/library-calendar-event.../

Join us for our monthly somewhat literary book discussion for adults! Books in various formats are typically available at the desk approximately one month prior to the discussion. No registration is required! Refreshments served, courtesy of the Friends of the Library. This month we are reading Evil Eye by Etaf Rum. 

View the works of local artist DJ Stenson at the New Hatford Artistans Guild.

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.

This month’s selection is The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester. 

Join us!

Multigenerational event for artists, amateurs, and beginners to paint while listening to live music. Event guided by Vincent Inconiglios and Music Mountain Artistic Director Oskar Espina Ruiz. Materials provided. Rain or Shine. Indoors.

TICKETS: Adults $20; Student / Teacher / Veteran $10; Under 19 y.o. Free (don't forget to sign up for tickets so that we may provide enough materials for everyone. Thank you!)

Come check out the Torrington Recreations 2025 Summer Concert Series at Coe Park! Over the course of 14 weeks, every Thursday, starting June 5th and running through September 4th, we will be hosting 14 different bands who will perform a range of different genres. Concerts will be held on the outside portico at the Coe Memorial Park (101 Litchfield Road) from 6pm-8pm. Bring your blankets, chairs, food and drinks to enjoy our concerts in the park!

Wild & Company emerged from the creative synergy of lead singer and guitarist John Torres and bassist lan Tait, two seasoned musicians bound by their love of rootsy indie rock and an enduring friendship. Flanked by a full band , Wild & Company treats audiences to captivating originals as well as some of their favorite covers, including music from Paul Simon, The Allman Brothers, and more.

The Hickory Stick Bookshop is delighted to host the book launch of “Lost Love” by Orenaug Mountain Publishing, its most recent poetry collection, on Thursday, July 10th at 6 pm.

Local contributors to the collection, including Sam Gluck, Ed Dzitko, Martin Giroux, Sandy Carlson and others will read from the collection. There will be refreshments and books will be available for purchase.

 ABOUT THE BOOK

The poets from around the world who contributed their work to “Lost Love” reflect on what it means to love, to remember, to say good-bye, and to long for one more word or moment with a loved one. 

The collection was edited by Orenaug Mountain Publishing managing partner Sandy Lee Carlson, who says the collection was inspired by the story “of a friend who lost a son without having the opportunity to say good-bye.  I began to think of all those last encounters with others that didn’t seem final until they were—and then they became momentous, living in the heart as abiding love that wanders alone.”

Martin Giroux, a contributor from Bethlehem, Connecticut, says he welcomed the opportunity to contribute a poem about his son: “This collection of poetry is a powerful and lovely testimony to the most universal of human journeys, that of loss. I feel privileged to be considered among such talent.”

 ABOUT ORENAUG MOUNTAIN PUBLISHING

Orenaug Mountain Publishing (orenaugmountainpublishing.com) seeks to be a beacon for poetic expression by creating a platform for poets to share their work with the world. We publish high-quality work that challenges, inspires, and connects readers through language.

 This event is free and open to the public.  If you are unable to attend this event, you may reserve signed copies of “Lost Love” by calling The Hickory Stick Bookshop at (860) 868 0525, or shop our website 24/7 at www.hickorystickbookshop.com.  

Thursday, July 10th, at 6:30, 2nd Home is thrilled to welcome back the Jim Schribert / Bill Kimball Jazz Guitar Duo. The Duo performs a wide variety of traditional and contemporary jazz, as well as smooth jazz instrumentals. Jim and Bill have brought their many years of musical experience together to form this unique jazz guitar duo.

Jim Schribert is a graduate of the Hartford Conservatory of Music, studying both jazz and pop guitar styles and music theory. Over the years, he’s performed and recorded a wide variety of musical styles including jazz, rock and funk. Jim has performed as the orchestra guitarist in local dinner theater productions, including, Grease, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Godspell, as well as the orchestra guitarist for actor and impressionist Frank Gorshin, known as the Riddler from the Batman TV series. For the last 30 years, Jim has been the guitarist for the Hartford based R&B dance band Locomotion, which has performed at numerous events including: Traveler’s Insurance Company Ball, Black-Tie Fund Raiser Galas for the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, Arthritis Foundation, Hartford Jaycees, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital and the Mohegan Sun Casino's Federal Tribe Recognition Gala.

Bill Kimball has recorded professionally with the DeSesa Quintet as a tribute to Tony William’s music. He has played in various bands such as The Good Times, Sophistafunk, Freeway and Frank & Friends / Aetna Jazz Band, performing pop, disco, country, rock / blues and classic and contemporary jazz. His corporate band performed for many large charitable events in the Hartford and NYC areas. Bill also performed the guitar chart for the shows: West Side Story, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Seussical the Musical in local theater productions. Bill also has been volunteering musically for more than 30 years, most recently being the original leader of the WIND contemporary worship team at First Church in Wethersfield, where he’s led or participated in a group of instrumentalists and vocalists for over 15 years. During this time, he was the band rehearsal leader for the international Christian artist Robin Mark for three years in a row.

For reservations call 860-238-4500 or email us at momanddad@2ndhomelounge.com

See our complete event list - https://2ndhomelounge.com/events/

2nd Home Lounge

524 Main Street, Winsted

2ndhomelounge.com

Join our mailing list - https://2ndhomelounge.com/email-sign-up/

View the works of local artist DJ Stenson at the New Hatford Artistans Guild.

Dates:  June 14 – July 27, 2025

Reception: Saturday June 14, 4 – 6 PM, public invited

Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 – 5:30, Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 and by appointment

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is honored to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janna Watson. Watson is a conceptual painter based in Toronto, Canada. Poems Without Words is Watson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery who has included Watson in eight other exhibitions and placed her work in numerous private collections. The gallery has represented the artist since 2017.

Through her practice, Watson works to reframe spirituality into objects that reflect fluidity, agility, and joy. She communicates this through a queering of the painterly process, into one that is diversely applied, gestural, and multi-oriented. Janna intentionally forgoes the use of borders on her paintings to create a sense of the infinite, and the inherent vulnerability of a spirituality that is not contained by a canon.

Janna Watson’s compositions and color choices are both careful and spontaneous, each gesture evoking an unstated emotional response. The paintings are generous passages of vivid color with swooping buttery paint strokes, and calligraphic marks floating on fields of saturated color. They are not spare, but they have an implied economy of language, each gesture gathered towards the others with an unseen gravitational force coalescing into a graceful equilibrium.

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life thus far has been the abstract language of painting.  – Janna Watson, 2025

Janna Watson’s work is widely exhibited internationally including in Canada, the United States and Taiwan. Watson’s paintings can be found in significant collections including Google, Air Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, Toronto, CIBC, Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Toronto, HBC Global Art Collection, New York, to name a few. Watson earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto.

Please contact Lani Ming Holloway, Associate Director, Lani@kbfa.com, 860 560 3085 with inquires or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.