The Creative Arts Workshop is a community based visual arts school that offers three hundred different courses in fine arts and crafts, including among others, drawing and painting, printmaking, pottery, photography, fiber, ceramics, jewelry, design and sculpture. They are additionally one of the few institutions around to offer workshops in book art, and the various aspects of binding.

The history of the Creative Arts Workshop goes back over forty years. The 1960’s saw a period of growth and restructure in Downtown New Haven, with Audubon St. earmarked for redevelopment. A progressive bill was passed wherein organizations devoted to the arts were the only ones that could purchase the now vacant land. CAW’s parent organization, founded in 1960, bought the land at 80 Audubon St. and moved into their newly renovated building in 1972.

With neighbor institutions such as the Educational Center for the Arts, an art driven magnet high school, as well as the New Haven Ballet, New Haven Arts Council and the Neighborhood Music School, The Creative Arts Workshop rounds out a kind of Campus-like aesthetic and feel on Audubon St., separate from that of the Yale branch of New Haven’s fine art scene.

Classes and workshops generally fill up fast, though anyone with a passion for the arts, desire for top instruction and access to specialized studio space is welcome and encouraged to become part of the CAW community, regardless of age or artistic background.

“It never occurred to me that I’d be in an art community, or that people would see me as an artist,” says Lianne Audette, whose specialty is metal smithing.

“There was a social, productive, and aesthetic connection here that really spoke to what I needed at the time,” says Audette, was just looking for something to do after moving back from California to be with her ailing mother. “It was the first time I could totally invest all of my time and my passion into just me.”

Audette plans to open her own studio soon, and credits the Creative Arts Workshop for awakening her latent artistic passions.

Each year the Hilles, and the smaller Creative Works galleries play host to one faculty and two student shows, an annual themed August showing, as well as an invitational juried exhibition.

“The primary function is education, and the exhibitions should serve to augment that mission,” says Executive Director Susan Smith.

Currently, the Hilles Gallery is hosting the “41st Annual Celebration of American Crafts”, an exhibition open to the public that began Oct. 31 and will run through Dec. 24 of this year. As its name implies, it is a celebration of the best in American contemporary crafts, with a variety of ornate pieces made by over three hundred artists from Connecticut and across the country.

“It’s the melding of fine art and craft—well made and designed,” says Smith.

The exhibition offers a modern philosophy on the relationship between the fine arts, and craft making.

“Functionality is no longer a criterion through which we distinguish fine art from craft,” Smith explains. “It’s the form of the piece rather than the function; the process that distinguishes them both.”

The arts come together provide us with a context; a sense of community, a collective like-mindedness whereby our creative proclivities and processes manifest themselves into something personal, and beautiful, be it hewn from metal, molded from clay, or captured under just the right slant of light. For over forty years, The Creative Arts Workshop at 80 Audubon St. in New Haven has been that context.

For more information about The Creative Arts Workshop, class schedules and purchasing information, and The 41st Celebration of American Crafts, visit www.creativeartsworkshop.org

This week Connecticut Creative had the opportunity to talk with ceramic artist Lyn Harper, who echoed these same sentiments and described how nature and technology influence her work.

Connecticut Creative: How long have you been working with ceramics?

Lyn Harper: Probably for 6 or 7 years. I was doing mosaics and then needed to fire my own tiles to get the colors and textures that I needed and that led me into doing 3D ceramics.

Connecticut Creative: The pieces featured on your web site are mainly orb-shaped forms. Is that a recurring theme in your work?

Lyn Harper: That’s been the last couple of years. I’ve been doing some 2D stuff. So I’ve taken the same textures and things that I’ve been working with on the pods and orbs and I’m doing wall pieces.

Connecticut Creative: When you start a piece, do you have an idea of where it’s going to go or do you let it unfold as you’re working?

Lyn Harper: I like to start with a form. So like those orbs and those pods, I know the form that I want. And then I look at a lot of organic things. I look at photographs of seeds or microscopic looks at different textures and I kind of take things from there.

Connecticut Creative: Is nature always a theme in your work?

