Museum Press

POSTSECRET’S FRANK WARREN TO APPEAR AT HCC SEPT. 10

Has International Following

PostSecret Exhibit on Display at Housatonic Museum of Art

For More Information, contact Robbin Zella at 203-332-5052 or
Maureen Dowdle at 203-332-5058

BRIDGEPORT— Frank Warren, creator of the PostSecret exhibit now on display at the Housatonic Museum of Art, will appear at Housatonic Community College Thursday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. in the Events Center in Beacon Hall.

Warren, the businessman who took the art world by storm with the exhibit, will speak and conduct a book signing. Warren, who has authored four PostSecret books that have made the New York Times best seller list, has built an international following. Fans from as far away as Slovenia are planning to attend his talk.

The exhibit, which has traveled the country since opening in Washington, D.C. in 2004, consists of anonymous postcards, many of them handmade, on which people have written their innermost secrets. Warren has culled some 400 postcards from the more than 250,000 he’s received for the exhibit.

“Warren’s exhibit taps into the universal stuff of being human, - the collective level of existence that defies age, culture, gender, and economics,” said Robbin Zella, director of the college’s Housatonic Museum of Art. “The cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions.”

The cards, carefully and creatively constructed by hand, are made from cardboard, old photographs, wedding invitations and other personal items artfully decorated. They have been sent to Warren from all over the world.

“The exhibit brilliantly reveals that human emotion can be unique and universal at the same time,” Zella said. “The secrets in the cards are provocative and profound, and the cards themselves are works of art.”

Warren is a small business owner who started PostSecret.com as a community art project. The website won two Webby Awards in 2006 and this year was named Weblog of the Year.

Warren, an Arizona native now living in Maryland, began the project in 2003, handing out 3,000 postcards to strangers, asking them to write down their secrets anonymously, and return the cards to him. He requested that the secrets be true and things that hadn’t been shared with anyone else.

After the first exhibit, word of the project spread and these “artful secrets” began arriving from every continent. They continue to arrive at the rate of 1,000 per week.

Warren, who is author of four successful PostSecret books, has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, CNN, MSNBC, CBC, NPR and Fox News says, “I have been asked many times why I started this. It still feels to me as though this project found me. All I try to do is make the right decisions every day to protect the integrity of the project – and learn to trust the journey.”

Admission to the talk is $15, payable to the Housatonic Community College Foundation. Reservations, which are strongly encouraged, can be made by calling all Robbin Zella at 203-332-5052

The college and museum are located on the campus of Housatonic Community College, 900 Lafayette Blvd, Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1) in downtown Bridgeport, a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. Free event parking is available in the HCC garage.

The Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, CT opens PostSecret, the community art project that grew into an international phenomenon with an award-winning blog and four New York Times bestsellers.

EXHIBIT AT HCC August 3 - September 13, 2009

June 18, 2009

MEDIA CONTACTS:

For Housatonic Museum of Art
Robbin Zella  203. 332.5052

For IA&A:
Jennifer Gerow 202.338.0680   Email:

An opening reception will be held Thursday, August 27, from 5-7  p.m. in the Burt Chernow Gallery at Lafayette Hall on the campus of Housatonic Community College.

BRIDGEPORT – PostSecret, an exhibit of people’s innermost secrets by Frank Warren, will be on display at the Housatonic Museum of Art  Aug. 3- Sept. 13. The exhibit, which has traveled the country since opening in Washington, D.C. in 2004, consists of anonymous postcards, many of them handmade, on which people have written their innermost secrets. Warren has culled some 400 postcards from the more than 250,000 he’s received for the exhibit.
“Warren’s exhibit taps into the universal stuff of being human, - the collective level of existence that defies age, culture, gender, and economics,” said Museum Director Robbin Zella. “The cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions.”
The cards, carefully and creatively constructed by hand, are made from cardboard, old photographs, wedding invitations and other personal items artfully decorated. They have been sent to Warren from all over the world. “The exhibit brilliantly reveals that human emotion can be unique and universal at the same time,” she added. “The secrets in the cards are provocative and profound, and the cards themselves are works of art.” Warren is a small business owner who started PostSecret.com as a community art project. The website won two Webby Awards in 2006 and this year was named Weblog of the Year. Warren, an Arizona native now living in Maryland, began the project in 2003, handing out 3,000 postcards to strangers, asking them to write down their secrets anonymously, and return the cards to him. He requested that the secrets be true and things that hadn’t been shared with anyone else. After the first exhibit, word of the project spread and these “artful secrets” began arriving from every continent. They continue to arrive at the rate of 1,000 per week. Warren, who is author of four successful PostSecret books, has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, CNN, MSNBC, CBC, NPR and Fox News says, “I have been asked many times why I started this. It still feels to me as though this project found me. All I try to do is make the right decisions every day to protect the integrity of the project – and learn to trust the journey.” Proceeds from the PostSecret project have been used to help suicide prevention. When the All American Rejects  offered Warren  $1,000 to use some PostSecret images in their “Dirty Little Secret” music video, Warren asked them to donate $2,000 to 1(800)SUICIDE where he is a volunteer. The PostSecret project now has raised over $750,000 for the program and has received a special award from the National Mental Health Association for raising awareness and funds for suicide prevention. The opening reception will be held Thursday, August 27, from 5-7 p.m. in the Burt Chernow Galleries at Lafayette Hall on the campus of Housatonic Community College. The college is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 and Rte. 8 in downtown Bridgeport.

The PostSecret exhibition tour is organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C. The exhibition will travel to Brevard Art Museum, Melbourne, FL (May17 – July 13, 2008); Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY (July 26 – September 20, 2008); Minneapolis Public Library, MN (October 4 – November 30, 2008); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (December 12, 2008 – February 1, 2009); Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA (March 1 – April 26, 2009); Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY (May 16 - July 12, 2009); Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT (August 1 - September 13, 2009) and the Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT. Please go to http://www.artsandartists.org/exh.detail.php?exhID=33 for updates to the three-year tour schedule.

International Arts & Artists in Washington, DC, is a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally, through exhibitions, programs and services to artists, arts institutions and the public. Visit www.artsandartists.org

CHERNOW/PICASSO OPENING RESCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 19 AT HOUSATONIC MUSEUM OF ART

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

BRIDGEPORT – The opening of the “Ann Chernow-Picasso Project” art exhibit, which explores Picasso’s printing techniques, has been rescheduled for Feb. 19 at the Housatonic Museum of Art. The opening reception will be held that day from noon to 3 p.m., and will feature a discussion of the project by Chernow at 1:30 p.m.. All three events will be held in the Burt Chernow Galleries, named for Chernow’s late husband who founded the Housatonic Museum of Art, in Lafayette Hall at Housatonic Community College. HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 and Rte. 8 in downtown Bridgeport, one block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. All three events are free and open to the public. The exhibit runs through March 22.

HOUSATONIC MUSEUM OF ART HOSTS EXCLUSIVE EVENT - ART21 Screening

HOUSATONIC MUSEUM OF ART HOSTS EXCLUSIVE EVENT Thursday, October 15
FEATURING AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF EPISODE 2:
FANTASY FROM SEASON FIVE OF
THE PEABODY AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
ART:21 – ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

ART21 PARTNERS WITH ORGANIZATIONS WORLDWIDE TO HOST EVENTS INSPIRED BY
ART:21 SEASON FIVE, PREMIERING THIS OCTOBER ON PBS

MEDIA CONTACT: Robbin Zella, 203.332.5052,

Bridgeport, CT –– Housatonic Museum of Art, in partnership with Art21, Inc. as part of its Art21 Access ’09 initiative, presents a sneak preview of the fifth season of Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century, the only prime time national television series focused exclusively on contemporary art, on Thursday, October 15 at 5 PM in the Events Center in Beacon Hall. The event features the screening of the Fantasy Episode focusing on the artists Jeff Koons, Cao Fei, Mary Heilman and Florian Maier-Aichen. This presentation will be followed by a discussion with the artist D. Dominick Lombardi in relation to his exhibit Post Apocalyptic Tattoo. We will examine the way in which each of these artists pursues a personal vision held in the mind’s eye, inventing and re-imagining the world. This event is free and open to the public.

Art21 Access ’09 is an international screening initiative created to increase knowledge of contemporary art, ignite dialogue, and inspire creative thinking through hundreds of public screenings and events that tailor the ideas presented in the series to the interests and concerns of local audiences. The season premieres on PBS October 7th with a new episode each Wednesday during the month at 10pm (check local listings). Through in-depth profiles and interviews, the four-part series reveals the inspiration, vision and techniques behind the creative works of some of today’s most thought-provoking artists.

“Art21 Access ’09 draws the Art:21 television-viewing audience together in communities around the world and provides a wonderfully enhanced Art:21 experience,” said Susan Sollins, Executive Producer of Art:21. “We hope that audiences will take full advantage of the events in their area and develop an understanding of the complex skills, techniques and knowledge that artists bring to their work. Our goal is that these events contribute to boosting the confidence of audiences worldwide to view and appreciate all art forms.”

Art21 Access ’09 events are presented in partnership with Americans for the Arts as part of National Arts and Humanities Month, the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation, held every October. An updated list of Art21 Access ’09 events and venues worldwide can be found at www.art21.org/access09.

