A Mural in Process

 I was recently in West Hartford.  BlueBack Square is a mixed commercial and residential development just off West Hartford Center.  

An artist was at work on the second level above the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society.  I didn't recognize the artist nor did I understand what is being portrayed at this early stage,  But, I go back to West Hartford often and will check it out later.

I wonder if Monday Murals accepts partially completed and unexplained murals . . . 

Antioch Baptist Church

 

Originally a Methodist church, this facility in Bedford Hills, New York, was purchased in 1975 by Antioch Baptist Church, a Black congregation.  The congregation dates back to 1887 and occupied several other facilities before acquiring and holding services in this one.

Modern Farmhouse

 

On a recent walk, I passed this handsome home.  The main facade is stone, with very appealing windows, The roof has a pair of dormers and a central turret.  The roof covers a deep front porch.   The house calls to mind a farmhouse, though it is relatively new and is entirely residential. 

Weir Farm

 Weir Farm is the former home of the American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir.  It is now a National Historic Park, straddling Ridgefield and Wilton, Connecticut.

I have visited Weir Farm two or three times before, and I have toured the inside of the main house, shown above.  I posted about my tours in 2021 and again in 2023.  This week I visited on Tuesday, only to learn that it was not open for visitors.  

So long as I was there, I walked the main part of the property.  A carpenter was repairing the stairs on Weir's studio, so I didn't photograph it.  But, I walked around the barn and its corral.

This is the view looking back from the end of the corral to the barn and the rear of the Weir house. 

There are some very good walking trails on the property, but I wasn't dressed for a hike, so I left.

Flipping Creative

 Flipping Creative is a "mindful market" in Ridgefield.  The owner describes it as a marketplace showcasing ethically sourced products from skilled craftspeople and partnering with responsible brands.

It feels like I walked into a hippy store from 50 years ago.

It is a visual feast, in perhaps eight rooms, but I swear I can't figure out how they pay the rent.

Art Lover

 

A young girl sat patiently on a bench in Wadsworth Atheneum's Avery Court in Hartford, studying the 16th century statue of Venus with a Nymph and Satyr and Andy Warhol's ten Marilyn Monroe prints.

Varian Fry

Journalist and scholar Varian Fry and his wife Annette lived in Ridgefield at this house on Olmstead Lane in the 1950s and 60s. While here, he taught Latin classes at Ridgefield High School.  Fry died in Easton, a town half an hour east of Ridgefield, at the age of 59.

 In 1940, Fry went to Marseille for the Emergency Rescue Committee,  Fry set up a network that smuggled more than 1,000 Jewish intellectuals out of Nazi-held Europe, including writer Hanna Arendt, painter Marc Chagall, painter-poet Max Ernst and sculptor Jacques Lipchitz.

After World War II ended, Fry was honored for his work. A street in Berlin bears his name, and high schools in Germany and France are named in his honor. In 1994 Fry was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Israel.