CT Open House Day

CT Open House Day 

Pahl with some sculptures in the middle of the labyrinth at Flying Dragon Farm Studios in Mansfield, CT

Danielle in an outdoor Sculpture garden at Fenton River Studio in Mansfield, CT

Every second Saturday of June is Connecticut Open House day. This is a day where over 200 attractions across the state of Connecticut offer free or reduced admission to encourage residents to explore local cultural and historical sites. Pahl and I decided to explore two open studios in Mansfield, CT, along with the rarely open Museum of Connecticut Glass in Coventry, CT. 

This particular weekend was incredibly sunny and warm around 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and most of the museum and the open studios were in old barns or buildings without any air conditioning, so we dressed for comfort for the day. Pahl wore his button down retro space cats printed shirt with black jeans and his strange sneakers that match the colors in his shirt.

When it's hot, I reach for lots of white, and cotton or linen, to deflect the sun. My white cotton dress with pink front bustles and hidden pockets, as well as the pink head bow is from MyViolet.  My Violet is a domestic store that designs everything in Los Angeles and partners with factories overseas to get their unique pieces manufactured. I've been low key obsessed with them for about two years and have wanted to incorporate more pastels into my general alt wardrobe. I think one of the most popular things they sell are a variety of pleated skirts with hidden built in shorts, so skorts if you will. And all of the clothing is made for adults sizes XS-5X. I have a variety of pieces from them, including footwear, so you'll be seeing that pop up periodically.   Additionally for my outfit,  I am wearing a pair of white with pink bows below the knee socks from Hot Topic, harlequin print purple and pink pastel Mary Janes from Hot Chocolate Designs, and a white lace choker with gold star motifs and a pink heart hand bag that I purchased a long time ago directly from China for my EGL wardrobe. 

Museum of Connecticut Glass, Coventry

The Museum of Connecticut Glass is located in the John Turner House at the intersection of North River Road and RT 44 East in Coventry, CT. Its mission is "dedicated to exhibiting, preserving, researching, and providing education about historical glass made in the numerous glassworks of Connecticut". If you're a resident of Eastern Connecticut, or attended UCONN, you've probably driven past it a million times, not exactly knowing what that building was or if it was ever open. Initially the museum was owned by UCONN for many years, but in 1994, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to entrust it to the developing Museum of Connecticut Glass. 

The museum's permanent offices and exhibits are located inside Capt. John Turner's house (circa 1812-1814), who was one of several incorporators of the Coventry Glass Company. This is the small two story home you can see easily from RT 44 and it is one of several original houses still standing in the National Historic Glass Factory District. A second building (a historic barn from 1935) across the street was acquired in 2005 for education and activity facilities. Inside this building there is a furnace room with a glass furnace where glassmaking is done the way it was done nearly two centuries ago. The museum is open to the public the third Saturday of every month between 1:00-4:00 pm from May through September. That's exactly 5 days total per year (not counting CT Open House Day). They will also be open this year on Oct 10 from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm for the Tailgate Bottle & Glass Show, so there's 6 actually. 

The logo for the Museum of Connecticut Glass, embossed on the shallow amber plate above, depicts a person in the process of making glass like it was done 200 years ago along with the tools that were needed to make it in a circular motif around the edges of the plate. You can buy your own glass plate for a $10.00 donation.
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The raw ingredients to make glass. A certainly dusty business!

A curious object, a Witch's Ball produced in Amber, which wards off misfortune

Experienced Glass blowers in the 1860's

"Bottler" children working in the factories in the 1800's.

I loved seeing all the old glass bottles and fragments around both buildings, but my favorite part was the recovered photographs. Glass production was a physically dangerous business. Glass is extremely hot and will burn right through you socks and shoes if you drop some of it mid-process on the floor. It's also very dusty as you need a variety of dry materials to make it.  You can see that there wasn't much wiggle room between machines and other equipment in the factory in the first photo. What broke my heart was to know that children were also employed in these factories as bottlers, which is the act of moving the newly molded bottles to a finishing oven.  It's so strange to realize we've come such a long way in the last 200 years in automating glass production and technology. I'm usually a big fan of doing things the old fashioned way---but in this instance, I would likely refrain!

Fenton River Studio, Mansfield

Danielle standing with one of the outdoor sculptures at Fenton River Studio

 Fenton River Studio, aka the art of Shauna Shane was a delightful second stop of the day.  Shauna was one of the artist's participating in Art & Garden Tour of Eastern Connecticut, also held on CT Open House Day. This event encouraged individuals, families, and groups to visit artist's private gardens and studios in a self-guided tour around the towns of Ashford, Coventry, Mansfield, and Willington, CT. 

According to her website, "Shauna is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in a variety of painting mediums as well as sculpture. ___ She has received national awards for each of these mediums, and her paintings are known for and reflect her ability to communicate the energy, color, and the unique atmosphere of the scene." She also teaches classes and hosts other events at her studio.

We briefly went inside the studio to see her painting and pastel works, but she had to leave to give out awards for a show she was jurying elsewhere that day, so we mostly just walked around the gardens outside of her studio.  I absolutely adored the whimsical vibe of her garden and the mixed media sculptures. I loved how they were all part solid and part floral. I would 100% go back to just hang out and do some sketching or watercolor painting.

Peacock sculpture with floral tail

The painting on this faux Koi pond is just exquisite. It looks so realistic even within the sculpture medium!

Fairies and cast leaves

Cast leaves and Fairy houses

Larger fairy house

Flying Dragon Farm Studio, Mansfield

Flying Dragon Farm Mascot sculpture way behind the main barn

We still had exactly 36 minutes before both CT Open House Day and Art & Garden Tour of Eastern Connecticut closed for the day, so we ran over to Flying Dragon Farm Studio. It was a little tricky to get to as there was a very tiny sign on the road which led down a long dirt driveway with places to park on some grass. There were three different artists showcasing their work together inside the main barn. Mary Noonan, who owns the property, was showcasing her colorful impressionist paintings. Leanne Peters, one of her guest artists was showcasing paintings as well as illustrations that she had available as both prints and cards. Elizabeth Clark was selling and making jewelry, ornaments, wands, and fairy doors out of metals, wood, stone, beads, paper, resin, stone, and fabric. 

I love how Mary Noonan repurposed this piece of driftwood into an elephant head

Again, we didn't spend a lot of time in the studio, but explored the garden, and what a property to behold! Behind the barn there was a lovely flower garden decorated with all kinds of repurposed and recycled materials, a labyrinth and a sculpture garden! The grass was kinda high way back there, so I was glad I chose to wear tall socks that day. 

The back of the studio and gardens

Just your neighborhood sandworm and a sleepy frog

Close up selfie in the middle of the labyrinth

It was such a fun "free" day going to the Museum of Connecticut Glass and visiting the artist studios and gardens. I learned a lot about early glass making and the history of the building, as well as meeting some of the local artists in that area of CT. So next year on the second Saturday of June when you plan on going to CT Open House Day, make sure to  see if there's anything else going on nearby whatever museum(s) you plan to attend!