Art21 Access ’09 events are being hosted by museums, schools, libraries, art spaces, community centers, and universities. Each event features an exclusive advance screening of one or two episodes from Season Five of the documentary, as well as an educational component, such as talks by local, regional, and national artists, lectures, panel discussions, interactive art-making projects and question-and-answer sessions.
The following episode(s) will be screened during the October 15 event:

Episode 2: Fantasy
Fantasy presents four artists whose works or personal stories transport viewers to imaginary worlds and altered states of consciousness. With works that seem at times hallucinatory, irreverent, and sublime, each of these artists pursues a vision first held in the mind’s eye. Jeff Koons, Mary Heilmann, Florian Maier-Aichen and Cao Fei are featured.

"The times we live in are ominous and deeply disturbing to anyone who is paying attention and not totally distracted by the problems of celebrities, shopping, and reality TV.

D. Dominick Lombardi's sculptures, drawings and tattoos all tell a post-apocalyptic tale with an elaborate cast of characters who have survived a globe-shaking environmental disaster. His characters inhabit a kind of Dystopian Disneyland where everyone is misshapen and grotesque but somehow still cheerful. His Post-Apocalyptic Tattoo series is filled with extruded brains, rubbery forms, thing-blobs, zombie clowns, and hideous mutants, all executed in old-school comic style.
Kathleen Goncharov, APOCALYPTIC POP <http://www.dorsky.org/Brochure%20PDFs/pop.pdf> , Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, catalog essay, November, 2008.

ABOUT Housatonic Museum of Art
The Housatonic Museum of Art is comprised of two galleries totaling over 2,000 square feet. While our permanent collection is on display throughout the college campus, the museum itself offers changing exhibitions every 8 weeks.

The Museum was founded in 1967 by the late Burt Chernow. Mr. Chernow was a professor of art and art history at the college, as well as an avid art collector. During his tenure at the college, he amassed an extensive collection of over 4,0000 works of art, featuring masters such as Picasso, Renoir, Rodin and Dali. Mr. Chernow is acknowledged for building this important collection (almost exclusively through donations), into one of the largest and most valuable permanent collections of any two-year college in the country. The museum’s permanent collection is valued at almost 14 million dollars.

ABOUT ART21
Over the past ten years, Art21 has established itself as the preeminent chronicler of contemporary art and artists through its Peabody Award-winning biennial television series Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century. The organization has used the power of digital media to expose millions of people of all ages to contemporary art and artists and has created a new paradigm for teaching and learning about the creative process.

In addition to its PBS series and year-round series-based education and public programs efforts, Art21 has expanded its film production and educational efforts in recent years. Several new initiatives have been launched in the past year, including the premiere of the new short-format documentary series Art21–Exclusive on multiple online platforms and expansion of the Art21 Blog. New programs are also in the works, including a feature film as well as Art21 Educators, an ongoing professional development program for teachers. www.art21.org <http://www.art21.org/>.

Find Art21 on Facebook and Twitter

MEDIA CONTACT
Robbin Zella
203.332.5052

REMEMBERING STANLEY BOXER: A RETROSPECTIVE 1946 – 2000 ON DISPLAY 2/11-3/28 AT HOUSATONIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

BRIDGEPORT – The works American artist Stanley Boxer, known for the exuberant qualities of his thickly brushed abstract paintings and energetic works on paper and sculptures, will be on display Feb. 11 to March 28 at the Housatonic Museum of Art.

The exhibit, Rememberingstanleyboxer: A Retrospective 1946 – 2000, features more than sixty works from this period that explore his manipulation of surfaces, textures, and colors in various media. The exhibit includes include both figurative and abstract compositions.

The opening reception will be will be held Thursday, Feb. 11 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Burt Chernow Galleries in Lafayette Hall on the campus of Housatonic Community College. This event is free and open to the public.

Born in New York City, Boxer began formal art training at the Art Students League after leaving the Navy at the end of World War II. Boxer had his first one-person exhibition of paintings in New York in 1953, and his work has been shown regularly for over five decades in galleries and museums nationwide.

Boxer’s work is in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; and the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. He was a recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship and an NEA Award, and he was a member of the National Academy of Design.

Highlights of the exhibition include paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. In the paintings, mostly mixed media on canvas, Boxer combined diverse materials such as strings and pebbles with thickly applied paint to create complex abstract compositions of pattern, texture, and color. The 1985 painting Lacedplumeinabam shows his use of thick impasto of oil paint to create dramatic overall texture. He gave his paintings titles, which were long, run-on sentences, inspired by the German language.

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums in collaboration with the Housatonic Museum of Art and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the exhibition was curated by Elizabeth Stevens, an independent scholar, and coordinated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums. An illustrated catalogue, made possible through the generosity of Salvatore and Alice Federico and published by University of Richmond Museums, is available.

Housatonic Community College is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd in Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard.

POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD COMING TO HOUSATONIC MUSEUM OF ART
Dominick Lombardi’s Dark Vision
Exhibit Opens Sept. 24

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

BRIDGEPORT - Post Apocalyptic Tattoo, an exhibit of reverse paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings by New York artist D. Dominick Lombardi, will be on display at the Housatonic Museum of Art Sept. 24 - Oct. 23.

The artwork presents a view of the future, as filtered through the designs of a tattoo artist. The significant mutations seen in the anatomy of the various characters depicted in the works are the result of centuries of exposure to transgenics in foods and various pollutants.

“Dominick’s works show severely damaged characters who have survived a horrific environmental apocalypse,” said Robbin Zella, director of the Housatonic Museum of Art. “His dark vision certainly asks us to stop and reflect on his message,” she said.

“The project is rooted in Lombardi’s concern about the fate of the planet,” she said. “His work, as he says, is about 'where we're headed as a species in this world in which humans are guinea pigs in a larger experiment and grab for power and money run by sinister enterprises,’”  she said. “Indeed, they are victims of a slow apocalypse, being altered by degrees over time.”

His mutant creatures include Blue Boy, whose innards spill down his legs; his sweetheart, the rubbery-boned, turquoise-lipped Twister; Big Foot, who perambulates on a single massive foot; and Clown, who dies early on in the story from an enlarged hair follicle on his tongue.  Nonetheless, they show an enthusiasm for life that belies their infirmities, making the best of a truly bad situation.

Central to the tale is the unseen Tattoo Artist, whom Dominick channels and chronicles by producing all these drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Lombardi is the medium by which Tattoo Artist is made visible.

“Are you the Tattoo Artist?” Dominick was asked once.  “No,” he said.  “I’m the vehicle for the Tattoo Artist who’s sending these images to me.”

The opening reception for the exhibit will be held Sunday, September 27 at 1-4 pm in the Burt Chernow  Galleries at Housatonic Community College, located at 900 Lafayette Blvd in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. The exhibit will be on view from September 24 thought October 23, 2009.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday to 7 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Sunday, Noon to 4 p.m. Closed holidays.

For more information, contact Robbin Zella at 203-332-5052

Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council a reality — at last

By Phyllis A.S. Boros, Staff Writer, CT Post
Published: 04:53 p.m., Sunday, January 24, 2010

Bridgeport, long devoid of a marketing arm to promote its quality-of-life assets, finally has an Arts & Cultural Council -- and a Washington, D.C., marketing veteran to head the fledgling organization.

Penny Harrison, who for more than 25 years has specialized in the management of nonprofit agencies, has been chosen from among 40 candidates to lead the council, according to Robbin Zella, director of the Housatonic Museum of Art and one of the community activists instrumental in the group's formation.

Ripe for development

The appointment -- made by Zella and other members of the council's steering committee -- is effective immediately. Contacted in Virginia, where she has homes in Charlottesville and White Stone, Harrison said her primary responsibility as executive director will be to organize and enlarge the city's arts and cultural community so that it can play a larger role in the city's economic growth and renaissance.

The part-time position comes with a $30,000 salary; Harrison has a one-year contract that is renewable.

"There is so much potential here; it's so ripe for development. In fact, anytime you have a community located on the water, it should be the focus of a lot of tourism."

Jump-starting Bridgeport's economy through the arts will be "a big challenge . . . and I want to be a part of that."

Harrison said that she is aware that Bridgeport has had to deal with corrupt public officials, empty promises and bad luck, but does not intend to dwell on the past.

"There are enough good people here to make this work. I'm going to keep the blinders on and concentrate on moving forward. I'm starting out with a blank canvas."

Her appointment follows more than four years of planning, during which a cultural assessment was completed, in part, with U.S. Small Business Administration funding.

That study, done by Massachusetts-based community planning consultant Dr. Craig Dreeszen, determined that the city desperately needed to better promote its individual artists and nonprofit groups, noting that a vibrant arts/culture scene is important to any community as a economic engine and is essential for Bridgeport in particular as a draw for investors, developers and young professionals.

Housatonic Community College President Anita Gliniecki will formally introduce Harrison to Bridgeport at a free, public reception Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. at the college's Housatonic Museum of Art. HCC is serving as the fiscal agent for the council and is donating office space for two years.

Providing the first-year funding

Securing start-up monies, especially with the implosion of the economy, was especially challenging, Zella noted, but was made possible because the funders "understand how important this is to Bridgeport and its future." Providing first-year funding are the Fairfield County Community Foundation, $25,000; the Werth Family Foundation of Woodbridge, $15,000; the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, $5,000; and the City of Bridgeport, $2,000.

Harrison, who is a self-taught mixed-media artist, will continue to live in Virginia with her husband, Joe Latham, a maker of stringed instruments -- and their chocolate Labrador, Indie.

