Holidays Under The Umbrella

The Umbrella Arts Center kicks off the holiday season this week with the return of Concord’s traditional Umbrella Winter Market, an annual three-day show and sale of artist, artisan, and hand-crafted work on all three floors of its beautifully renovated space at 40 Stow Street. It features dozens of Umbrella Studio Artists, regional Guest Artists, an annual “Off-the-Wall” show with small works under $350, a Ceramics Program holiday sale, Arts Education Free Drop-In Family Day info table, prizes drawing, and more.
PLUS, view the “Fresh Ink: Contemporary Explorations in Printmaking” Gallery Exhibition, live music on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and refreshments in the cafe provided by Sudbury Coffee Works. And on Friday Noon – 4PM, stop by J.McLaughlin in Concord, where 15% of your purchases will go to support the work of the non-profit arts center.
AND in Performing Arts news, The Umbrella Stage Company has announced the return of its popular Holiday Pops Concert series, featuring the award-winning Firebird Pops Orchestra and Firebird Vox choir. Performances Friday, December 15 at 7:30pm, Saturday, December 16 at 3:00pm, and December 17 at 3:00pm.

Free Screening & Talk: GLORY

 

The Umbrella Arts Center is proud to partner with the Town of Concord DEI Commission and Concord Visitor Center to celebrate the sacrifice of Concord’s native son, George Washington Dugan, who served in the Massachusetts 54th during the Civil War.

On Friday, July 14 at 7pm, join us for a free public screening of the Oscar-nominated film Glory, about one of the Union Army’s earliest African-American regiments in the American Civil War. It stars Matthew Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment’s commanding officer, and Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman. The screening will be followed by a talkback guest historian, author and living history interpreter Marvin Alonso Green.

Free and open to the public. The Umbrella is ADA accessible and offers free parking.

This screening is part of “Glory for George,” a townwide, weekend-long celebration of the life and legacy of George Washington Dugan, with events at the Concord Free Public Library, Monument Square, the Old North Bridge at Minute Man National Historical Park, The Robbins House, and Concord Armory.

 

See https://theumbrellaarts.org/performing-arts/films-umbrella

Points of Return Closing with Final Curator Tour & Film Screening

On June 25, The Umbrella Arts Center will host a final curator-led tour of the expansive “Points of Return” multimedia art exhibition (on view May 1-June 25, 2023), followed by a free companion screening of the documentary film, “Call of the Orcas”.

At 3PM, environmental artists and curators Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero and David Cass (collectively known as A La Luz) will be in Concord for the final weekend to provide a personalized narrative of the exhibition’s journey from an pandemic-era online exhibition to this first-ever large-scale physical exhibition. Comprising indoor and outdoor installations, sculpture, sound, photography and video art, the exhibition has transformed two floors of gallery space, converted lobby space, and the Black Box Theater to create a journey through themed “rooms” from Eclipse to Return, from environmental crisis to optimism. Each room allows visitors to experience the work of diverse international artists who have immersed themselves in a wide range of global environments undergoing different stages of the climate crisis.

Orca photo by Katy Foster for NOAA

The tour will be immediately followed by a free private screening of a new short film, “Call of the Orcas,” about the life quest of Ken Balcomb to save an endangered Pacific species of Orcinus Orca, the southern resident killer whale. The documentary will be introduced by Brian Rosborough, Concord resident and founder of OriginalPursuit.com, who conceived the program. The curators and Mr. Rosborough will facilitate discussion after the film. Light refreshments will be served.

Free with RSVP at https://secure.theumbrellaarts.org/overview/84223

 

(Photos: Umbrella tour by Joseph Donica; Orca photo by Katy Foster for NOAA)

“Lost & Found” Exhibition Opening Reception and Juror’s Talk at The Umbrella Arts Center

On view in The Umbrella Main Gallery, Lost and Found is a group art exhibition that presents a diverse array of artists transforming found objects into artworks. To celebrate the opening of this exhibition, a Juror Talk and Artists Reception will be held Sunday, December 11, 4PM, FREE and open to the public.

Juror Jessica Straus calls the exhibition “a praise-song to the ordinary. Lifted out of the continuum of daily life these objects have come to represent the complexities and richness of the human condition. Ranging from whimsical to haunting, the 3D artworks in this collection examine our relationships with familiar, unfamiliar and defamiliarized things, and beg the question…might objects have souls?

“The artist’s love affair with found objects may have begun a few hundred years ago with the ‘Wunderkammer’,” Straus posits. “In these Cabinets of Curiosities, beautiful, soulful objects were amassed and lovingly arranged in a way that elevated their status” and gave them new life. Inspired by how fine artists of the early 1900s such as Picasso, Schwitters and Duchamp could incorporate objects physically within works of art, Straus is interested in an artist’s sensation of an object “beckoning to them; asking to be used and even rescued.”

