Things to See & Do

Mosaic Activity: during Free Family Day, Saturday, October 10, 2 - 4 PM (registration appreciated)

Artist Talk: Wednesday, November 7, 3 - 4 PM (RSVP appreciated)

Driven by curiosity and a background in Wildlife Biology, Cynthia Fisher has created varied and philosophical works that seek to elevate mosaics beyond the world of craft and into fine art. 

The inaugural Vertical Gallery Activation features a multi-media installation from Massachusetts artist Debra Fleury. Influenced by the human experience, Fleury’s work seeks to encourage exploration and evoke a sense of joy and wonder. Translucent fabric has been painted in a watercolor effect and sewn together, creating channels and undulating patterns that are then filled with wire. Through this process, “a hidden internal world is made visible, giving shape to what is deeply felt but not easily named.”

Artist Shelly “Lola” Freund utilizes brightly colored renditions of her own fingerprints and objects reminiscent of family keepsakes to reflect on her multicultural identity. By using her own body as the subject of her work, Freund asks us to consider how identity is categorized and interpreted in our modern world.   Freund’s sweeping canvases feature vibrant pinks and blues that shimmer with the additions of rhinestones, glitter, and copper. As light bounces from one canvas to the next, the viewer is taken on a journey through the artist’s own diasporic origins. 

Half-bat, half-boy, ripped from the tabloid headlines, and thrust into the spotlight! In this camp horror comedy, a misunderstood monster seeks a place to belong. Taken in by a veterinarian, endeared to his adopted sister Shelly, and reviled by the locals, mild-mannered “Edgar” searches fiercely for a place he can truly be himself. Set to an eclectic pop-rock score by Laurence O'Keefe (Legally Blonde, Heathers the Musical), Edgar’s wild journey is a hilarious satire and an offbeat fable for the outsider in all of us.

This year’s Art Ramble features work by multi-media artist Helen Duncan. Duncan’s porcelain clay and wire forms are dispersed along the Fairyland Pond Trail in the Hapgood Wright Town Forest, right off of Concord Center. Duncan's delicate dandelion-esque pieces come alive on the trail, responding to their environment by shifting with the breeze and reflecting sunlight. Through these exchanges, as well as our own impact on the work, we are asked to examine how the varied elements of the world around us may interact with each other.

Umbrella Arts presents... I AND YOU.  THE STORY: A homebound teen and an unexpected visitor clash over a Walt Whitman assignment that will lead them to a stunning epiphany. Caroline is sharp-witted, guarded, and sardonic, and Anthony is athletic, sensitive, and popular, but as they debate ecstatic poetry, life and love, youth and mortality, they discover they are more connected than they may seem. A luminous play from America’s most-produced playwright Lauren Gunderson, I and You is a genuinely funny, deeply moving ode to all the unseen ways we are connected.

Compose the Action! Ever wonder how a movie score builds heart-pounding suspense or pulls at your heartstrings? Step into the composer’s chair and discover the secrets behind cinematic sound! Guided by composer and CCM faculty member Manuel García-Baró, students will explore how music creates emotion, drama, and atmosphere in visual media. 

Join Professor Willsky-Ciollo as she explores how Thoreau was enmeshed in a decades-spanning project of crafting a theology of wildness. The focus of Thoreau’s theology—wildness itself—centers on the divinity extant in every person and in every molecule of creation.  In his writings, Thoreau leaves the door open to his readers, who he hoped would pick up the pen where he left off and write their own theologies of wildness.

Join historian Joanne Freeman for a compelling exploration of the Revolutionary era and the ideas, conflicts, and personalities that shaped the founding of the United States. Drawing on her extensive research into early American politics and public life, Freeman will examine how debates over power, democracy, and citizenship continue to resonate today. This engaging conversation offers new perspectives on the people and choices behind the nation’s beginnings.

Is talking the only way to have a conversation? Conversations happen in music, too! Explore musical dialogues with Marvento Duo in an interactive flute and piano concert for young listeners and their families. This interactive family concert will include a variety of flute and piano music from the Baroque period to the present. Through movement activities and listening games, discover the ways instruments communicate with each other.