The couple have two sons in their 20s who are both musicians. In Bridgeport, Harrison is renting a furnished apartment from a friend; she plans to spend a minimum of 10 days per month in the Park City and to "also will work remotely" from Virginia.

Her first and most pressing job will be to secure nonprofit status (tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code available to religious, educational, charitable, scientific and literary groups among others), which would aid the group in its fundraising goals, she said.

Not a cultural wasteland

As executive director, Harrison said she also will work to combat the notion, rife in suburbia, that Bridgeport continues to be an arts/cultural wasteland, when in fact the city boasts several nonprofits that many American cities of similar size would be overjoyed to have -- gems such as the Barnum Museum, Housatonic Museum of Art (with one of the largest art collections owned by a two-year college in America, valued at more than $11 million); Discovery Museum, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, the Klein Memorial Auditorium, Playhouse on the Green, City Lights Gallery, Downtown Cabaret Theatre, Bridgeport Public Library and Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo. And given its proximity to Manhattan, the Park City is home to numerous individual visual artists, musicians, dancers and actors as well, she added.

Harrison pointed out that she has worked in nonprofit management in various capacities -- such as president, executive director, senior manager, project director, fundraiser, event producer, writer and public speaker -- and has produced arts events at the United States Capitol, Smithsonian Institution, Kennedy Center and National Science Foundation, all in Washington, D.C.

Her resume also notes that she is the founder of Hispanic Designers Inc., a national nonprofit that she managed for 18 years, where she was responsible for raising hundreds of thousand of dollars, providing scholarships for young clothing designers and producing live runway shows.

She also ran a $7 million public service campaign for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developing a campaign for AIDS education. She also is an Emmy Award-winning creative director for more than 50 public service announcements.

Harrison's professional certificates include those from the Fund Raising School at Indiana University. She received an associate's degree from American University in Washington, D.C., and also studied at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

She is now completing her bachelor's degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she intends to pursue a master's degree in arts administration.

Tapping into the `creative workers'

"I believe the arts can mean prosperity for Bridgeport," Harrison said.

According to Harrison, author Richard Florida points out in his book, "Cities and the Creative Class," that more than 5 million "creative workers" live in the Boston-to-Washington D.C., corridor.

And Bridgeport, she said, is becoming well-positioned "to draw some of those workers to our city with reasonable rents, condo sales, factory space, studio space, tax credits" and a host of other enticements.

"Maybe I'm being very naive, but I think it's time that we go for it."

Harrison may be reached by calling 203-505-0200 or via e-mail at . The council's mailing address is Housatonic Community College, 900 Lafayette Boulevard, Room C 108/Mailstop 161, Bridgeport, CT 06604. A council Web page is expected to be launched next month.

Bridgeport's Housatonic Museum hosts traveling Boxer retrospective

By Phyllis A Boros, Staff Writer, CT Post

Published: 04:32 p.m., Friday, February 5, 2010

A major traveling exhibition celebrating the life's work of one of America's most prolific 20th century artists opens in Bridgeport on Thursday, in yet another coup for Housatonic Museum of Art.

The exhibition will feature about 50 works from Stanley R. Boxer (1926-2000), renowned internationally for his spirited, thickly painted abstract works of art.

"Rememberingstanleyboxer: A Retrospective 1946-2000" will open with a free, public reception Thursday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the museum's Burt Chernow Galleries at Housatonic Community College. Instrumental in organizing the show was Boxer's widow, artist Joyce Weinstein, of Ancramdale, N.Y., who is scheduled to attend. Abstract and figurative paintings, as well as examples of his sculpture are included in the show, which runs through March 28.

Organized by the University of Richmond (Va.) Museums, where the tour opened last August, the exhibit travels next to the Boca Raton Museum in Florida, where it will be on exhibit through spring. The exhibit's title references Boxer's penchant for naming many of his works by stringing together words without regard to punctuation, spaces or uppercase letters (an acknowledgement of sorts of his fondness for the German language, which often combines words). Among the highlights, for example, are such paintings as "Plumagesoftempts," "Paleplainswhitechants" and "Gleedtwistofflayeddanknessassunder."

Weinstein, in a telephone chat from the rambling home-studio complex that she shared with her late husband, said she has spent the past decade planning the retrospective exhibition as a way to honor Boxer and promote his legacy. All the works are from Weinstein's personal collection, representing a miniscule percentage of Boxer's professional output.

"He was very prolific," Weinstein pointed out. "After he died, we cataloged all the works -- more than 7,000 paintings, drawings and wood and marble sculpture. And that (figure) doesn't even include the prints!"

The artist explained that Housatonic Museum's inclusion in the tour was important for two reasons dear to her heart:

The late Burt Chernow, the museum's founder and one-time director, "was one of Stanley's earliest collectors" and supporters, she explained. She also wanted each of the participating venues to have Boxer works in their permanent collections that could be used locally to augment the show.

The HMA owns two Boxer's: "Lafayette Night Bloom," 1972, an oil on canvas that's 18.5 inches square, which will be displayed in the Chernow Galleries, and "Beach Figure No. 3," (undated) a wood totem that is 108 inches high by 14 inches wide, which will be on view in the college's atrium.

The museum -- founded in 1967 by Chernow, an artist and former HCC art department chairman -- has one of the largest and most distinguished collections of any two-year college in the country, valued at more than $11 million, assembled through donations from artists, commercial galleries and private collectors, and through gifts by such groups as the college's student government. Among the masters included are Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Miro, Christo, Chagall and Mary Cassatt.

Robbin Zella, the HMA director for the past 12 years, "came up (to Ancramdale) and looked at what we had here at the studios . . . She liked what she saw . . . she's been really wonderful to work with," helping to get the project off the ground.

(In recent years, Zella has attracted several exceptional shows to the museum, including those devoted to Rembrandt prints, Ansel Adams photographs, and Frank Warren's "PostSecret" postcards, and organized several innovative shows of her own.)

Works for the Stanley Boxer tour were chosen by Elizabeth Stevens, an independent curator and arts scholar, who had met Boxer in 1996.

In the handsome 56-page color catalog that accompanies the show, Stevens writes:

"Boxer, like my father, was from a generation who grew up with an understanding of sacrifice -- a child of the Depression, Boxer lied about his age, and, at 16, enlisted in the Navy. When boxer returned from (World War II), he was without direction ... (and so) signed up for classes at the Art Students League in New York" where he was born and raised.

"The life of an artist or the art world was not something that he aspired to, but making art and pictures was always something that was part of his psyche. Boxer was a natural draftsman," Stevens notes.

Stevens points out that for Boxer, art was a passion, "a calling -- not ... a career."

"Boxer saw his success as great luck and with this he continued with what he felt he wanted to pursue. Stanley was a man who did what he wanted, not what was in fashion, following his intellect passionately."

The show includes works created over a 54-year period, from his student years in Manhattan to shortly before his death, offering "some of the best examples created by a prolific, focused artist," Stevens points out.

Boxer is represented in scores of museums throughout the United States, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Manhattan's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In Washington, D.C., Boxer's work can be found at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum at the Smithsonian Institution.

His work also is included in many of the most prestigious international museums, among them the National Gallery of Australia, the Museum of the Twentieth Century in Vienna, the Tate collection in London and the Singapore Art Museum.

"This will be such a wonderful opportunity for residents in Bridgeport and throughout the region to see and experience the works of Stanley Boxer, the work of an artist of this caliber and reputation" in an intimate gallery setting, said HMA's Zella.

WHEN YOU GO

Housatonic Community College is at 900 Lafayette Boulevard in downtown Bridgeport. The HMA galleries are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursdays to 7 p.m.; Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. The galleries are closed on all college holidays, including Monday, Feb. 15, for Presidents' Day. Admission is free. For additional information on the museum, visit www.hctc.commnet.edu/artmuseum/. Additional information on the artist is available at www.stanleyrboxer.com/.

150 ANDY WARHOL PHOTOS DONATED TO HOUSATONIC MUSEUM OF ART

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

CUTLINE: ANDY WARHOL PHOTO OF PIA ZADORA

BRIDGEPORT – The Housatonic Museum of Art has announced that The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts has donated 150 Polaroid photographs taken by the noted contemporary artist to the Housatonic Museum of Art. The gift has been made through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program.  

The HMA is one of only 183 colleges and universities across the country to receive original Andy Warhol photographs valued in excess of $28 million dollars in honor of the Foundation’s 20th anniversary.

Warhol Foundation President Joel Wachs said the Warhol Foundation’s Photographic Legacy Program is designed to give the public greater access to Warhol’s artwork and artistic processes by allowing people from the region to view and study this important and relatively unknown body of Warhol’s work.

The program is designed so that institutions that do not have the means to acquire Warhol’s works can bring a significant number of photographs into their permanent collections, while allowing those institutions that do have Warhols in their collections to enrich the breadth and depth of their holdings.

“We’re delighted that we were selected to receive these photographs,” said Museum Director Robbin Zella. “They will be a valuable addition to our permanent collection which includes such notable Warhol works as Campbell’s Soup and Elizabeth Taylor.”

“The goal of this program dovetail’s perfectly with the vision of Housatonic Museum of Art Founder Burt Chernow, who felt that art belonged on public view, rather than secreted away in someone’s private collection,” she added

Housatonic is the only Connecticut college currently participating in the Photographic Legacy Program.

Jenny Moore, curator of the Photographic Legacy Program, said the photographs can reveal much about Warhol and his photography.

