MoCA CT

Exhibition Hours
2024-08-08 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-08-04 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-08-03 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-08-02 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-08-01 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-07-28 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-07-27 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-07-26 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) and 6 more dates | MoCACT, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, 06880, United States
Visit the exhibition, ColleCTomania between 12-4 PM.
Register Here.
About ColleCTomania:
This exhilarating exhibition displaying over 140 Swiss posters from the renowned collector Tom Strong. Strong is a New Haven, Connecticut-based graphic designer, photographer and collector who has spent sixty years amassing, displaying, sharing, and living amongst his archive. The exhibition, curated by Pamela Hovland and Karen Salsgiver, includes a widely diverse range of posters from the 1930s to the present.

Switzerland’s design culture has had a significant influence on the discipline of graphic design. Swiss posters in particular, especially those designed during the 1950s and 60s, have attained iconic status and are part of design education in schools across the globe. Created at uniform scale to be displayed in the streets of Zurich, Lucerne and Basel, these posters are now highly collectible, preserved in the archives of major museums and reproduced in art and design books.
Yale University’s graphic design program, the first in this country, was critical in disseminating the work and ideas of Swiss designers. Several influential practitioners were invited to New Haven to teach courses and workshops to students, including Tom Strong, eager to experiment with typography, form and craft. When Yale’s design graduates scattered around Connecticut and the country as both practicing and teaching designers, the visual language and ideology of the ‘Swiss International Style’ spread far and wide.

The poster as a large, public, graphic form has held its prominent place throughout the history of design. Tom Strong’s vast collection of Swiss posters, accumulated over six decades, spans the mid-century to today. His archive includes diverse and boundary-breaking visual strategies employed through inventive uses of type and typography, image-making, layering and collage. The posters illustrate myriad expressions in style, subject matter and ever-evolving technologies. Strong’s posters showcase both the outsized influence of Swiss design as well as the contemporary experimentation that builds on that legacy. Seeing the posters fill the gallery walls is pure visual delight.
ColleCTomania invites the viewer to interact with the posters in a way that correlates to the way we interact with social content; The fast pace consumption of images and text and managing to remember the most impactful or relating subjects. The idea of swiping as we see content is no different from how we view art in any institution. We tend to stand for the works that render us speechless and with ColleCTomania, the wide number of posters that are being displayed serves as a compelling contrast to this belief.
“Why do I continue to collect Swiss posters? I guess you like Beethoven and then Stravinsky comes along with different principles, blows your head off. And then you go further, and you find more composers who you never knew anything about. The body and the brain and the ear are accustomed to surprise and difference and beauty. Other than that, I can’t defend it or describe it. These posters have power. You can’t deny it.”- Tom Strong

Charles Ives Music Festival: INFINITE
2024-08-06 19:00 - 21:00 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
TICKETS

Soloist to large ensembles will perform Inconvenient Wounds by Reene Esmail, And Birds Are Still by Takashi Yoshimatsu, Nifrasch by Jon Cziner, Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel, and The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, with addendum by Paul Frucht.

The Charles Ives Music Festival (CIMF) artists hold positions in major American Orchestras, lead chamber ensembles, and perform on Broadway. CIMF concerts honor the legacy of Charles Ives through performances of his works, music of other American composers and musicians, and music that transcends the traditional boundaries of classical music to incorporate other styles of music.

Artisan Marketplace Summer Series
2024-08-04 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-07-28 12:00 - 16:00, 2024-07-14 12:00 - 16:00 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
Announcing our Artisan Marketplace Summer Series, outdoor events that celebrate local artisans and their creations.
Outdoor Artisan Marketplaces will take place on select Sundays throughout the summer from 12p-4p:

June 16
June 30
July 14
July 28
August 4
August 18
September 8

This year’s Artisan Marketplace will be held outdoors, providing a beautiful and spacious setting for visitors to explore a wide variety of unique, handcrafted items. From jewelry and pottery to textiles and artwork, there will be something for everyone to enjoy and appreciate. The galleries inside will also be open to enjoy our latest exhibition.
The Artisan Marketplace Summer Series is a perfect opportunity for families and friends to spend a leisurely afternoon supporting and discovering the talent and creativity of local artisans. We continue to accept vendor applications – click here to apply!

Ceramic Multi-Bowls Workshop with Leah Corbett
2024-08-02 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-07-19 18:00 - 20:00 | MoCACT, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, 06880, United States
Register here.

Make your own multi-bowl centerpiece with Fairfield-based ceramicist Leah Corbett. “Multi-bowls” are one of Leah’s most popular forms, and can be used for numerous things like snack boards, jewelry catchers, air plant displays, or general organizers for keys & miscellaneous items. In this two-hour workshop, Leah will guide you through easy steps to pinch & smooth multiple bowl forms out of clay, attach them, and manipulate their shapes to fit your own creative style. We provide the clay, tools & glaze options. You get your hands a little dirty, choose your glaze, and pick up your finished creation a few weeks later. This is a great intro to hand-building class to get some basic knowledge that will take you far in the world of pottery.

