Please enjoy a glimpse of both the brand-new doors that will fill our space with light and the laying of the pavers in the courtyard. They are symbolic of a strong foundation as we lay the groundwork for an exciting new chapter.
Recent programs include everything from a 300-person session to highly customized tours to meet specific curriculum goals.
This winter, Hill-Stead welcomed 300 Metropolitan Museum of Art volunteers for a virtual tour. The Manhattan-based group is part of the VX Volunteer Enrichment Committee in cooperation with the Met’s Volunteer Organization.
Hill-Stead’s team came together to create a thoughtful and thorough virtual tour. Director of Education Kate Ebner created a slideshow and served as the program’s host. After greeting everyone, she provided an introduction. She then turned the program over to Curator Melanie Bourbeau, who led a fascinating discussion on Mr. Pope’s collecting practices.
Dr. Anna Swinbourne provided a deeper dive into the collection and shared her expertise on French Impressionism. Ms. Bourbeau concluded the tour with a closer look at Mary Cassatt’s painting and a brief history of her friendship with Theodate, as well as her consultations with Mr. Pope on buying art. The concluding slides also provided a glimpse of the gorgeous grounds, the farm complex, the Beatrix Farrand-designed Sunken Garden, and extensive walking trails.
Of the virtual tour, Judy Winzemer, Chair of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Visitor Experience Enrichment Committee said: “I want to add to the chorus of kudos you received from the Zoom Chat by thanking you for your outstanding presentation. We had a maximum of 302 attendees—nearly the largest number we have ever had for an event. Hill-Stead is such a unique and special place. You did a superb job conveying its history – the people, the home, and the art.”
On a more intimate scale, Hill-Stead’s Director of Education Kate Ebner provided a virtual tour for a Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) art class. Fifteen students from Art 491: Aesthetic and Critical Dialogue class attended the virtual presentation. Professor Broadus-Garcia, Associate Professor of Art Education, has brought her students to Hill-Stead Museum for many years. Ms. Ebner shared highlights from the painting collection, including contextual details as well as a thorough examination of the formal elements of the compositions. Afterward, the class had an in-depth discussion about Monet’s Grainstacks White Frost Effects, 1889.
Please contact Kate Ebner, Director of Hill-Stead’s education@hillstead.org (860-677-4787 ext. 136 or education@hillstead.org). Our goal is to supplement and enhance your learning goals for classrooms large and small (kindergarten through college)! The Museum is happy to accommodate virtual and in-person tours including vibrant outdoor sessions on our 152-acre grounds.
At the end of their weekly construction meeting, Hill-Stead Board President Lavell Thompson and Dr. Anna Swinbourne conspired to throw a surprise birthday party for two special collaborators.
They celebrated Hill-Stead renovation project architect Chuck Mueller, senior director and principal of Centerbrook, and construction project manager Joe Sosnicki of PAC Group. The project leads share the same birthday on Saturday, March 6th! For Chuck, it’s the big 6-0!
They surprised them with meaningful gifts. For Chuck, they gifted him with Chick Austin’s biography and a private tour of Chick’s celebrated home (now owned by the Wadsworth Atheneum). For Joe, it was a gift certificate to Millwright’s, his favorite restaurant. It was significant as it’s the place where he proposed to his wife – and it included a handwritten card by Chef Tyler Anderson.
The icing on top was an incredible construction-themed chocolate cake made by Lavell!
Balance your child’s screen time with some outdoor fun at Hill-Stead’s winter afterschool program. Children ages 9–14 will explore Hill-Stead’s expansive property, hike the trails, create natural artworks, and much more!
Each session introduces new adventures, games, and challenges.
Register for one or more days or the entire program!
$35 per day
There are no upcoming events at this time
She toured the Museum nearly 25 years ago and never forgot it.
”I visited your museum in the mid-nineties when I was 16. Seeing Dancers in Pink by Edgar Degas was one of those life-changing moments. Unfortunately, I lost the museum shop memento I purchased back then and couldn’t recall the museum’s name. Twenty-four years later, I mentioned my quest during a conversation with a client since she lived in the Hartford area. She found you after a quick Google search, and here I am. I am wondering if the museum still has a store that I can purchase a print? I would love to see a version of this vital art to be in my life again.”