“A wealth of information about Warhol’s process and his interactions with his sitters is revealed in these images,” notes Moore. “Through his rigorous – though almost unconscious – consistency in shooting, the true idiosyncrasies of his subjects were revealed.”

“Often, he would shoot a person or event with both cameras, cropping one in Polaroid color as a ‘photograph’ and snapping the other in black and white as a ‘picture’,’’ she said. “By presenting both kinds of images side by side, the Photographic Legacy Program allows viewers to move back and forth between moments of Warhol’s ‘art,’ ‘work,’ and ‘life’ – inseparable parts of a fascinating whole.”

The Housatonic Museum of Art is located at Housatonic Community College at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), two blocks from the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Tours Available of Housatonic Museum of Art Permanent Collection
HMA public space art reinstalled in thematic mini-exhibitions

Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Housatonic Museum of Art’s (HMA) permanent collection on view in the college’s common use spaces has been reinstalled incomprehensive groupings called Refresh. The rejuvenation was spearheaded by HMA Director Robbin Zella and freelance curator Terri C. Smith. 

Tours are available on Wednesdays; July 21 at 5 p.m., August 4 at noon, August 18 at 5 p.m., September 15 at noon, and  September 22 at 5 p.m. starting in the Burt Chernow Galleries.  The public is invited, there is no charge and no tickets are required; however, if groups of ten or more wish to participate in a tour, call the Museum at 203-332-5052.

Refresh has reinstalled artworks on view in Lafayette and Beacon Halls into new, thematic mini-exhibitions that focus on various topics, materials, styles and the historical/artistic importance of the works. Three “solo” exhibitions of a single artist’s work are also on view. The areas in which the groupings are hung have been painted to create mini galleries. The groupings are meant to encourage visitors, students, and staff to pause and consider the artworks in a variety of contexts such as history, subject, and aesthetic style.

Artists on view include: Arman, Larry Bell, Christo, Hans Bellmer, Elaine de Kooning, Valerie Jadoun, Alex Katz, Craig Kauffman, Jeff Koons, Sylvia Sleigh, Raphael Soyer, and Larry Zox. The solo groupings include works of artists Ann Chernow, Vera Schupak, and Bob Stanley.

The Housatonic Museum of Art’s collection of approximately 4,000 objects includes sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs. Burt Chernow began the Housatonic Community College’s collection in 1967 to provide an environment where students live with art as part of their personal enrichment and scholarly edification.

Refresh has created thematic groupings including: New Wave where the colors, brashness, remnants of punk street art, and glitter are reminiscent of the aesthetics associated with New Wave music of the 1980s; Space Age features works that incorporate materials, such as plastics and themes, such as moon landings associated with the United States Space Age in the ‘50s and ‘60s; Liminal conjures images of the style or subject matter at the edge of sensory perception as with a dream space; Bound focuses on works that either incorporate the actual binding of objects or pieces that address being bound by social or personal situations; Childhood and Adolescence combines paintings, drawings, prints and a sculpture spanning the 18th Century through today that depict a disconcerting mix of innocence and maturity;  Street Scene includes images that reflect automotive culture and city life situated in an area adjacent to a window that overlooks I-95; Topical America includes artists who reflect and comment on “newsworthy” political, historical, and social events; Body and Power invert or raise questions about the power dynamic between an artist and his or her subject, especially in portraiture; and Other Landscapes shows unique approaches such as abstraction, repeated imagery, and allegory that update landscapes in art.

WARHOL ET AL EXHIBIT 9/9- 10/15 AT HMA

Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

This Exhibition Contains Adult Content

In the company of … featuring selections from the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Project and contemporary artists whose social scenes inform their work at Housatonic Museum of Art

Bridgeport, CT--In the company of … features videos, photographs, paintings and drawings by contemporary artists who glean subjects, inspiration, and actors from their social scenes, creating collaborative works where relationships among artists, collectors, friends, and acquaintances significantly contribute to the fabric of an artistic practice. The exhibition brings together a group of artists from different generations who reflect, capture or re-imagine social scenes through portraits, rendered moments, and  reconfigurations of observed behaviors. Artists include: Jeremy Kost, Rashaad Newsome, Billy Sullivan, and Andy Warhol. The exhibition is curated by Terri C Smith and is on view from September 9 – October 15, 2010. Opening reception is September 9 from 5-7 p.m. at the Housatonic Museum of Art’s Burt Chernow Gallery.  There is a related performance by Trisha Baga titled Madonna and el Niño on October 14 at 4:00 p.m.

The theme for In the company of…. is inspired by Andy Warhol’s early career that included the living theater of his studio, called “The Factory” as well as his later career that relied heavily (for income and material) on portraits of collectors, celebrities, and socialites. The impetus for doing this exhibition now is the generous gift of Polaroids and black-and-white photographs that were recently given to the Housatonic Museum of Art by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts through the Warhol Photographic Legacy Project. The Polaroids were often used as source material for his large, splashy portraits of celebrities and patrons. Housatonic Museum of Art received a gift of 158 Polaroids and black-and-white photographs for the Permanent Collection and will be exhibiting more than seventy in this exhibition. When the artist died, he left behind thousands of photos that came under the Andy Warhol Foundation’s charge.  The Foundation has spent the past several years giving Warhol’s photographs to not-for-profit art institutions around the country.

Contextualizing Andy Warhol’s legacy within contemporary art, In the company of … pairs Warhol's Polaroids, black-and-white photos, screen tests (including footage of musician Lou Reed and artist Marcel Duchamp), and an episode of Andy Warhol’s TV (featuring an interview with John Waters and Divine) with an array of works by artists working today.   Each artist in this exhibition finds unique ways to incorporate his social and cultural scene as subject, inspiration or actors.  Billy Sullivan, who is a Warhol contemporary, will exhibit his works in a salon-style installation.  With ink drawings, colorful paintings and photos whose dates range from 1969 to 2010, Sullivan exquisitely portrays artists, models, collectors, curators, and other people who move in his social circle during everyday moments – including a 1971 photograph of Andy Warhol with camera in hand.

In addition to Sullivan,  Rashaad Newsome’s Shade Compositions (Screen Test 2) will also be on view. Described by the artist as a video that documents African American women acting out “sassy vocalizations” as part of “ethnographic research,” the video is a fresh, more overtly directed companion to Warhol’s silent black-and-white screen tests (where Warhol instructed his subjects to do nothing, not even blink).  Throwing Shade,  is African American terminology for non-verbal communications that express annoyance with another person.  Shade Compositions is a lively example of what Newsome describes as taking “things from different cultures” to “remix and reframe them and make them something everyone can understand.”

Jeremy Kost is perhaps most closely aligned with Warhol through his use of the Polaroid and his shared affinity for photographing celebrities and underground personalities. Kost, who began taking pictures in night clubs about ten years ago, will exhibit Polaroids from that scene and large color prints of celebrities. Samples from several series by the artist will be on view, including images from the Ladies Who Lunch, Blinded by the Light, and Objectification.  Subjects include, drag queens and other personalities from the clubs he frequents, as well as celebrities such as, Tom Cruise, Beyonce and Madonna.  Two videos by Kost will also be included. They feature paparazzi and a subtly performative backstage moment.  

Small, gestural inclusions of other works by Warhol and materials from popular culture will be inserted as well, creating moments of contemplation about the tensions between public/private, historic/contemporary, and reality/entertainment that inhabit In the company of…

Programming includes a performance on October 14 at 4:00 pm in the Burt Chernow gallery. Emerging artist Trisha Baga will perform Madonna y El Niño. Madonna began her career when Warhol’s was waning, but they crossed paths and their social circles overlapped.  Madonna, like Warhol, is also a consummate self-creation, inventing and reinventing herself over decades. Baga’s multi-media performance includes humorously and smartly manipulated videos of Madonna in concert, projected computer screens, and Baga’s live interaction with the media that streams from her Mac onto the wall behind her.  The energy of nature in El Niño and the energy of changing personas Madonna exudes inform this work.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am until 5pm and Thursday evenings until 7pm. Saturdays from 9am until 3pm and Sunday Noon until 4pm.

HOUSATONIC MUSEUM OF ART ACQUIRES ROBERT ERIC MOORE WORK

Oct. 1, 2010
Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Bridgeport, Connecticut – The Director of the Housatonic Museum of Art, Robbin Zella, has announced the acquisition of Ice at Bass Cove by the Maine artist Robert Eric Moore (1927-2006).  The painting is a gift of retired Attorney Joseph H. Sweeney of Fairfield, Connecticut.  The acrylic painting came from Attorney Sweeney’s personal collection, which also includes the works of Connecticut artists George Strickland and J. Von Hammill as well as Asian works in various media.

Robert Eric Moore (1927-2006) was raised in New Hampshire, but spent his school vacations at his grandparent’s summer home at York Beach, Maine. His painting style skillfully combines both abstract and representational features, and is characterized by stylized natural shapes set against hard-edge abstracted forms. This juxtaposition creates a tension and an explosive energy that seems at odds with his predominately cool, muted palette. His use of traditional transparent washes of watercolor is typically integrated with the less common use of opaquely painted areas - each or both often covered with a pattern or texture suggestive of flowers, crashing waves, falling snow or the tracks of an animal. This mixture of disparate perspectives, styles and techniques result in unique images that make Moore’s work immediately recognizable and widely appreciated.