Lyn Harper: No. I really love technology, and actually some of the work I’m doing now I’m using images of old patent drawings for clocks or these devices that they were dreaming up in the 1900s. I love old drawings that engineers have done to describe what they’re going to do so I kind of overlay that on top of these scratchy, weathered surfaces. I think it’s the science of looking at the things close up and really seeing what makes things work.

Connecticut Creative: Are your pieces more artistic or do you create functional pieces as well?

Lyn Harper: I don’t do functional pieces, so they’re more sculptural.

Connecticut Creative: Did you always know you wanted to attend art school?

Lyn Harper: I actually started out in engineering. I had this little science thing going and then got there and said, ‘no, I’ve got to go to art school.’ But I still had that geek side of me, which I why I work in TV with all this technology. I just love technology. I went to art school for two-dimensional work and then I went to Wesleyan for graduate school and continued on with the 2D work. But I was working in TV by then and have just concurrently done both things.

Connecticut Creative: How did you get involved with Open Studio Weekend?

Lyn Harper:I participate as a member of Artists in Real Time. Last year was my first year. I sold a few pieces and it was a good amount of traffic going through, but it was a tough year. But it was still exciting. It was exciting being in the space with that many people and that many artists and having a venue that people are going to look at art.

Connecticut Creative: Do you exhibit other places as well?

Lyn Harper: I am a member of Wesleyan Potters (www.wesleyanpotters.com). They have a big show every year . I do that and I’ve also done some small shows and juried shows around the state.

Connecticut Creative: Looking down the road, do you know what the next phase of your work will be?

Lyn Harper: I think I’m going to do more large-scale 2D works. I’m doing individual pieces that are maybe 6” by 6” but they’re going to composite so they’ll be a bigger wall piece that might be 4’ by 4’.

For more information, visit Lyn Harper’s web site at www.lynharper.com/.

This is the fourth piece in a series profiling artists exhibiting at Hartford’s Open Studio Weekend. The event begins with a gallery opening November 13th and runs 11 am to 5 pm November 14th and 15th. For more information, visit openstudiohartford.com.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: What kind of work do you exhibit Open Studio?

JESSICA DICKENS: I create handmade jewelry featuring semi-precious stones, freshwater pearls, glass and ceramic beads and other types of components that I find.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: So how long have you been participating in Open Studio Weekend?

JESSICA DICKENS: I started making jewelry as a hobby back in 2000, and I’ve had my business since 2002. I think this will be either my fourth or fifth year doing Open Studio.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: For you, what is the best part of exhibiting?

JESSICA DICKENS: It’s really an artist-driven event, meaning when you go there you’re going to see real artists there. If you go to some craft fairs and other events where they have places for people to exhibit, not everyone is an artist. A lot of times people will have imported stuff or manufactured items that are not handmade. When you go to Open Studio, you’ll see artists who actually create what they do. You also have an opportunity to meet hundreds of people in a relaxed environment with other artists.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: How did you get started making jewelry?

JESSICA DICKENS: I had a necklace that I just loved in college that broke. And one day my mother was buying yarn and I just happened to tag along with her and I saw all these little beads. So I just got some fishing wire and took all the beads and remade my necklace. Then I started going to bead shops. I fell in love with the bead shops. I would spend all my money and all my time at the bead shops. And it just went from there.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: When you start a piece, do you start with an idea in mind or do you let it develop as you’re working on it?

JESSICA DICKENS: Sometimes I will get an idea and write it down. But most of the time I will sit down and look through my jewelry and pick out a center piece or maybe there’s a color that I want to work with and then I just build the necklace from there. It’s kind of like the beads speak to me while I’m making it.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: Would you say you have a specific style?

JESSICA DICKENS: It’s not that I don’t create delicate, fine pieces, but most of my pieces are on the bolder side. They’re chunkier, sometimes with shells or wood or coral and other stones so it’s a little bit more natural.

CONNECTICUT CREATIVE: What advice do you have for other artists?

JESSICA DICKENS: Don’t compare yourself to other people. Once you start doing that, you may start to feel insecure. If you just stick to your craft, do your best at it and try to get it out there then you will have an audience.

