Art Exhibits, a Family Festival, Animal Awareness Day, and More in Durham and Middlefield This Weekend

Microcosmic Nature Exhibit
Friday, 5 p.m. - On Friday (in conjunction with Middletown’s Gallery Walk series), the Green Street Arts Center will host an opening reception for NYC artist, Jennifer Formica, whose exhibit, Microcosmic Nature, will be on display from Oct. 4th through Oct. 29. Formica, originally from Hartford, currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and is an adjunct professor of Photography and Digital Imaging at Dowling College and York College/CUNY. Here photographic images - vibrant, symbolic and seductive, whimsically evoke the inner psyche and hidden beauty in organic matter, often capturing the magic of nature on a microscopic scale. Formica’s artistic process and techniques range from the use of traditional analog large format camera, to the use of a computer scanner as an image-capturing device, and even to the connection of a microscope to various film and digital cameras.

Bulbs for Breast Cancer
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - Raffles, refreshments, and more. Make your bulb purchases count while creating a beautiful spring garden. Ten percent of all bulb sales this weekend will be donated to After the Storm, Inc. a local group that assists cancer survivors heal emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Family Program: Celebrating Family at the Connecticut Historical Society
Saturday, 10 a.m. - Celebrate Family History Month with the CHS on Oct. 5. Spend time together exploring our galleries and designing your own family tree. Work as a team to fill in the names of your family members and then decorate your tree with pictures, drawings, and descriptions of your favorite family activities and memories. Please bring your own photographs, if you would like to include these on your family tree. All other supplies will be provided by the CHS. This program is recommended for children 10 and under. For more information, please call 860-236-5621 x222. Free on-site parking is available. 

South Fire Family Festival
Saturday, 11 a.m. - This year's event includes free food and drinks, a vehicle extrication demonstration, live burn demonstration, antique fire trucks, firefighter equipment, moon bounces/games, spin art and sand art, Connecticut firefighters MAZE training trailer, 911 simulator, USAR trucks, Hunters Ambulance/Choking Charlie, food, fun and much more. The open house is held in conjunction with Fire Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 6-12. The theme of Fire Prevention week this year is: prevent kitchen fires.

Concert: Pianist Pi-Hsun Shih and Cellist Tanya Anisimova 
Saturday, 2 p.m. - Pianist Pi-Hsun Shih and cellist Tanya Anisimova will perform Chopin and Mendelssohn on Saturday. Pi-Hsun Shih enjoys a versatile career 
as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and teacher. The Taiwanese-American 
musician has been a featured soloist with the Sao Paulo State Symphony, The 
Hartt Symphony, and the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, for whom she served as the principal keyboardist. She has performed throughout North America, South America, and Asia with ensembles such as Empire Brass and the Emerson String Quartet. Shih balances her vibrant performing career with an equally active teaching schedule. Currently on the faculty of the Hartt School Community Division and the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University, she has also taught at Mount Holyoke College and in the Hartt School Collegiate Division. Tanya Anisimova is an internationally renowned  Russian cellist and composer. She holds graduate degrees from the Moscow Observatory, Boston University, and Yale. In addition to composing, performing and touring, she has taught master-classes at Moscow Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Loyola University, and Virginia Commonwealth University among others.

Animal Awareness Day Pet Party
Sunday, noon - Please join the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter and Branford Compassion Club on Sunday for Loftex’s Animal Awareness Day Pet Party on the Branford town green. Animal Awareness Day is a fun filled family event with games, contests, raffles, food, blessing of the animals, live music, a pet parade, adoption event, and other activities. It is a combined fundraising and awareness event to benefit homeless pets. 

Art Reception: Sunsets - a Middletown Transformation
Sunday, 3 p.m. - Grounded in one location on the “Big Bend” of the Connecticut River, David Bauer records the striking visual transformations of Middletown with the low carbon footprint of digital photography. Bauer beatifies a segment of Middletown’s riverfront that few dare to visit. Standing in abandoned household belongings and the detritus of local fishing, drinking, and contract sex work, combined with the river’s jetsam and outflows of upstream waste treatment plants, Bauer documents the constant changes of the Connecticut River, the atmosphere, the temperature, and the seasons – some are striking, some are subtle, but all combine to share some truths about Middletown’s past, and its future. Bauer is a life-long resident of Middletown. Besides his photography exhibits, he is actively engaged as a stand-up philosopher on WESU radio station, local cable access, and in the streets and City Hall of Middletown. Refreshments will be available.