ArtScapades Comes to Stamford

If you don’t know Manet from Monet, two New Canaan residents are ready to help. Robin Hoffman and Jodi Stiffelman are the founders of ArtScapades and for the past year-and-a-half, the pair have been bringing art appreciation programs to adults at libraries around the region. Hoffman and Stiffelman began to teach art appreciation in the New Canaan Public School System in 1998.

“After we were done in the schools, we had some adults who wanted to see what the kids were getting,” Stiffelman told Patch.

Wednesday evening, Hoffman and Stiffelman gave their first lecture in Stamford, a presentation titled “French Impressionism:  From Studio to Plein Air” at the of the Ferguson Library.

“Our lectures are no longer geared towards children, they’re for adults who are looking for a broad overview of art,” Hoffman said.

In their French Impressionism lecture, the ArtScapades team chronicles the life and work of four artists: Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas.

Stiffelman began with a discussion about the elements of art: color, line, texture, value, shape, form, and space. Breaking it down into simple, memorable bites, Stiffelman explained the complementary colors of the color wheel.

“Think red and green like Christmas and yellow and purple like Easter,” she explained.

As Hoffman took the podium, she gave an overview of the historical context of French Impressionism.

“We’re going to take you to nineteenth century Paris,” Hoffman said. “I wish I were there now!”

Hoffman explained the technologies that allowed Impressionists to travel with their equipment—squeezable paint tubes and portable easels made working outside a practical venture for artists in the late nineteenth century.

“The name Impressionism was inspired by the title of a Monet painting, “Impression, Soleil Levant,”” Hoffman said. “Monet explained it as “Landscape is nothing but an impression.””

Hoffman and Stiffelman broke down the paths of Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Degas into simple chronologies and anecdotes. It's easy to imagine the pair enchanting a classroom of children with their blend of art and stories.

The Artscapades team also found ways to link the artists together — telling stories of the Monet family being painted in their garden by both Manet and Renoir on the same day and showing the paintings side-by-side for comparison.

“I'm not sure if any of you noticed in "The New York Times" today, there was an article about Giverny. They hired a new gardener and they’re talking about how to maintain it for the seven months [that it’s open to the public each year].  The irises that Monet painted aren’t in bloom for long, but visitors expect to see them,” Hoffman explained.

“Renoir is perhaps the best loved of the Impressionists,” Stiffelman said. “His subjects, you can see the joy he took in them with great directness.”

Breaking down each painting with stories of the artist and models and drawing the audience’s attention to the elements of art in each, Stiffelman and Hoffman fulfill their goal of making art appreciation accessible to anyone.

Wednesday evening’s program was supported by the Friends of Ferguson Library and part of the Adult Summer Reading Club program at the library.