'We’re more insular' but more aware of 'interconnectedness'

“My Letterman Yantra’’ by James Bassler, in the show “Adaptation: Artists Respond to Change,’’ at browngrotta Arts, Wilton, Conn., May 8-16.

(Yantra — a geometric diagram, or any object, used as an aid to meditation in tantric worship)

— Photo by Tom Grotta

The gallery, which specializes in textile art, says: “The exhibition looks at the myriad ways artists change direction or their practice in response to changed circumstances like a move, a health issue, a shift in personal circumstances, or, more recently, a global pandemic.

"‘Over the last year, by necessity, we’ve grown more introspective, more insular and more aware of our interconnectedness,’ note the exhibition’s curators, Tom Grotta and Rhonda Brown. ‘We’ve had to acknowledge our permeable national boundaries, shared air, the limits of personal space.’

“The artists who work with browngrotta arts have coped with the changes the pandemic has wrought in various ways — moving locations, taking up art photography, taking new inspiration from nature. Their responses were the impetus for the theme the gallery will explore in the exhibition but these recent adaptations reflect just some of the many reasons artists make changes in their art practice.’’

Even the police headquarters is well landscaped in the very affluent Fairfield County, Conn., town of Wilton.

They only look dangerous

“Long Lines” (ceramic and twine), by Annette Bellamy, in the show “Volume 50: Chronicling Fiber Art for Three Decades,’’ at browngrotta arts, Wilton, Conn. The show, starting Sept. 12, will highlight works by 50 leading artists in fiber art.

See:

browngrotta.com

and:

annettebellamy.com

At Weir Farm National Historic Site, in Ridgefield and Wilton, Conn. It commemorates the life and work of American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir and other artists who stayed at the site, including Childe Hassam, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Singer Sargent and John Twachtman.

70 years of arts patronage

— Photo Courtesy of Tom Grotta

Work by Norma Minkowitz (top) and Mary Giles (bottom) in the show “Artists From the Grotta Collection,’’ at browngrotta arts, Wilton, Conn., Nov. 3-10 and open 10 a.m..-5 p.m.. daily. The show features important works of fiber and dimensional art, by more than 40 artists, collected by Sandy and Louis Grotta.

browngrotta arts explains: “Long-time patrons of the Museum of Arts and Design and the American Craft Museum of New York the Grottas’ collection represents 70 years of arts patronage as well as unique friendships fostered by the Grottas with pioneering contemporary craft makers in textile art, sculpture, furniture and jewelry.’’

J. Alden Weir’s studio at the Weir Farm National Historic Site, in Ridgefield and Wilton, Conn. The park honors the life and work of American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir and other artists who visited or lived there, including Childe Hassam, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Singer Sargent and John Twachtman.

Weir Farm is one of two sites in the National Park Service devoted to the visual arts, along with Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, in Cornish, N.H., named for the famous sculptor.