Moore’s works (both watercolor and acrylic) have been exhibited in national venues, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the De Cordova Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society, and the National Watercolor Society.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is located within the Housatonic Community College 900 Lafayette Blvd., Bridgeport, CT.  The Museum has one of the most significant collections of any two-year college in the country and includes works by master artists such as Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Miro and Chagall. Both art enthusiasts and casual observers have the rare opportunity to engage daily with original works of art and artifacts on continuous display throughout the College and campus grounds. The Museum also presents lectures, programs and changing exhibitions in the Burt Chernow Galleries for students and the community at large at no charge, serving as a cultural resource for the Greater Bridgeport area.

Under the guidance and care of the late Burt Chernow, founder and Director Emeritus of the Museum, artists and collectors alike have given, and still give, generously, creating a world class collection that is widely considered the largest and best at any two year college in the United States.

The collection can be viewed throughout the college during hours when the college is open. For more information call 203-332-5052.

Housatonic Community College is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard.  Free parking is available in the HCC garage.

Housatonic CC Museum Galleries Close for Mechanical Upgrading

Oct. 5 2010
Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Image cutline: From the HMA collection.  From the left, figure by sculptor William King, seated woman by Auguste Renoir. On view in Beacon Hall, Housatonic Community College. Photo by Harold Shapiro.

Robbin Zella, director of the Housatonic Community College Museum of Art, has announced that the Burt Chernow Galleries will be closed from Oct. 16, 2010 through February 28, 2011 to upgrade the heating and air conditioning systems in the galleries.

Temperature and humidity control is of special importance to the care and conservation of art and the museum will take this time to upgrade the conditions in the halleries.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is located within the Housatonic Community College at 900 Lafayette Blvd., Bridgeport, CT.  Works are on display throughout the building and outdoor spaces.

The public is invited to visit the college and view the collection at no charge whenever the college is open.

Guided tours will be available at noon on Wed., Oct. 20, Nov. 17, Dec. 1, and Dec. 15. Tours are open to the public and there is no charge. Participants should meet at the Lafayette Hall Information Desk at 11:45 a.m.

The Museum has one of the most significant collections of any two-year college in the country and includes works by master artists such as Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Miro and Chagall. Both art enthusiasts and casual observers have the rare opportunity to engage daily with original works of art and artifacts on continuous display throughout the College and campus grounds.

For more information call 203-332-5052.

Housatonic Community College is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard.  Free parking is available in the HCC garage.

Housatonic Museum of Art presents
“It’s for you” Conceptual Art and the Telephone

Dec. 20, 2010

Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Cutline: Nickname Game, Luka Geronimas, 2008
Click for hi-res image

Bridgeport, CT-- From February 24 through March 25, 2011, the Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) at Housatonic Community College will present an exhibit “It’s for you” Conceptual Art and the Telephone in the Burt Chernow Galleries and other areas of the HCC campus. The exhibit is, in part, a response to the wide-ranging use of phones in the hallways and other areas on the campus of the college.

Each day students text, talk, surf the net, and listen to music on their phones. With this exhibition, artworks that use the phone as an artistic medium or mediator are brought together in an original exhibition curated by Terri C. Smith.

The projects range from the late 1960s to today and include sound pieces, videos, and objects that resonate with the functions, technologies, and physicality of the telephone. Artists in the exhibition include: T. Foley, Lukas Geronimas, Jeremy LeClair, Christian Marclay, Yoko Ono, Rachel Perry Welty, Robert Peters, Pietro Pellini, and Hannah Wilke.

Many of the artists in “It’s for you” aim to democratize the artist/audience relationship, a quality that is intricately woven into the history of conceptual art. In “It’s for you,” Yoko Ono might call the gallery as part of her Telephone Piece, providing direct contact between artist and viewer. Students will work with T. Foley, creating their own ring tones as part of her Locally Toned project. Archival materials are also included as a way to represent ephemeral works from the past as with Robert Peters’ Naming Others: Manufacturing Yourself (1993) where the artist asked people to call an 800 number from pay phones and choose which stereotyping phrase described them best.

“It’s for You” harnesses the familiarity of the telephone as a way of introducing audiences to a variety of conceptual art practices, which often include a mix of art theory and social critique. The exhibition, consequently, endeavors to connect concerns found in contemporary art with the objects, communication habits, and changing technologies in our daily lives. In that spirit, visitors and students will be encouraged to comment on the exhibition using telephone-friendly interfaces such as Twitter.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops. In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs. HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution. To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu>

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

75th Anniversary Exhibition @ The Vault Gallery

NOV. 4, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ken Kahn, Director of the Bridgeport Arts + Cultural Council, 860-655-5302

BRIDGEPORT -- The newly founded Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council (BACC) will host an opening reception for its inaugural exhibition. 75th Anniversary of the Sculptors Guild, organized by Alvin Sher and sponsored by the Housatonic Museum of Art, on Wednesday, November 10th. This celebration marks the occasion of the Sculptors Guild mission to explore new directions in contemporary art-making and is the official launch of the newly formed Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council, lead by the recently appointed executive director, Kenneth Kahn. The festivities will take place at The Vault Gallery at City Trust, with access to the space through 957 Main Street in Bridgeport from 4pm to 6pm.

Since1937, The Sculptors Guild has promoted public interest in contemporary sculpture through exhibitions in public spaces and through education. For the past several years, the Guild has exhibited members work on New York City’s historic Governor’s Island. Artist members continue to redefine trajectories in digital, multimedia, installation, nonobjective, figurative, abstract and new technology art.

The exhibit features work by Alvin Sher and David Smalley of East Lyme, Judith Steinberg of Southport, Beth Ann Morrison and Gina Miccinilli of New Jersey, Gail Goldsmith, Phillip Simmons, Renata Menasse Schwebel, Miguel Castillo, Martha Walker, Gilbert Boro and Stephen Keltner of New York.

This show opens in conjunction with Urban Essence, curated by Janine Brown and Thomas Mezzanotte, is the inaugural exhibition for the BACC. Brown and Mezzanotte searched the Fairfield County area to find 11 photographers and artists that were inspired by the City of Bridgeport. Brown states that “Urban Essence refers to the images captured by area artists that show the spirit of Bridgeport through the use of photography.”

A blend of urban landscape and human interest, the photographs in this exhibition give viewers a snapshot into the world of Bridgeport today. The photographers include Michelle Beaulieu, Jeff Becker, Keyvan Behpour, Sean Corbett, Pamela Einarsen, Eileen Fitzsmith, Erik Hup, Bernd Krauss, Jesse Neider, Morgaine Pauker, and Larry Silver. These photographers, who had lived and worked here throughout their careers, each have a unique view of the city and its people. This exhibition hopes to show the spirit and raw beauty of a city that is looking towards a renaissance with the arts community in the forefront.

The November 10th reception at the Arcade Building and The Vault Gallery at City Trust, not only signifies the start of two exhibitions, but will kick off a long weekend of Arts activities throughout Bridgeport during the 2nd Annual Bridgeport Art Trail sponsored by City Lights Gallery.  The Vault Gallery is Open from 11am until 9pm, Monday through Thursday and Friday from 11am until 10pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday.

These events are open to the public at no cost..

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu>.

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

NOMI SILERMAN EXHIBITION OF “THE SHEPARD CYCLE” EXTENDED THROUGH FEB 25, 2011

Feb. 4, 2010
Contact: Robbin Zella  203-332-5052

The Shepard Cycle on view at Housatonic Community College
Nomi Silverman Prints Chronicle Matthew Shepard Murder

STUDENT AND PUBLIC PROGRAMMING:
February 10: Reception for the Artist, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
February 21: Panel Discussion, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, was murdered by peers. In court the defense claimed the crime was a gay bashing. Titled “The Shepard Cycle,” Nomi Silverman of Glenville, Connecticut, created a suite of prints in 2008 that detail this narrative. Silverman’s prints are on view on the third floor of Beacon Hall at Housatonic Community College (HCC).  The installation is sponsored by the Housatonic Museum of Art and is on view through February 25, 2011.

Two programs for the installation are scheduled for February.  Both events are co-sponsored by the Housatonic Museum of Art and Housatonic Community College’s Gay/Straight Alliance. They are free and open to the public, with free parking in the HCC garage.  On Thursday, February 10, a reception for the artist will take place at Beacon Hall from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.  On Monday, February 21 a panel discussion with Nomi Silverman as well as guests from HCC faculty and the surrounding community is scheduled from 5:00 – 6:30 at Beacon Hall.

The works on paper are created using two printing processes, lithography and etching. Silverman sees the series as a continuation of her impulse to address social and political issues, “Over the years, [my art] has dealt with the origins of hate and how it spirals through the generations into violence, so often against those perceived as outsiders.” Through printmaking, the artist harnesses the storytelling capabilities of rendered images and expresses her emotional response to a senseless act with confidently etched lines and visceral applications of ink.  Silverman hopes viewers will react to the feeling of each type of print as they follow Shepard’s story.

The exhibition is open to the public at no charge. Hours are: Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. – 10 p.m., Friday 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Saturday 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. – 5p.m.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> .

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Soothing Sanctuaries

By Phyllis A.S. Boros Staff Writer

CT Post, Friday, February 5, 2011

Few places are more wel­coming during the bleak gray days of winter than art mu­seums, where the light is al­ways gentle, the temperature always mild and the humidity just right.

And not only can a trip to a temple of culture soothe the soul and stimulate the brain cells, it can often be done at no cost.

