New museum plans to be announced June 14

KENT — Several residents of the town have been working hard to expand its variety of museums even further by adding a “greenâ€� museum to its repertoire: The Brasher-Northrop Museum will  be on Macedonia Road. After a year of planning, museum organizers will make an announcement June 14 at 2 p.m. at the museum’s future home about their plans.

The idea for the institute came from resident Karen Chase, who wanted to offer education on environmental issues.

“With the environment in such danger it’s important that we teach people not only why we need to care for it but also how to care for it,� said Chase. “We are envisioning the museum as an environmental teaching and learning center where we will partner with local schools, universities and other environmental groups to run programs using birds and trees as the teaching tools.�

Besides teaching about environmental issues to visitors to the yet-to-be-built museum, Chase also envisions making the entire building “green.�

“It was the only kind of building that makes sense, especially with rising oil prices. We see the building itself as a teaching tool,� said Chase. “By building green, we can showcase the technology available, we can show how it works and how it can be used in new buildings and adapted to older buildings.�

Birds, trees the focal point

Also interesting are the figures whose works will be featured in the museum: Rex Brasher (1869-1960), a painter who lived in Kent and often featured birds on his canvases; and Dr. Birdsey Grant Northrop (1817-1898).

Northrop was born in Kent and had a substantial influence on environmental education and was an advocate for Arbor Day.

“I felt the museum should be more than just a place to see Rex’s art work and learn about Dr. Northrop; with the environment in such danger it’s important that we teach people not only why we need to care for it but also how to care for it,â€� said Chase. “A green building and teaching center with Rex’s paintings and unique life story, along with that of Dr. Northrop would continue on their legacy  — and bring people to the region.â€�

If everyone can give $1...

At this point, plans for the museum are still conceptual.  

“We as yet do not have a budget for the building as we have just finished the ‘organizing’ stage of the process including mission statement, goals, by-laws, non-profit application, contact and preliminary approval of project by appropriate state agencies,� said Chase. “Our next step is to begin working on the preliminary design of the building and fundraising.�

As for where the money is going to come from, Chase explained that the museum organizers will rely on donations, but she also has an interesting proposition for fundraising.

“One of my ideas is to simply ask everyone in America (and the rest of the world if they’re interested) to send us a dollar,� said Chase. “There are 300 million people in the U.S.; if a third of them sent a dollar, we could build a pretty exciting museum.�

Local museum, global reach

Chase also hopes to partner with businesses, corporations, educational facilities and the rest of the world. And she wants to welcome people in other countries to visit the museum. She plans to use technology in order to get the word out.

“We have been talking with a number of computer people and will be using some of the latest technology in the design and operation of the museum and its programs,� said Chase. “It will be not only a physical place to come to but also a virtual museum without walls that people can access online, from anywhere in the world.�

Chase said the museum’s location is not confirmed yet but she hopes  to add it to the the location that is already home to the Sloan-Stanley Museum and the Antique Machinery Museum.

“Because the state of Connecticut owns the paintings they have to stay in Connecticut. Kent is a border town and the state owns property here where we could build a museum,� explained Chase.

 â€œThe Connecticut Antique Machinery Association operates their museums there on land they lease from the state for one dollar per year.â€�

Chase credited state Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30) for helping move plans along to this point; she said the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism has also offered substantial guidance and aid.

“We are also fortunate that Rex Brasher’s grandnieces, Melode and Deborah Brasher, have endorsed our project and serve on the board as do many of the descendants of friends of Rex’s, from both sides of the border, Connecticut and New York,� Chase said.

Chase is now working with the Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Connecticut’s Museum of Natural History and  Thomas L. Dodd Center (where Rex Brashers complete collection of of 875 watercolors. “The Birds and Trees of North America,â€� is in conservation storage), on the plan.

  “This museum will fulfill a promise made to Rex Brasher by the state of Connecticut over a half century ago, when the state  purchased his complete set of bird paintings for $74,000 and promised to build a museum to exhibit them,â€� Chase said. “The state of Connecticut never kept that promise. Our organization plans to build that museum and to pay tribute to one of Connecticut’s great educators and early conservationists, Dr. Birdsey Grant Northrop, the founder of Arbor Day in Connecticut and Japan. We are determined that this museum will be located in Kent where Rex Brasher came to finish his life’s  work and Dr. Northrop left to begin his.â€�

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