For more information, visit Jessica Dickens’ web site at www.jessicadesignsjewelry.com.

This is the third piece in a series profiling artists exhibiting at Hartford’s Open Studio Weekend. The event begins with a gallery opening November 13th and runs 11 am to 5 pm November 14th and 15th. For more information, visit openstudiohartford.com.

When a ruthless bear poacher is arrested, police get more than they can deal with when his latest catch escapes captivity and terrorizes the surrounding town and its inhabitants. Instinctually, the creature cuts a swath of primal carnage, leaving the butchered remains of all those it encounters in its wake as he quests for the blood of his original captor.

Over the course of the weekend, films ranging from fifteen minute comedic shorts, to student length dramas, and full documentaries were screened in blocks at Manchester Community College, Hilliard Mills, and the Little Theater of Manchester at Cheney Hall.

“The town of Manchester has really embraced and supported us,” says Silk City co-director Ryan Maloney.

Maloney, a stand-up comic and actor, also starred in one of the festival’s dark comedies, Quarterlife about a group of friends determined to beat their “quarter life crisis” by tackling a downturned economy and going after their dreams at any cost.

With more than seventy-five film entrees, the festival united writers and directors from the east and west coasts of the U.S. with their peers from abroad, as far as Australia, Ireland, The UK, and South Africa.

Researcher and Cape Town native Rene Scheltema’s documentary, Something Unknown is Doing We Don’t Know What, Produced in part by director Paul Verhoeven, attempts to address and explain the five major psychic phenomenons inherent in select human beings. It goes on to further assert weather or not there is any scientific grounding and validity in cases of telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and healing.

The film’s depth and abundance of research, conducted at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the Institute of transpersonal psychology among others, has garnered it the reputation of best in the field of parapsychology. It has received several awards and a special selection in the Berlin Documentary Festival.

“Everyone really does seem to know everyone else. It’s a great network for film makers”, says Michael Hall from Astoria, New York.

The premise of Hall’s feature length horror comedy, Kids go to the Woods, Kids get Dead, leaves little to the imagination.

“It’s exactly as advertized,” Hall says. “It’s boobs, blood, and rock and roll.”

The movie’s narrative is broken up by fake horror hostess vignettes, fake commercials, and taped as though it were recorded over old home movies.

“It’s like Grindhouse for the VHS and cable generation,” describes Hall.

The Silk City Flick Fest also provided opportunities for a number of the members of Connecticut’s film community to showcase their works.

“The more exposure we get is great not only for us, but for the state as well”, says writer and director Sean Ring, whose short films have been screened at festivals in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Toronto.

“It felt good for a change to just have to hop onto I-95 with my film instead of an airplane”, says the Windsor native.

Ring’s vignette, Walk of Shame centers on a young man as he attempts to cope with a vicious hangover and a night’s worth of poor decisions, the biggest of which he wakes up to find in bed with him. With his head held low and pounding, he happens upon an unlikely connection with someone in similar circumstances.

Director Alec Aston’s New London based film company, SECT Films, endeavors to bring legends of Connecticut’s past onto the screen with representations of its most enigmatic and sometimes frightening figures.

Aston’s film, The Curse of Micah Rood, examines the final days in the life of colonial era hermit Micah Rood, one of Connecticut’s most storied folkloric figures who earned the contempt of his peers by choosing to live alone in an apple orchard in Norwich Connecticut, a man apart from society.

“Some people just enjoy solitude. They become disenfranchised with civilization, and the status quo,” says actor Brian Ellsworth of the title character.

What is the end result?

“Well, that certainly removes the incentive to see the film, doesn’t it?” Ellsworth chuckles.

Possible future SECT projects include narratives of the fabled Lady in White, The Melon Heads, and the Old Leather Man.

The Curse of Micah Rood was one of several films to debut at the Manchester Community College venue, alongside several student-led projects.

MCC Communications major Amy Elizabeth Gott happened upon a film class at MCC, and soon found herself hooked. She wrote, directed and edited her film, “A Beautiful Disaster” by herself, filming it mostly in locations in Glastonbury, and St. Johnsbury Vermont.