It’s that allure or “pull” that marks the artworks in Lost and Found, and the sense the artists have a deep connection to the object, and are helping it tell its story.

The impressive lineup of artists – many of whom are widely exhibited members of the NE Sculptors Guild – include Christopher Abrams, John Anderson, Lisa Barthelson, David L. Black, Linda Bond, Jessica Burko, Laura White Carpenter, Jeanne Ciravolo, Merill Comeau, Thomas A.D. Cornell, Daniela DesLauriers, Russell Dupont, Yvonne C. Espinoza, Laura Evans, Audrey Goldstein, Nicholas M. Goodhue, Jared Green, Peter Decamp Haines, Joe Hedges, Shira Karman, Cynthia Katz, Lisa Kellner, Michelle Lougee, Billy T. Lyons, Steve Novick, Jeanne Williamson Ostroff, Ponnapa Prakkamakul, Abbie Read, Emily Rose, Robert Rovenolt, Marilu Swett, Caron Tabb, Martha Wakefield, Leslie Wilcox and Carolyn Wirth.

The exhibition is on view through December 30, 2022 at The Umbrella Arts Center at 40 Stow Street in Concord Center.  Gallery hours are 10AM-9PM, 7 days a week.

See TheUmbrellaArts.org/Lost-and-Found

Pandemic: Changes & new offerings we have embraced and liked

We all want the Pandemic to come to an end… But what about things that have come about or were started due to the Pandemic that we don’t want to end? Here are some thoughts…

One Concord resident wrote this: “Overall, I think people are much more friendly and kind, here and elsewhere. Seems the ‘We are all in this together’ idea is bringing out best in so many.”

Living Concord followers sent us some of their favorite things:

Curbside pick-up at Concord Library

Messages on staircase leading to Nesting shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor classrooms

Eating Lunch outside at schools

Birthday Parades

 

Small, social distance concerts at your home. Some local musicians can come to your home to perform for you and small group.

Mobile ordering @ Haute Coffee

Curbside pick-up options at so many shops & restaurants

 

Al fresco dining, more outdoor seating options

Seeing many more people walking & biking

Library lawn cafe tables and chairs set up for safe social distance small gatherings

Free parking in town

Easier commutes (b/c less traffic) or no commute

No business travel

Graduation Parades & CCHS Administration stopping by each Graduate’s home in the Graduation Celebration School Bus

Drive-in movies at CCHS, from Concord Recreation

Concord Ag Week (not just Ag Day)

Less activities has allowed for more family dinners, more free time, more game nights

Zoom calls with family & friends

Concord-Carlisle Community Chest Driveway Project

Celebratory take out dinner options offered by local businesses

Chalk messages & more messages of gratitude and kindness around town

Playing games like Kahoot or Risk with friends and family

Being in your pajamas longer and having more leisurely mornings

All the new library offerings

Special take-out dinner offerings / “celebration dinners” from local restaurants

Sidewalk sales / sidewalk displays

Outdoor town meeting (with no presentations)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Umbrella’s productions you can watch via Zoom

Summer Quest

Concord Together, Concord Solstice and Fall In Love with Concord

Paperless menus  – just scan QR code with your phone.

All the new Umbrella offerings

More options to sit around town

Go Out Doors along the Rail Trail

People seem less in a hurry, kinder.

These are just a few of the good things that we have learned, started and liked during this trying time. Thank you to all of you who have worked so hard to make these things happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Concord Bike Rodeo & Bike to School Concord Organization

Concord Bike Rodeo

September 5th, 11am-1pm

Bring your masks, bikes, helmets, and all your gear as we’ll be instructing kids from any school to develop and practice skills that will help them to become better bicyclists right away. You and your kids will leave with more confidence and bike-savvy, ready to
have more fun than ever on two wheels. Parents and kids participating in Concord’s Bike-to-School Events will learn about local bike routes and plans and prizes for biking to school beginning on Day 1 of the Fall 2020 school semester!

What YOU will bring:
– Kids (parents are good too, dogs welcome)
– Masks
– Bikes
– Helmets
– Water and snacks
– Floor pump for bike tires (optional)

What WE will bring:
– Traffic cones
– Sidewalk chalk
– Sample road signs
– An extra kid bike or two just to have available
– Handouts, stickers, and swag

What EVERYONE will bring:
– An excellent attitude!!!

(Inclement weather will postpone until Sunday Sept 6th. Check back here if the weather looks questionable on Saturday morning.)

Get ready to start biking to School!

Starting September 8th!

 

Safe Rides to School – Check out this Mass.gov link for information on safe places for children to walk and bike, starting with their trip to school.

Check out the Town of Concord site for rules of the road

Read up on the wonderful Bruce Freeman Rail Trail

TrailLink is a great source for more info on trails around Massachusetts