A quarter for art

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

In these times, we need art more than ever to take us to new places. Thus it was very pleasant to learn that the U.S. Mint has chosen to create a new quarter to honor the Weir Farm National Historic Site, in Ridgefield and Wilton, Conn. It’s the first quarter to honor the visual arts.

The site commemorates American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir and other artists who stayed at the site and/or lived there, such as Childe Hassam, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Singer Sargent and John Twachtman.

Only two sites run by National Park Service are devoted to the visual arts, and they’re both in New England. The other one is the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, in Cornish, N.H., the site of famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s estate and art colony. (J.D. Salinger – the reclusive writer lived in Cornish, too.)

Studio of J. Alden Weir at the National Historic Site

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.