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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T163000
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DTSTAMP:20260928T002212Z
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SUMMARY:Mystic Museum of Art Celebrates 10 Years as a Museum and More Than a Century of Art in Mystic
DESCRIPTION:Mystic Museum of Art Celebrates 10 Years as a Museum and More Than a Century of Art in Mystic on Saturday\, Sept. 26\, with an evening of free art\, hands-on activities\, refreshments\, and a sunset concert along the Mystic River. \nThe celebration runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the museum’s waterfront home on Water Street. It marks a milestone that requires a little explanation: Mystic Museum of Art is turning 10\, but the organization behind it is actually more than a century old. \nFounded by a group of artists in 1913\, it spent generations as the Mystic Art Association and later the Mystic Arts Center before taking the name Mystic Museum of Art in 2016. \nTen years later\, the museum is celebrating that transformation while looking back at roots that stretch to Mystic’s early 20th-century artists. \nFrom an Artists’ Colony to a Museum\nMystic was attracting artists long before the museum existed. \nBy the late 1800s and early 1900s\, painters were being drawn to the southeastern Connecticut shoreline\, where fishing villages\, farms\, boats and changing coastal light provided subject matter for artists working in traditions including Tonalism and American Impressionism. \nIn 1913\, artists including Charles Harold Davis\, Frances Darby Davis\, George Albert Thompson\, Lorinda Dudley\, Dr. G.S.B. Leonard\, Mary Williams Reed Leonard\, Elizabeth Tift Mallory and Rev. Albert Earnshaw came together to establish the organization that eventually became today’s museum. \nTheir ambitions extended beyond simply finding somewhere to hang paintings. \nThe organization envisioned an art museum that would exhibit works of art\, encourage cultural education and historical interest and contribute to the beauty and cultural life of Mystic. \nMore than a century later\, that mission continues from the museum’s location directly beside the Mystic River. \nWhy This Is the 10th Birthday\nThe birthday being celebrated Saturday isn’t the organization’s founding anniversary. \nThe Mystic Art Association evolved into the Mystic Arts Center and\, in 2016\, became the Mystic Museum of Art. \nThat change reflected the institution’s development beyond its earlier identity as an artists’ association. Today\, MMoA combines exhibitions and a permanent collection with studio classes\, workshops\, children’s programs\, lectures and community events. \nIts permanent collection includes more than 250 works\, with particular connections to American Impressionism\, Tonalism and artists associated with Mystic and southeastern Connecticut. \nSo Saturday’s party effectively celebrates the first decade of the museum’s modern identity within an arts organization whose history reaches back 113 years. \nA Fashion Exhibition Opens for Free\nVisitors will also have free access Saturday evening to the museum’s current major exhibition\, Luxe CT: Velvet Mills to Modern Runways. \nThe exhibition examines the history and evolution of textiles in Connecticut\, stretching from the precolonial period through the state’s manufacturing history and into contemporary fashion. \nThe project brings together material from several regional institutions\, including Historic Stonington\, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center and Mystic Seaport Museum\, alongside contemporary fashion from designers including Christian Siriano\, Peter Som\, Toriana Sauro and Xarea Lockhart. \nThe exhibition normally carries a special summer exhibition admission charge\, but admission to Luxe CT will be free from 4:30 to 7 p.m. during the birthday celebration. \nThe show remains at the museum through Oct. 11. \nArtmaking\, Refreshments and a Concert on the River\nThis isn’t being staged as a formal anniversary ceremony. \nMMoA is opening the celebration to all ages\, with hands-on artmaking and refreshments on the museum’s patio overlooking the Mystic River. \nThen\, at 5:30 p.m.\, composer Garth Stevenson will perform a sunset concert on the river. \nThe waterfront setting has long been one of the museum’s distinguishing features. Its galleries and patio sit just south of downtown Mystic\, giving visitors views across the river while remaining within walking distance of the village center. \nFor the birthday celebration\, that setting becomes part of the program itself: galleries indoors\, artmaking and refreshments on the patio\, and live music as evening settles over the Mystic River. \nThe entire celebration is free and open to the public\, although the museum requests RSVPs. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Mystic Museum of Art’s 10th Birthday Celebration\nDate: Saturday\, Sept. 26\, 2026\nTime: 4:30–7 p.m.\nSunset Concert: Garth Stevenson at 5:30 p.m.\nLocation: Mystic Museum of Art\nAddress: 9 Water Street\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nAdmission: Free and open to the public\nRSVP: Requested\nActivities: All-ages artmaking\, refreshments on the patio\, exhibition viewing and sunset concert\nExhibition: Luxe CT: Velvet Mills to Modern Runways\nExhibition Admission: Free during the celebration from 4:30–7 p.m.\nParking: Parking validations will be provided to MMoA members. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/mystic-museum-of-art-celebrates-10-years-as-a-museum-and-more-than-a-century-of-art-in-mystic/
LOCATION:Mystic Museum of Art\, 9 Water Street\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Mystic Museum of Art
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