Dr. Anna Swinbourne, Hill-Stead’s Executive Director & CEO, was so moved that she went above and beyond to gift Ms. Foster with a poster of Dancers in Pink. In a genuine team effort, Hill-Stead Educator Rachel Cutler mobilized to have a poster created to fulfill her request. Dr. Swinbourne personally brought it to the UPS Store in the heat of pre-holiday, pandemic-era shipping madness to fulfill Ms. Foster’s dream.
Dr. Swinbourne said, “We were thrilled to help Ms. Foster realize her long-term and devoted quest. In doing so, it reinforced my own deeply held belief in the magical power of art.”
We are happy to report that the piece arrived safely and now resides at Ms. Foster’s home in the Midwest. She had the work custom framed, and it now hangs in a place of honor above her bed.
The poster is pictured here, along with Ms. Foster’s beloved puppy, Osito.
All the unsightly yet necessary components are now hidden behind what some call “sheetrock,” but we call gallery walls! The progress has been astonishing. We are immensely grateful for the various crews and teams working together in every available space. It’s a noisy, invigorating hub of activity as they contribute to our transformation every weekday.
Included in all this activity was the critical and highly anticipated day when Eversource helped power down the entire museum to perform the necessary testing on the renovation’s electrical components.
In the meantime, our team hauled generators to the courtyard to gear them up to power the historic house. The weather played its typical tricky February self, causing us to reschedule a few times. Still, we responded in our usual determined fashion and kept at it until the skies cleared, and voilà—the job was done!
On Monday, February 22, WTNH Reporter Sarah Cody came out to Hill-Stead to judge our first-ever snowman building contest!
Jan Cohen, a local community member, submitted “Vincent van Snow,” which was declared the contest winner.
When the pandemic arrived and closed so much down, Hill-Stead pivoted to bring experiences of art and nature back into your lives. Now, February is bringing us snow, and we’re donning boots to dance (and make snow angels) in the winter wonderland, trying once again to create more ways to serve our visitors and spread some joy. To that end, we’ve launched winter winter walktails—a stroll through the grounds, on the arm of a pal, with a warm drink in hand—and, I’m giddy to announce, our first-ever snowman* building contest. Come to Hill-Stead in your outerwear, make the snowy creature of your dreams, and try for the prize! (For details on both events, please visit our Calendar.)
This new nimble reality of museum life – stop, quickly assess the conditions, acknowledge them as ever-changing, take a deep breath, and then respond, bravely! – has inspired some changes behind the scenes as well. I am thrilled to announce that Susan Orred will be stepping into a new role as Director of Public Programming at the museum. Not only did those types of outward-facing and community events, such as From the Porch, save our bacon last year, but they have also become one of the most vital and exciting aspects of our mission to serve the public. With her genuine enthusiasm for and deep knowledge of the museum, surpassed only by her devotion to it, Susan is the ideal person to lead this crucial path forward. Continue reading
Dr. Anna Swinbourne, Hill-Stead’s Executive Director, celebrates the long tradition of sending Valentine’s Day cards with the below love letter to our beloved cultural hub.
February marks several Hill-Stead miracles, including the recently discovered birthdate of our founder, Theodate Pope Riddle, on 02.02.1867 and the naming of our treasured institution itself.
Please visit Hill-Stead’s Haystacks latest blog post to learn more about the mystery behind Theodate’s birthdate and hear about the Pope family tradition of sending Valentines.
February marks the birth month of our founder and architect, Theodate Pope Riddle (b. 2/02/1867). However, we did not always know her actual birthdate—the grave marker and death certificate list her birth year as 1868. For the first few decades of the Museum’s opening, the Hill-Stead story began with Theodate’s birthday as February 2, 1868. It was not until years later that we learned her actual birthdate.
The Pope family bible, which served as a record keeper; and which was collected by Polly (Pasternak) Huntington and Sandra Wheeler while establishing the Museum’s archives in the 1980s, notes Theodate’s correct birth year, 1867, as well as her birth-given name, Effie. This led to a search for other documents with her recorded birthdates. At least four of which include Theodate’s signed testimony as having been born in 1877!
