The Bruce Museum’s 36th Annual Outdoor Crafts Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 22 and 23, 2021, from 10 am to 5 pm each day. After being conducted as a virtual show in 2020, the Festival – one of the greater Greenwich community’s favorite spring weekend attractions – is back, with artists and artisans from throughout New England and the East Coast featuring fine contemporary hand-made crafts in jewelry, wearable and decorative fiber, glass, furniture and housewares, pottery, and much more, all available for purchase.
In keeping with current COVID health-safety measures mandated by the state of Connecticut, capacity is limited and advance reservations are required. Admission to the Museum grounds is on a “Pay as You Wish” basis, with a suggested donation of $10 per adult. The Festival is always free to Museum members and children younger than five years old; visitors will be able to join the Bruce Museum’s member program to receive free admission and discounts in the Museum Store. To reserve a ticket for timed entry, please visit this page at brucemuseum.org, or call 203-869-0376, ext. 311.
The Museum is open during Festival hours, and attendees are welcome to experience Let in, Let go, a multi-sensory video projection installation created by Holly Danger, a video artist based in Stamford, CT. On view in the Museum’s main gallery through Sunday, May 30, Let in, Let go, explores the synchronization of video, art, light, and sound, and how it relates to emotion, connection, and the present moment.
Due to the ongoing construction of the transformative New Bruce building addition, as well as the health-safety measures currently in place, this year’s Festival is limited to 45 artists, selected by invitation.
”Continuing a trend of recent years, wearables, jewelry, and other handcrafted accessories will be well represented,” says Anne von Stuelpnagel, the Museum’s Director of Exhibitions, who, with Festival Director Sue Brown Gordon, organizes the Museum’s two annual Outdoor Festivals. “Festival-goers will be delighted by the painted silk tops from designer Shekina Rudoy of Princeton, NJ; hand-dyed scarfs from Patricia diSantis and Rich Borden of East Haddam, CT; and the lovely handwoven jackets created by Bounkhong Signavong of Secaucus, NJ.”
Artists specializing in home décor and table-top objects include Allison Corbett of Manchester, CT, who creates furniture of burnished wood and resin; Dan Battat of Holyoke, MA, and his blown glass goblets and stemware; and James Brunelle, who fashions stylized Raku vessels in his New Britain, CT, studio.
Festival parking is available in all public areas surrounding the Bruce, including Island Beach Parking lot, Steamboat Road, and Museum Drive, except for the Bruce Park playground. The Museum is also a short walk from the Metro-North Greenwich railroad station.
Entrance to the Outdoor Crafts Festival is via the Museum’s east parking lot, along Museum Drive. Face masks are required indoors. The Festival is held rain or shine. For more information about this year’s Crafts Festival exhibitors and the Let in, Let go immersive abstract art installation on view, please visit brucemuseum.org, or call 203-869-0376, ext. 311.
