Connecticut Art Trail:

New Members, New Website, New Direction

The Connecticut Art Trail, formerly known as Connecticut Impressionist Art Trail, has expanded its membership beyond American Impressionism and accepted five distinguished Connecticut museums as new members.

The diversity of member museums now includes bucolic farms, art studios and former artists’ boarding houses to grand and modern art museums in vibrant downtowns. Collections and exhibitions incorporate European masterpieces, American Impressionism, ancient art, contemporary culture and more.

“By expanding our membership, we are able to appeal to a broader audience: 14 world-class museums and historic sites throughout the state showcasing diverse, quality collections rich in history and heritage,” states Sandra Betner, newly appointed director of The Connecticut Art Trail.

The five new members are:

*The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, which offers innovative, diverse contemporary art focusing on emerging and mid-career artists;

*Mattatuck Museum Arts and History Center in Waterbury, with collections focusing on more than three centuries of the region’s heritage and Connecticut’s master artists;

*The William Benton Museum of Art at University of Connecticut in Storrs, with art from the 15th to the 21st Century including works by Albrecht Durer, Maurice Prendergast, Reginald Marsh and Kathe Kollwitz;

*The Slater Memorial Museum at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, which features three centuries of Norwich historical art and artifacts, art of five continents and 13 centuries, Native American artifacts, and plaster casts of the ancient world’s great sculpture; and

*Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, with British art from the Elizabethan period to the present housed in striking building designed by the American architect Louis I. Kahn.

The original member museums and historic sites of the Connecticut Art Trail include: Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington; Bruce Museum and Bush-Holley Historic Site, both in Greenwich; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford;

New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London; Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme; and Weir Farm National Historic Site, Wilton.

The Connecticut Impressionist Art Trail was launched in 1995 to increase public awareness of the pivotal role Connecticut played in introducing Impressionism to North American, and to boost museum attendance and cultural tourism in Connecticut. For 2006 the members voted to expand beyond the Impressionism criteria in order to include a more diverse membership and reach a broader audience.

A new brochure and new website were introduced in June. Visit ArtTrail.org for more information on each museum and Trail Getaways, as suggestions for lodging, dining and attractions near each museum.