Tomorrow, lend your eyes, ears and wine palate to the
Rockwell Museum of Western Art. The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes will
present The Brass Menagerie, a hand-picked quintet of the region’s finest brass
players. Performing in the Visions of the West gallery, this concert perfectly
blends visual and performing arts. A wine tasting session will feature Hector
Wine Company. Seating is limited, so reserve yours today!
Musicians' Choice Chamber Music featuring,
The Brass Menagerie
Friday, January 27, 2012
7:00 p.m. - Wine Tasting Featuring
Hector Wine Company
7:30 p.m. - Concert in the Visions
of the West Gallery
$25 Adults, $5 Students
For tickets, please
call 607-936-2873 or visit www.osfl.org.
Recently I had the opportunity to catch up with Yvette Sterbenk, Communications Manager at The Corning Museum of Glass. Last year the Museum, located in Corning, NY, celebrated its 60th anniversary and this year, the Museum is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement. Yvette explains why this is so important to the museum, as well as some exciting Make Your Own Glass experiences available right now. Take a few minutes to watch the video below to learn more. For more information about planning your trip to Finger Lakes Wine Country, visit www.FingerLakesWineCountry.com.
1.How
would you sum up the experience at The Corning Museum of Glass to someone who
hasn’t had the chance to visit?
The Museum is unique, in that it explores glass from
all angles. For art lovers, we present incredible works of art in glass, from
miniature portraits made in the ancient world, to contemporary sculpture made
by living artists. If history is your passion, we showcase glass made in every
civilization and time period throughout its 35-century existence. An
exploration of glass would not be complete without looking at the science and
technology of the material. In our Innovations Center, we offer live glass
demos and hands-on displays that shed light on the amazing properties of glass.
Live, narrated Hot Glass Shows give even greater depth to the experience by
allowing visitors to experience the art of glassblowing first-hand. Then, they
can go across the parking lot to our state-of-the-art glassmaking school to try
it themselves with our 40-minute Make Your Own Glass experiences, available for
all ages!
2.What
exciting events and exhibitions do you have on display in 2012?
The American Studio Glass movement began in 1962, bringing glassmaking out of
the factory and into the artist studio. This year marks the 50th anniversary of
the workshops that started the movement, and the Museum is celebrating with a
variety of exhibitions focused on contemporary glass:
·Masters of Studio Glass: Erwin Eisch March 15, 2012 – February 3, 2013
·Making
Ideas: Experiments
in Design at GlassLab May 19, 2012 –
January 6, 2013
3.What
kind of hands-on activities are available at the museum?
In addition to 3,500 years of glass art and history on display, the Museum also
features the science and technology of glass in the Innovations Center. Here,
guests can enjoy live glass demos and an array of interactive displays. Make
Your Own Glass sessions offer all ages the opportunity to have the ultimate
hands-on glass experience. The Museum’s trained artists work closely with
guests, helping them each step of the way to create a personalized glass
project. Options range from sandblasting drinking glasses and fusing colorful
designs, to blowing glass ornaments and shaping glass flowers.
4.How
much is admission? What about a Make Your Own Glass session?
The Museum is committed to offering guests an affordable and fun destination.
Admission for kids and teens, 19 and under, is always free. Adults in the 148,
149, and 169 ZIP codes pay only $6 with valid ID. Adults from outside the area
pay $15. Make Your Own Glass experiences start at just $9. Reservations are
recommended (visit www.cmog.org/myog).
5.What’s
one of your favorite pieces of glass on display in the museum?
Choosing a favorite object in the Museum’s collection of almost 50,000 pieces
is close to impossible. I have many favorites but one that particularly sticks
out to me, and to many visitors, is Karen LaMonte’s Evening Dress with
Shawl. A life-sized, cast-glass dress, draped to the floor and complete
with a free-standing shawl, this piece is incredible, not only for its immense
beauty and technical excellence, but also for the individual images it can
evoke for the viewer. For instance, I can easily imagine the woman for whom
that dress was made, standing elegantly on the stair and taking a deep breath
before gliding effortlessly down the mahogany staircase to join her guests
below.
