Arts & Entertainment

World Famous Artist From Cheshire

His paintings hang in the world's best museums, but few in Cheshire know of artist John Frederick Kensett. Supporters hope a new grant for Artsplace will make him a household name.

The year is 1826 and 10-year-old John Frederick Kensett could enjoy a view of the hills near Hamden as he gazed down South Main Street from his home near the center of Cheshire.

Years later, after becoming an engraver and studying art in Europe, Kensett began to paint landscapes of his native New England. From the White Mountains, which he made famous, to the tidal changes of Long Island Sound, the art work of this Cheshire native can be seen not only in local museums such at the New Britain Museum of American Art and the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, but also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

While art scholars point to Kensett's lasting influence on the world of American art, his hometown doesn't yet have a plaque commemorating his birthplace. 

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A recently announced grant for Artsplace will help residents learn about the famous artist and better appreciate his contributions to landscape painting. 

"He is one of our best artists," said Artsplace Director Joan Pilarczyk.  She and members of the Cheshire Performing and Fine Arts Committee were just informed of a $9,000 education grant that will fund a curriculum program to teach the town's third grade students about the hometown artist.

Find out what's happening in Cheshirewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The grant was awarded by the Connecticut Community Foundation in Waterbury "to familiarize Cheshire residents and members of the surrounding communities with John Frederick Kensett, an acclaimed Hudson River Valley artist who was born in Cheshire in 1816. Instructional materials will be developed to enhance the curriculum of third grade Cheshire students," the grant reads.

"(Students) will see Cheshire through the eyes of a world class artist," Pilarczyk said. Teachers will be provided instructional curriculum about Kensett, she said, which focuses on what life was like when Kensett was 10-years-old in 1826.

"Children are studying Cheshire history in third grade. They'll see where he went to school, what was happening at the (Farmington) canal," Pilarczyk said.

Committee Chairwoman Donna Lodynsky said instructional material will be produced with original pen and ink illustrations by well-known Cheshire artist and Artsplace teacher Tony Ruggerio. The drawings will depict Kensett as a boy growing up in Cheshire, showing students what he wore, where he went to school and what he did for fun.

The new art history programming is expected to begin in the fall of the 2011-2012 school year.


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