Faces in Clay Workshop with Bianca Barroca
2024-08-02 16:00 - 18:00, 2024-07-19 16:00 - 18:00 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
Register here.

Learn the basics of sculpting a face with Brazilian ceramicist & sculptor, Bianca Barroca. In this two hour workshop, Bianca will guide you with easy steps to creating your own face mask out of clay, with ample opportunity to add your own personal flair & expression. We provide the clay, tools & glaze options, you make your mask, choose your glaze, and pick up your finished creation one week later. This is the ultimate intro class for people that have always wanted to sculpt human form, but didn’t know where to start.

Sunset Plein Air Painting Class (BYOB Optional) with Agata Tria
2024-08-01 17:45 - 19:15, 2024-07-25 17:45 - 19:15, 2024-07-18 17:45 - 19:15 | MoCACT, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, 06880, United States
Register here.

Enjoy the summer evening at our plein air painting class. Stationed on the front lawn, set up your easel and paint from life or follow along with Agata Tria to complete a guided painting.

MoCA Some Noise - Open Mic Night
2024-07-26 18:30 - 20:30 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
Join us for an Open Mic night at MoCA CT featuring acoustic music, poetry, and slam poetry on Friday, July 26 from 6:30-8:30 PM! Everyone is invited to participate and attend.
Get your tickets to participate or attend here.
Open Mic night is FREE for Members to watch; MoCA Member Participation is FREE; General Admission $10; Participation Fee $5
*NEW* To give everyone their time to shine, we ask that all participants keep their set to 5 minutes max.
Contact Kristen at kristen@mocawestport.org with questions.

Fairfield County Dance Festival
2024-07-25 18:30 - 20:30 | MoCACT, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, 06880, United States
Join East Coast Contemporary Ballet and Thomas/Ortiz Dance for a summer evening of inspiring ballet, contemporary and modern dance.
Performances are FREE and open to the public.
New England Ballet Theatre & Ballet Hartford will be guest companies at this performance.

Gonzalo Aguilar Piano Recital
2024-07-20 16:00 - 17:30 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
Peruvian pianist, Gonzalo Aguilar an internationally acclaimed performer, will be coming to Westport, Connecticut.
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Dr. Gonzalo Aguilar began taking piano lessons when he was 17 years old with Professor Larissa Belotserkovskaia in Peru. He graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, Peru, with the highest accolades and continued his piano studies at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where he received a Masters Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy. Dr. Aguilar holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi with additional studies in collaborative piano and music theory. His dissertation topic was an analysis of folk elements found in three piano compositions by Peruvian composers. Dr. Aguilar was invited to attend the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium at Princeton University. He also performed Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto in E flat Major with the Westminster Community Orchestra in Princeton, New Jersey. Dr. Aguilar has performed internationally throughout Europe, the United States and his homeland of Peru. He has been invited by Art Quitilinga to perform a recital in the Karl Richter Haus in Quedlinburg, Germany. He has performed a solo recital in Czech Republic as well as taught master classes at the Prague Conservatory. Additionally, he collaborated with oboist William Wielgus at the International Students House in Washington, D.C. and recorded music of Peruvian Composers with Wielgus for Sono Luminus.

ColleCTomania: Tour with Tom Strong, collector and designer
2024-07-18 14:00 - 15:00 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
Tom Strong is a New Haven-based designer, photographer, and collector of the Swiss posters in this exhibition. He has shared his collection for decades, through exhibitions in the United States and in classrooms at the Yale School of Art where he earned an MFA in Graphic Design.
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Thomas Strong was born in 1938 in Hanover, New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College and served with the U.S. Army Security Agency in Germany and Turkey. In 1967, Tom received an MFA from the Yale School of Art and Architecture and later started the graphic design firm Strong Cohen with his co-founder, Marjorie Cohen. The firm focuses on the design of signage for architectural applications, primarily for colleges and universities. When Tom isn’t busy designing or installing signs across New Haven, he dedicates his time to revitalizing the neighborhood where he works, a commitment he’s upheld for the past two decades. As a board member of the Chapel West district, he plays a key role in its development. Beyond his civic involvement, Tom has cultivated a diverse collection, including Swiss posters, HO scale model trains, Braun products, National Park Service folders, and iconic posters from Yale and Otl Aicher’s 1972 Olympics.

Camp MoCA Open House
2024-07-14 13:00 - 14:00 | MoCA Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT, 06880, United States
Come see what the MoCA CT has to offer on Sunday, July 14th.
RSVP here.
Our outdoor Artisan Marketplace will be running from 12-4 and offers a wide variety of unique, handcrafted items. From jewelry and pottery to textiles and artwork, there will be something for everyone to enjoy and appreciate. The galleries inside will also be open to enjoy our latest exhibition. From 1-2pm we will have our Open House for current and prospective program participants to view our galleries, classrooms, and grounds. There will be teachers on hand to guide you through a hands-on project which you can take home.
