RENEW YOUR SPIRIT WITH A DAY OUTING Finally, spring, with its mix of lime green and yellow and bright bursts of color, has arrived in Connecticut. It’s been a long winter. But alongside this gift of the season is an eclectic mix of exhibitions at the state’s major regional art museums. A few day trips seem designed to lift the spirits. It’s hard not to be charmed by “Click Clack! Ding! The American Typewriter,” one private collector’s look at the tool that transformed the American workplace, on view through June 1 at The New Britain Museum of American Art (56 Lexington St., New Britain). Be transported to the imagined site of a Katherine Gibbs secretarial pool, or perhaps a seedy mid-20th century newsroom, in this show that includes more than 20 machines, many of them manufactured in Connecticut factories between 1873 and 1966. One early model looks as though it morphed from a … [Read more...] about Connecticut Museums

MAKE A GREAT CATCH ALONG THE ROCKY SHORELINE Why are so many artists drawn to the South Maine Coast? Perhaps it’s some special quality in the glint of sunlight against the Gulf of Maine water, the sound of effervescent salt spray released as cold waves crash against rocky shorelines. Or something about the intermingling visual appeal of ramshackle lobster shacks and the rank stench of baitfish that stirs the creative juices and triggers the artistic urge. Whatever causes the phenomenon, the magnetic attraction of artists to the southern coast of Maine has established this region as a uniquely American cultural destination — a place worthy of a visit, if only to marvel at the giddy interplay between the enduring legacy of local art history and the continuing tradition of the present-day creative process. And if you happen to be an art enthusiast with a penchant for relaxing … [Read more...] about Wanderlust: Southcoast Maine

A TRANQUIL YET ENERGIZING CREATIVE CULTURE If it’s creative rejuvenation you seek, then a trip to Johnson, Vermont is in order. The Gihon River meanders through the heart of town — at times bustling, and at other times perfectly calm. It’s an appropriate metaphor for the experience one has while visiting this celebrated artistic community, a place where one may simultaneously be energized and find tranquility, whether gathering inspiration and ideas from visiting one of the many artists’ studios or simply sitting in the sunshine, relaxing in an Adirondack chair outside the Wolf Kahn Studios. WHAT TO SEE: Founded in 1984, the Vermont Studio Center (VSC) (80 Pearl St.) continues to be a vibrant community of visual artists and writers. Every month, it welcomes 50-60 new artists — painters, photographers, sculptors, writers and filmmakers — from across the country and the globe to … [Read more...] about Johnson, Vermont

LONG SUMMER'S LOTUS Photographer Eaden Huang is a man in a hurry — except when he’s waiting for that perfect moment, when the light and shadows of his subject are poised to change, the temperature to climb or dip, revealing a new landscape. It might be a subject as close as the lotus pond in Whitman Mass., a private garden that he haunts every spring in order to court his lush subjects, lotus blossoms, in a moment of transition from early to later morning light. Or it might be a canyon in Arizona, or a sand dune in Death Valley. I caught up with Huang at Monkey King Tea, a fragrant niche inside Malden’s Real Lucky Restaurant where his daughter Christina (who recently served as an account executive at artscope) served us tea and crepes as we talked and sipped and chewed. Just over our heads paraded his “Long Summer’s Lotus” exhibition of a dozen portraits of lotuses clothed in … [Read more...] about Eaden Huang

CORRINE COLARUSSO’S SUN ALSO RISES Before beginning her series of paintings for a solo show at the Newport Art Museum called “Magic Gold, Full Sun,” Corrine Colarusso wondered about painting a sunrise relevant in the 21st century. Could it be done? How should it be done? Speaking from her Atlanta studio, she mentioned the sunrise as being among the most over-appropriated images in today’s advertising lexicon. It frames myriad product placements — everything from banks to cornflakes. She asked whether it was even possible to be original with this subject matter — and decided that the challenge was to reimagine the meaning of this imagery for herself and for the audiences that would experience her artwork. “Magic Gold, Full Sun” is both her exhibit title and the name of a painting that people will first encounter when walking into Newport’s second floor gallery. The painting, … [Read more...] about Magic Gold, Full Sun