“It was a real struggle at first figuring out how to film certain parts, but it was a great experience”, says Gott of her first effort.

A Beautiful Disaster focuses on the friendship of two teenage girls. As one of them struggles to cope with her mother’s drug addiction, she relies strongly on her best friend as the primary outlet and crux for support, testing the bonds of the relationship.

“There’s a scene with a big, hysterical cry”, says East Hartford High School student Jessica Holbrook, who portrayed the film’s main character.

“It was really difficult, and took a few takes to finally get. But I reached down deep and nailed it.”

Independent Film makers, actors and writers new to the industry or otherwise were encouraged to take part in several panel discussions held throughout the weekend. The panels ranged in topic from Documentary making, expectations of the indie film actor, to what various other roles in the film industry, such as the producer comprise.

“That one’s easy—absolutely nothing!” chuckles seasoned Hollywood vet Tom Kane brazenly while nursing a large cigar. “He is too busy thinking of doing things in this whole process to actually be doing them!”

In Connecticut for a film production workshop October 16-18th at Tripeg Studios in New Haven, Kane would assert he showed up at Silk City principally for the cheap wine and free food. However, the assistant director and producer attached to such titles as Prizzi’s Honor, Raging Bull, and Kramer vs. Kramer was invited to give a lecture on the myriad issues surrounding film making, such as adhering to shrinking budgets and tight schedules.

“I guess I’m supposed to go in there, be all prophetic and tell them about how ‘the big boys do it,” Kane says with a grin.

The Silk City Flick Fest concluded the night of Sunday, October 11th with a celebration and awards ceremony held at Cheney Hall. Ten percent of the event’s proceeds went to MARC Inc, an association that seeks to give aid to the disabled. The festival was a great success in bringing awareness of the independent film community to the forefront of central Connecticut, using it then as the grounds to bring film makers from all over the world together.

For more information on the festival and how to enter, news about the directors and their films, award results and more, visit www.silkcityflickfest.com

View more photo’s from Airen Miller at: MARC Inc’s Picture Gallery

DuFour was never trained as an artist. He traveled the world, visiting galleries along the way to feed his love of art. But it took a turning point in his life to inspire him to pick up a brush.

He hit a rough patch in 2005 that left him floundering and looking for something to lose himself in.

“I realized one morning when I woke up that it had to stop. I had to pull myself in a direction and find something to latch on to,” says DuFour.

But instead of getting lost, art is where he found himself. After buying supplies and building himself an easel, DuFour dove in and never looked back.

Since he had no formal training, he focused on simplicity in his pieces. His first serious painting, Window of Opportunity, features a sparse and barren landscape with a single square of lush color.

The tree quickly became a motif in DuFour’s early work, which included fluid, swirly branches on warm browns, yellows and reds. The pieces were an instant success at last year’s Open Studio Weekend. It was his first show.

“Open Studio is an opportunity for everyone—established artists, new up-and-coming artists. If it weren’t for that, I never would have gotten in,” he says.

Despite the looming recession and being virtually unknown, DuFour saw steady sales and even received several commissions following the event. This year, he hopes to build on that success.

Recently, he’s begun training with Rebecca Schweiger at The Art Studio NY to expand his vision. He also says his work tends to be more abstract these days as he experiments with materials and subjects.

“My eyes are just wide open like a kid in a candy store and it’s the best thing in the world,” he says.

For more information, visit Chris DuFour’s web site at www.dufourart.com.

This is the second piece in a series profiling artists exhibiting at Hartford’s Open Studio Weekend. The event begins with a gallery opening November 13th and runs 11 am to 5 pm November 14th and 15th. For more information, visit openstudiohartford.com.

NuLife love gigging around the state, but they wanted to do something more. “We wanted everyone to come together and enjoy music, food, friendship, and life,” NorthStar explains. “We wanted to give local musicians a platform to shine on. By blending rock and hip hop, we wanted to breathe ‘new life’ into Connecticut’s music scene.” With the support of sponsors like Imperial Caribbean in Cromwell, The Dog House in Hartford, and the Airport Road Café, Rocktoberfest slowly came together.