Fortunately for area resi­dents, a few of the state’s most extraordinary art col­lections are nearby and open to the public free of charge.

And free lectures, tours, films and programs for chil­dren and families are frequently offered as well. So, no matter our budget, it’s nice to know that we can spend an entire day “on the town” without bringing along a wheelbar­row full of cash.

Here are some of our favorite free muse­ums and their free offerings: Housatonic Community College, at 900 Lafayette Blvd., in downtown Bridgeport, has one of the largest permanent art col­lections of any two-year institution in the nation. The Housatonic Museum of Art, founded in the late 1960s by art professor Burt Chernow, has a permanent collection that’s now valued at about $15 million, as­sembled through gifts and bequests. Among the fea­tured artists are such giants as Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Reginald Marsh, Auguste Rodin and Pierre Auguste Renoir. The collec­tion is on view throughout the campus. Although visitors are always welcome, the best way to experience this collec­tion is on guided tours, which are offered occasionally. Now scheduled are noon tours on March 9, March 16 and April 6.

In the museum’s Burt Chernow Galleries from Feb. 24 through March 25 will be “ ‘It’s For You’: Conceptual Art and the Telephone,” fo­cusing on the use of phones in modern society. This temporary original exhibition, the brainchild of Curator Terri C. Smith, will close on March 25 with a tour, talk and reception (also free) beginning at 5:30 p.m. Visit www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu>  or call museum director Robbin Zella at 203-332-5052 for more information.

Among the greatest arts-related trea­sures in the state are the Yale Center for Brit­ish Art and the Yale University Art Gallery, both on Chapel Street, in downtown New Haven. One can easily spend days at each museum — wandering through quiet, beauti­fully designed galleries — and marveling at their art and architec­ture.

Both museums were designed by renowned American architect Louis I. Kahn: The recently re­stored Yale Gallery was Kahn’s first major com­mission (1953), while the Center was his final work, completed after his death in 1974.

At the Yale University Art Gallery, America’s old­est university art museum, visitors will likely find one or more collections to their liking. Founded in 1832, when patriot-artist John Trumbull donated more than 100 of his paintings to Yale College, the mu­seum now boasts more than 185,000 objects from around the world, rang­ing from antiquity to pres­ent day. Among its most celebrated collections are American paintings and decorative arts, Greek and Roman art, early Italian paintings, Asian and Afri­can art and masterpieces from the French Impres­sionists.

At Yale Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., tours that focus on the permanent collec­tion take place on Wednes­days at 12:20 p.m., while the “masterpieces” get a closer look on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m.

“Angles on Art” hour-long tours, led by undergradu­ates, are given on Thurs­days at 5 p.m. and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. during the academic year.

And for those fascinated by American decorative arts and furniture, special­ized tours are offered Fri­days at noon. Among the more than 1,000 works, dating from the 17th cen­tury to modern times, are chests, tables, chairs, desks, clocks and cup­boards. No advanced reg­istration is required, but space is limited. (Visitors can sign up at the informa­tion desk.) Especially for families is a “Stories and Art” pro­gram, offered the second Sunday of each month at 1 p.m. Yale students and gallery staff explain how folktales and myths from around the world relate to various works of art in the collection. The museum says that all ages are wel­come, and drawing mate­rials will be provided for children.

Call 203-432-0600 or visit artgallery.yale.edu <http://artgallery.yale.edu> .

At the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., visitors are treated to the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom, much of it collected and subse­quently donated to Yale by philanthropist Paul Mel­lon (class of 1929). The museum also frequently mounts and hosts spe­cial exhibitions. “Into the Light of Things: Rebecca Salter, Works 1981-2010” focuses on this British ab­stract artist through May 1. From Feb. 24 through June 5, another special ex­hibition — produced by the Center and London’s Na­tional Portrait Gallery — will spotlight the work of Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), one of the most pop­ular portraitists of his day.

At this museum, a wealth of tours, lectures and films are regularly of­fered — the YCBA’s Janu­ary- April quarterly bro­chure lists them all, avail­able at the museum’s infor­mation desk or by visiting yale.edu/ycba <http://yale.edu/ycba> . Of special note: Tours that focus on the center’s architecture will be offered at 11 a.m. on Feb. 19, March 19 and April 16. Call 203-432-2800.

Officials at both mu­seums suggest that visi­tors call ahead to confirm times and dates for all events.

Fairfield University’s Bellarmine Museum of Art, near the 200 Barlow Road entrance to Fairfield University, is a tiny gem in the former basement of a 1920s mansion. This mu­seum, which opened last October, features works that reference antiquity through the Renaissance and beyond. Highlights in­clude 10 paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collec­tion, featuring minor mas­ters of the Italian Renais­sance and Baroque peri­ods, donated to the univer­sity in 2003 from Bridge­port’s Discovery Museum.

It’s open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on the second Saturday of the month, from noon to 5 p.m., when special activities are of­fered for children and their families.

At the small but de­lightful Bruce Museum in Greenwich, at One Mu­seum Drive, near exit 3 off Interstate 95, admission is free every Tuesday dur­ing regular museum hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now on view is an exhibition of works by contemporary photographer Cindy Sher­man (through April 23).

Upcoming winter shows include “Human Con­nections,” with about 40 works from the museum’s own collection that focus on the human form, Feb.

12 to June 5; and a photog­raphy show by Jeff Jones that celebrates the 50th an­niversary of the establish­ment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, March 5 to May 29. Call the Bruce Museum at 203-869-0376 or check out www.bruce­museum. org.

Tours of the Art Collection at Housatonic Community College

Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5062

Art Tours of the unique permanent collection at Housatonic Community College, 900 Lafayette Blvd. in Bridgeport have been scheduled for Wednesdays, March 9, 16, and April 6. Tours will begin at noon and are free and open to the public. Participants should meet at noon at the information desk in front of the Burt Chernow Galleries, Lafayette Hall.

Housatonic Community College has one of the largest art collections of any community college in the United States. The art is on view throughout the college. Tours will be led by HCC curator Terri C. Smith and will focus on some of the highlights of the collection.
Additionally, on Friday, March 25 at 5:30 p.m. there will be a tour and talk for “It’s for you,” Conceptual Art and the Telephone ( Feb 24 - March 25, 2011)
All activities associated with the Housatonic Museum of Art are open to the public at no charge.

SPLASH! Opens at Housatonic Museum of Art
June 16 - July 22

CONTACT: ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

Pittsburgh Artist T Foley Brings “Locally Toned” to Bridgeport, Connecticut

March 16, 2011
CONTACT: Robbin Zella, Director, Housatonic Museum of Art
203-332-5052,

Lecture: Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Open Ringtone Recording Session: Thursday, March 24, 2011

T. Foley’s cell-phone based work Locally Toned is a public art/original ringtone creation project. Through it, the artist captures important or amusing sounds identified by participants, and turns those sounds into ringtones to be shared with others. All of the sounds are representative of collaborators’ personal experiences, environments and/or geographical regions, and are described by Foley as “tiny audio documentaries that play back over cell phones.”

Foley is invited by the Housatonic Museum of Art to bring Locally Toned to Bridgeport, where the artist will discuss her project and collaborate with students and the public to create original ringtones that reflect the sounds of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and its residents.  Locally Toned is part of the programming for the Housatonic Museum of Art original exhibition “It’s for you,” Conceptual Art and the Telephone, which is on view through March 25 in the Burt Chernow Galleries located at Lafayette Hall.

Since Foley began the project in 2009, her main focus has been on creating an audio portrait of Pittsburgh (where she lives). Because the project emphasizes shared creativity over commerce, the tones are distributed free-of-charge at www.locallytoned.org <http://www.locallytoned.org/> and via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Unlike traditional works of public art, such as murals and outdoor sculptures, Locally Toned presents itself elusively, at unexpected times and in unexpected places (when users receive calls on their cell phones).

Foley will give a public talk about her project on Tuesday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m. and will hold an open recording session on Thursday, March 24, from 3:00-6:00. During the session people are invited to bring objects, ideas, and sound makers, then work with Foley to record their own ringtones.  Both of these events are open to the public and will take place in Housatonic Community College’s Lafayette Hall. A Locally Toned display in the gallery is currently on view and features locallytoned.org and take-away ringtone art cards that have special codes allowing visitors to send Pittsburgh tones directly to their cell phones.

Housatonic Museum of Art is located at the Housatonic Community College. For more information on the Museum, visit http://www.hcc.commnet.edu/artmuseum/index.html. For more on the exhibition: http://terricsmithitsforyouartandtelephone.blogspot.com/. HMA Gallery Hours: M-W: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Thurs: 8:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Fri: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.; Sun: noon – 4:00 p.m.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu .

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Housatonic Museum of Art Receives 9/11 Commemorating Prints

March 2, 2011
For immediate release Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Robbin Zella, Director of the Housatonic Museum of Art, has announced the gift of two prints by John Michelotti commemorating the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

The prints, “Flag of Honor” and “Flag of Heroes” are the work of Greenwich, CT artist John Michelotti. They have been given to the HMA by Sam Cotto who is a Building and Grounds Patrol Officer at Housatonic Community College.

Zella says, “We are pleased to have these images that memorialize the events of that day. It was such a major catastrophe and it is important that we have an artistic memory of what happened. We thank Mr. Cotto for giving these important pieces to the Museum.”