6.What
do you love about living and working in Finger Lakes Wine County?
By making a life in the Finger Lakes Wine Country, I have the best of all
worlds. The area is full of cultural institutions and activities, without the
traffic and smog of a big city. We get to enjoy world-class museums and events,
as well as the incredible array of outdoor activities the region has to offer.
In the warmer months, we can swim in any number of natural lakes, hike through
beautiful hillsides, and explore the many waterfalls. My family and I
especially love taking advantage of the culinary bounty of the region. We spend
all summer visiting farms and picking fruit at local orchards. In the
cooler months, we can ski, snowshoe, and enjoy the many regional festivities.
As the halfway point between New York City and Niagara Falls in Corning, NY, we
also have the opportunity to experience all the major hubs have to offer
without driving too far.
Hammondsport has been chosen by Budget Travel as a top ten contender in the race for the Coolest Small Town in America. You helped us get Hammondsport over 8,000 nominations last fall and now we need your help again. Voting for the Coolest Small Town in America takes place now through January 31st and you can vote once every day. VOTE NOW!
Thank you for your support! Let's make sure everyone knows that Finger Lakes Wine Country is home of the Coolest Small Town in America!
Chatting more with Paul Thomas, Executive Director of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail
1. What is the history of the
Seneca Lake Wine Trail?
The Seneca Lake Wine Trail was formed in 1986 to
help better market their member wineries, as a consolidated destination,
pooling their resources and creating various wine and food pairing events,
among other tactics, to help introduce more people to our excellent wines and
wineries.
2. Why visit the Seneca Lake Wine
Trail in the winter?
Paul Thomas
While our region is traditionally viewed as a summer
or fall destination, with many assuming the industry hibernates in the winter,
the reality is that the winter is the *best* time for fans of our
wineries to visit. During the winter you are more likely to encounter owners
and senior staff, who are busy in the vineyards during the busy summer/fall
seasons, and with far fewer people visiting the region, the tasting rooms are
quiet, giving visitors a terrific opportunity to enjoy leisurely conversations
with staff while sampling their award-winning wines.
3. What events do you have and how
do I get tickets?
The Seneca Lake Wine Trail helps manage and promote
several, themed wine and food pairing weekend events, hosted by most of our
member wineries. For example, our next event is the Pasta & Wine Weekend,
taking place January 13-15, followed by our Chocolate & Wine Weekend event
February 10-12. Detailed descriptions of all our events can be found on our
website at senecalakewine.com which is also were e-tickets to all our events
can be securely purchased.
4. Are there packages available
for the events or for general wine tasting experiences?
We create very limited numbers of packages for all
our wine and food pairing weekend events. Each package is a little different,
but all of them are comprised of tickets for two to the event, transportation
all day Saturday of the event, and accommodations for two for both Friday and
Saturday nights. Our packages are a great way to simply, and safely enjoy our
events.
5. What is the best wine and food
pairing you’ve had recently?
My family and I harkened in the new year with a
sushi party! We bought all the ingredients, including the raw tuna and salmon,
at our local Wegmans with each of us making a few custom rolls of various
ingredients. We then paired the sushi with a chilled bottle of zesty LakewoodVineyards Gewürztraminer, and my favorite specific pairing was between that
wine and my tuna/avocado/carrot/bell pepper sushi roll. Clean and delicious.
6.What
do you love about the Finger Lakes Wine Country region?
I
love the.... pairing of our uniquely complex cultural and culinary experiences
with our beautiful, bucolic and genuine environment. Real people, creating
really beautiful and delicious things and all without the overpriced hubbub of
a metropolis. Here in the Finger Lakes I can enjoy a world class meal at the
Red Newt Bistro on Seneca Lake, with at least one of the hundreds of wines they
serve, enjoy visiting the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning,
and finish off my day with a live performance by They Might Be Giants at Ithaca’s State Theatre.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