The 15-band lineup includes a wide range of sounds, from the grungy guitar of Look West to the harmonies of Fate Kills the Hero. “There are some phenomenal performers on the bill,” NorthStar adds. “I’m very grateful to have met them through this project.” In addition to music, the event boasts live graffiti, break dancing, tattooing, free beer, games, and prizes from 2 pm until midnight.

After Rocktoberfest, NuLife doesn’t show any signs of stopping. Issue and NorthStar recently teamed up for their side project, Northern Issues. The resulting album, Come and See How Good We Look, hits stores December 15. In the meantime, they’re working on solo EPs, recruiting new crew members, and planning their upcoming Christmas Extravagaza at the Warehouse. Don’t be fooled by their elaborate plans; NuLife dream big, but they never lose sight of what’s important. For NorthStar, it’s all about the rhyming. “I try to get as many of my feelings conveyed to the listener in as short a time as possible,” he insists. “I rhyme because it feels right.”

Rocktoberfest takes place Saturday, October 10, from 2 pm-midnight at the Airport Road Café (330 Ledyard Rd, Hartford, CT.). Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. For more information, call 860.296.1122.

“It’s nice to be so close and sitting with your art so that you can just talk to people,” she says.

Phillipps has painted watercolors since she was a child, following in the footsteps of her grandfather who was a watercolor artist. Her tranquil pieces frequently depict goldfish or flowers, in a loose style with meditative hues of green, orange and blue.

“I like letting the paint play with the water, letting them do some of the mixes on their own,” she says.

But Phillipps is also known for her whimsical collages with scenes of children and animals. She began experimenting with collage later in her career, as she began crafting her illustration style for picture books. What she found was a completely new avenue for her creativity.

“The cut of the paper is a very clear, bold line and I think that adds nice drama and fun for a younger audience,” she says.

For her exhibit at this year’s Open Studio Weekend, Phillips is bringing some extra fun in the form of a ninja named Wink. In March, Viking Press published her first picture book titled, Wink! The Ninja Who Wanted to be Noticed. Although she had written other stories over the years, this one was steeped in serendipity.

A Halloween encounter with a boy dressed as a ninja provided the basis for this unique tale.

“At first, he was being very stealthy so we pretended we didn’t see him because we wanted him to feel good about his stealth skills,” Phillipps says.

Tired at the lack of attention, the boy began jumping and waving his arms. 

“My husband said, ‘Look, it’s the ninja who wants to be noticed.’ Which of course is a ridiculous concept, so of course it stuck,” she says.

The planets also aligned when Phillipps later attended an illustrators’ conference in New York. A literary agent saw her portfolio in one of the sessions and ended up taking her on as a client.

But Phillips would be the first to mention that her success so far is in part due to persistence and putting herself and her art in front of people.

Her best advice for artists and other creative types? “Don’t be afraid to make bad art,” she says. “When you’re afraid to fail, then you’re never going to have an awesome success.”

For more information, visit Julie Christine Phillipps’ web site at www.juliecolor.com.

This is the first piece in a series profiling artists exhibiting at Hartford’s Open Studio Weekend. The event begins with a gallery opening November 13th and runs 11 am to 5 pm November 14th and 15th. For more information, visit openstudiohartford.com.

The Festival is open to all students and independent film makers worldwide. Think of it as an escape to the quaintest New England town highlighting the Autumn beauty with indie movies, shorts, documentaries, parties and panel discussions throughout the 4 day weekend! We are also offering a special category for Connecticut residents. Find out more info at www.silkcityflickfest.com

In the meantime, Connecticut Creative is searching for talented artists to have their work showcased and for them to gain exposure within a community of creatives in this talented state. We are searching for:

• Traditional Artist
• Graphic Designers
• Photographers
• Animators (Video)
• Web Designers
• Musicians
• Performing Artist
• And just about anyone who shows any form of expression. Send us your work and WOW us!

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