The originals of Flag of Honor and Flag of Heroes are in the Museum of the National 9/11 Organization. The artist is quoted as saying that he wanted the victims remembered not as numbers but as individuals.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> .

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba

July 1, 2011

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Housatonic Museum of Art @Housatonic Community College 
Robbin Zella, Director, 203-332-5052,
International Arts & Artists: Margalit Monroe, tel: 202.338.0680 e-mail:

EXHIBITION OF Internationally recognized contemporary Cuban artists to TRAVEL to North America

Bridgeport, CT: The Housatonic Museum of Art is pleased to announce Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba, an exhibition that introduces North America to the new generation of influential artists from Cuba.  Polaridad Complementaria is on view in the Burt Chernow Galleries at the Housatonic Museum of Art from August 15 through October 20, 2011

Developed by the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Polaridad Complementaria offers audiences the opportunity to become acquainted with the island’s current and upcoming artistic talent. More than 40 works of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video and installation art provide a sense of the serious aesthetic and conceptual concerns that characterizes Cuban art today. The 24 artists presented here are mainly young artists who have attained international recognition. The majority of these artists have taken part in fairs and biennials abroad and all have exhibited in Europe, Latin America and were featured in various editions of the Havana Biennial. Several have exhibited in the United States, including René Peña, Abel Barroso, Aimeé García, Yoan Capote, Eduardo Ponjuán, Lázaro Saavedra, Sandra Ramos and Roberto Fabelo.

Often compared to American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, artist René Peña explores the relationship between individuals within society and the struggle for their own identity. Abel Barroso carves three-dimensional pieces using wood and various printing methods to create a conversation about technology and the third-world. From Zulueta, Cuba, Duvier del Dago takes things one step further, combining drawing with handmade 3D design examining the unattainable, whether it be the material or the ideal. From simplistic to intricately fabricated, these artists create a narrative of Cuba today.

Diverse in both medium and themes, the artists featured in Polaridad Complementaria understand the power of their art to address a wide range of social issues. The exhibition highlights works that connect the local context with global concerns and universal human issues. After many years, Polaridad Complementaria opens a pathway for dialogue and cultural exchange between Cuba and the United States, two countries with historic ties and common cultural processes, despite troubled relations.

Margarita Sánchez Prieto is curator, researcher and art critic at Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam in Havana and recipient of the National Prize of Curatorship at the 2000 Havana Biennial. She has curated various exhibitions and lectured extensively on Cuban and Latin American art throughout South America, Europe and Canada. Her work has been published in various art magazines and she is the author of the anthology An Outlook of Latin American Art in the Decade of 1980.

Director of the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Centre and curator and art critic of the Havana Biennial, Jorge Fernandez Torres has curated over 15 major exhibitions in Cuba, Spain, Central, and South America. He was a member of the Commission for Cuban Cultural Development of UNESCO in 1997 and on the Advisory Council for the Arts of the National Library of Cuba in 2000 and 2001 as well as Vice Rector of the Higher Institute of Arts in Havana for the past ten years. He is the Author of several texts in catalogues of Cuban art and as professor of contemporary art at the Higher Institute of Arts (ISA), and has lectured all over the world.

Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba was developed by the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

Scheduled tour dates for Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba are as follows: Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA (January 16, 2010 to March 14, 2010); Sonoma County Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA (June 16, 2010 to August 29, 2010); Chicago Cultural Center, IL (October 16, 2010 to December 30, 2010); City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Charleston, SC (February 4, 2011 to March 28, 2011); Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT (August 15, 2011 to October 20, 2011). For an updated tour schedule, please visit http://artsandartists.org/exhibitions/cubanart.html.

Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam is dedicated to the promotion of both contemporary Cuban art and the art of the countries of the so-called Third World. Its main purpose is organizing the Havana Biennial. The Center also promotes and investigates the work of the vanguard master Wifredo Lam as well as the current artistic production of South American countries.

International Arts & Artists in Washington, DC, is a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally, through exhibitions, programs and services to artists, arts institutions and the public. Visit www.artsandartists.org

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu.

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Installation photo(s) provided by International Arts and Artists. For Hi-Res image please contact Anson Smilth by email.

TARGET STORES SUPPORT HCC STUDENT ART PROGRAM

OCT. 4, 2011
Contact: Maureen Dowdle 203-332-5078

BRIDGEPORT - Maureen Dowdle, Housatonic Community College Director of Institutional Development, has announced that a grant of $2,000 has been received from Target to support the HCC Museum Peer Docent Program.

The Peer Docent program provides after-school arts enrichment and introduces participating high school students to art and art history. Students are taught to look at art critically and practice observing, questioning and discussing ideas using works from the Housatonic Museum of Art collection. The twenty or more students then become docents and demonstrate what they have learned by leading tours for hundreds of other Bridgeport students from the elementary and high schools.

Robbin Zella, HCC Museum Director, says, “The Peer Docent program has been in effect at HCC since 1999 and remains one of our most gratifying educational projects. We have introduced significant numbers of students to art, and to the process of learning to look at art. We are very grateful and, thanks to Target, we are able to continue this important program.”

Since 1946, Target has given 5% of its income to the communities they serve equaling more than $3 million every week. Target administrators add, “We are proud to partner with organizations that meet the needs of our communities, whether it’s inspiring young minds, offering unique cultural experiences, or meeting the community’s most basic needs.”

About the Housatonic Community College Foundation

The Housatonic Community College Foundation was formed in 1990 to assist the College and its students beyond the fundamentals provided by the state. The Foundation provides resources for scholarships, equipment, program enhancements, community outreach and support for the Housatonic Museum of Art. For more information, visit www.hcc.commnet.edu/hccf <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu/hccf>

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> .

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Lecture at Housatonic Museum of Art

The Island Adrift: National, Racial and Gender Identity in Contemporary Cuban Art

OCT. 4, 2011

CONTACT: ROBBIN ZELLA, 203-332-5052

Bridgeport, CT—On October 11, 2011 at 11am, in the Burt Chernow Galleries at Housatonic Community College, Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, Assistant Professor at The University of Connecticut-Storrs, will offer a lecture exploring issues of identity as well as the political and socio-economic crisis  affecting the island of Cuba since the collapse of the socialist system in the 1990s.

Casamayor will discuss the current state of the arts in present-day Cuban society. This talk is in conjunction with the current exhibit at the HMA,  Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba. This event is free and open to the public.

Having concentrated her research on Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures, Odette Casamayor was also the recipient of a 2005 Rockefeller Foundation Post-doctoral fellowship, which sponsored her as a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies in the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 2003, her paper titled “Negros de papel. Algunas apariciones del negro en la narrativa cubana después de 1959” received the Juan Rulfo literary essay award, which is granted by Radio France Internationale. She is currently writing a book about Post-Soviet Cuban Literature and conducting a research project on racial inequalities in Contemporary Caribbean Societies. She received her doctorate in Language Arts and Literature from the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), in Paris.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> .

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Housatonic Museum of Art Receives Larry Silver Photograph

Sept. 12, 2011
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

Robbin Zella, Housatonic Museum Director, has announced the acquisition to the HMA permanent collection of a photograph by internationally known photographer and Westport resident Larry Silver.  The photograph, donated to the museum by Silver in memory of his long time friend Burt Chernow, is from his celebrated series, "Muscle Beach, 1954" which was the subject of a solo exhibition at the International Center of Photography and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  

Silver began photographing the streets and subways of New York City in 1949 at the age of 15. He attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles and moved to Westport in 1973.  His work is currently in over 20 museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, George Eastman House, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and many others.  

Ms. Zella, says, “We are delighted to have this very significant work by Larry Silver.  It is indicative of his tremendous contribution to the art of photography and is another important addition to the collection of the HMA.”

Photographs from Silver’s most recent project are abstract and far removed from the images that he has produced in the past.  Silver has broadened the scope of photography using experimental dark room techniques and adding color to his black & white photography.

An exhibition of his most recent work will be shown at the Silverstein Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, New York.  Opening reception October 13, 2011, 6-8 PM.  

In addition Silver's work will be part of an exhibition at the Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave at 92nd St, New York "The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951” Nov. 04, 2011-March 25, 2012.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport Connecticut. The Museum is open to the public at no charge Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening until 7 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and Sunday noon until 4 p.m. College parking is available. The Museum is closed when the college is closed.

For further information call 203-332-5052 or 203-332-5000. Visit the Museum web site at www.housatonicmuseum.org <http://www.housatonicmuseum.org> .

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Housatonic Museum of Art Acquires The BACC Heroes Poster Series

Aug. 26, 2011
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ROBBIN ZELLA AT 203-332-5052

Bridgeport - The Director of the Housatonic Museum of Art, Robbin Zella, has announced the selection of Graphic Designer Greg Chinn's Heroes Poster Series for the HMA's permanent collection.

Originally produced for the Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council, the series of twelve posters focuses on local Bridgeport heroes. From prominent figures like PT Barnum and Elias Howe to lesser known people like lighthouse keeper Kathleen Moore, the series instills a sense of pride for the citizens of Bridgeport and, most importantly, functions as an educational tool for the area’s public schools. With a funky color palette, layered visual language and a modernist sensibility, the series was inspired by psychedelic poster master Victor Moscoso and artist Robert Rauschenberg. The 12 collage-styled images were produced for the Housatonic Museum of Art as Giclée Fine Art Prints on 100% cotton rag, velvet (etching like) surface, 315 gram paper.

The work of Award-Winning Graphic Designer Greg Chinn has been recognized by numerous design publications/websites including Core77, ID, Dwell, Design Within Reach, How, HGTV, Design Observer and Print.

His graphics have been highlighted in two Pie Design Books, as well as featured in Communication Arts Fresh, which focuses on innovative work around the world. Chinn has also been profiled in Graphic Design USA on the rebranding of historic Fairfield County landmarks. His Modernist Flash Cards have retailed internationally as well as in The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Museum of Design Atlanta, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Chinn graduated from Art Center College of Design and received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree with honors.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is located within the Housatonic Community College 900 Lafayette Blvd., Bridgeport, CT.  The Museum has one of the most significant collections of any two-year college in the country and includes works by master artists such as Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Miro and Chagall. Both art enthusiasts and casual observers have the rare opportunity to engage daily with original works of art and artifacts on continuous display throughout the College and campus grounds. The Museum also presents lectures, programs and changing exhibitions in the Burt Chernow Galleries for students and the community at large at no charge, serving as a cultural resource for the Greater Bridgeport area.

For more information call 203-332-5052.
         Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> . HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Fairfield County Community Foundation Grant To Housatonic Community College

Funds will Support the Housatonic Museum of Art

JULY 26, 2011

Contact: Maureen Dowdle 203-332-5078 or Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

BRIDGEPORT - Paul Antinozzi, President of the Housatonic Community College Foundation, Inc., has announced that the Fairfield County Community Foundation has given a competitive grant of $20,000 to support the Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA).

The grant will provide support for the full-time position of a curator/collections manager at the Museum.

Robbin Zella, Director of the Housatonic Museum of Art, says, “Having a curator on our staff gives us the opportunity to grow the Museum, provide more educational resources to students, artists, and the greater Bridgeport community and increase our outreach.”

The Museum collection includes over 4,000 objects with examples from ancient Greece, Egypt, China and substantial African art. The core of the collection is comprised of works from 1945 to the present with important examples by modern and contemporary artists.

 Karen Brown, Fairfield County Community Foundation Vice President of Programs, says, “The Housatonic Museum of Art is a significant asset and cultural source for Bridgeport and Fairfield County. Increasing its educational and outreach efforts is important. We look forward to the positive impact of these expanded programs at the HMA.”

About Fairfield County Community Foundation
The Fairfield County Community Foundation promotes the growth of community and regional philanthropy to improve the quality of life throughout Fairfield County. Individuals, families, corporations and organizations can establish charitable funds and contribute to existing funds. The Foundation also provides philanthropic advisory services, and develops and leads initiatives to tackle critical community issues. It is in compliance with the Council on Foundations’ national standards for community foundations. The Foundation has awarded over $123 million in grants to nonprofits in Fairfield County and beyond. For more information, visit http://www.fccfoundation.org

About the Housatonic Community College Foundation
The Housatonic Community College Foundation was formed in 1990 to assist the College and its students beyond the fundamentals provided by the state. The Foundation provides resources for scholarships, equipment, program enhancements, community outreach and support for the Housatonic Museum of Art. The College provides convenient and affordable post-secondary training and life-long learning to those in the Bridgeport area. For more information, http://www.hcc.commnet.edu/hccf   

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: http://www.hcc.commnet.edu.

HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.

Photographs of Montana Frontier by Richard Buswell At the Housatonic Museum of Art

For immediate release
Contact: Robbin Zella  203-332-5052

Bridgeport, CT: Richard Buswell’s photographs of Montana’s abandoned, overgrown homesteads and artifacts of the Montana frontier will be on exhibit at the Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art. Traces/Montana’s Frontier Re-Visited will be on view from Nov. 4, 2011 until Dec. 18, 2011.

Buswell’s photos are precisely realized individual works, intended to be studied and savored one at a time.  For more than thirty five years, Buswell has used the camera to explore the visually profound and unique historical complexion of his native state.

Julian Cox, Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art says, “Beaten and weathered facades become as a sublime as the cloud dappled, never ending Montana sky. In the world as seen through Buswell’s eyes, history and archaeology are inextricably meshed. History provides the link between then and now, and archaeology the means to understand and reconstruct the passage of time.”        

Buswell’s photography represents thousands of hours and miles spent crossing and re-crossing the state of Montana – a land mass as large as the British Isles, but populated by less than a million people. His photographic studies are intimate, miniature landscapes, organized with the same rigor and described with the same sensitivity to light and space as he accords the grand vista.  

Cox continues, “Richard Buswell’s work occupies a special place - and provides a lasting reminder that the most unique forms of beauty and invention can often be found close to home.”

Buswell’s work is in the permanent collections of 191 Museums both in this country and in Europe. In 2007 the Montana Museum of Art and Culture exhibited Traces/Montana’s Frontier Re-visited the exhibit now on view at the Housatonic Museum of Art and a book with the same title has been published.

The Housatonic Museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Thursday evenings until 7 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. The Museum is closed when the college is closed. For further information contact 203-332-5052 or visit www.housatonicmuseum.org.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> . HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage

Rendezvous In Black:
Cindy Sherman and Ann Chernow

8th Annual Alumni Hall Of Fame Gala Set For November 19th Event Benefits The Housatonic Community College Foundation Scholarship Fund

Speakers: Sonia Manzano (‘Maria’ from Sesame Street) and Peter Werth III

BRIDGEPORT, CT (October 6, 2016) Housatonic Community College invites the community to a very special evening: the 8th Annual Alumni Hall of Fame Gala. The event takes place on Saturday, November 19 from 6pm-11pm on the college campus, located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in Bridgeport. Tickets are $250 and are available by visiting www.Housatonic.edu/HCCF Proceeds will benefit the Housatonic Community College Foundation’s Scholarship Fund, which distributes between $150,000 and $200,000 annually to deserving HCC students.

Two keynote speakers will take the audience on an intellectual and emotional journey. Sonia Manzano, who delighted children and families for over 30 years as ‘Maria’ on the hit PBS show ‘Sesame Street,’ will share how she overcame obstacles and persevered to break ground as one of the first Hispanic characters on national television.

Peter Werth III, founder and director of Himalaya Currents, a Connecticut based non-profit organization that manages energy and education projects in Dolpa, Nepal, will fascinate the audience as he shares how technology solutions can transform a fragile environment.

The evening will begin with cocktails at the Beacon Hall Event Center, where guests will have a chance to mingle, enjoy live music and take a photo with the keynote speakers. The cocktail reception will be followed by a seated dinner, an award presentation and inspirational messages from the two speakers. Guests will leave with fresh thinking, new ideas and hope for the future’s possibilities.

“We are thrilled to present these high-caliber speakers who exemplify what it means to imagine, persevere and achieve,” said Richard Dupont, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement.

“Their messages will inspire the audience, and the event raises funds for high-achieving, low-income students that are creating a path to successful careers.”

For more information contact the HCC Foundation office at 203-332-5293. To purchase tickets to the event, visit www.Housatonic.edu/HCCF and to inquire about sponsorship opportunities, contact Felisha Guirand, u or call 203-332-5975.

The Housatonic Community College Foundation is grateful for the generous support of corporate sponsors who are making this year’s gala possible: Bigelow Tea, People’s United Bank, Premier Printing and media sponsors: Hearst Media, Outfront Media and Trans-Ad Outdoor, LTD.

June 2, 2016

Contact: Laura Roberts 203-273-2218

Part of Over $82 Million Awarded for Arts Projects Nationwide

BRIDGEPORT, CT - The Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) has received a $15,000 Art Works award to support its HMA Peer Docent Program. The award is part of over $82 million approved by the National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu to fund local arts projects and partnerships. The HMA Peer Docent Program introduces Bridgeport middle school students to art and art history, teaching them to look at art critically and guide classmates during tours. The grant will allow HMA Museum Educators to train ninety students to be docents who will guide 600 classmates on tours of Downtown Bridgeport, CT. Through the program students develop visual, analytical and critical thinking skills that will assist them across academic disciplines and throughout their lifetimes.

The National Endowment for the Arts Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields. The HMA Peer Docent Program is in its fifteenth year of successfully introducing Bridgeport students to art and architecture in their communities and throughout the region.

“We are thankful to receive this award as we continue to expand students’ understanding of the art that surrounds them,” said Robbin Zella, Executive Director of HMA. “For the past three years, the program’s focus has been local architecture with field trips to architectural marvels in New Canaan, CT and New York City. For this coming year, we’ve partnered with the Westport Library, where its award-winning Maker Space will allow students to participate in classes, sketching their own architectural designs and making them come to life with 3-D printing.”

“The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from the Housatonic Museum of Art offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”

Additionally, this year’s program has enlisted award-winning architect Thom Mayne. Originally from Waterbury, CT, Mayne is a renowned architect, and a Turnaround Arts Initiative Artist. Mayne will be working with Hall school in Bridgeport.

The HMA Peer Docent Program is a nine-week arts enrichment program providing Bridgeport middle school students with an opportunity to use object-based inquiry to practice observing, questioning, discussing, and learning about art and ideas. The program consists of six school-site training sessions, two field trips to the HMA where Museum Educators model docent training, and eventually where peer docents lead their classmates on tours, as well as a third field trip to another historically significant architectural site. The HMA utilizes its permanent collection to enhance the Program, which is modeled upon Harvard University’s Project Zero’s Guided-Inquiry Method and sub-program Project MUSE (Museums Uniting with Schools in Education), and the Aldrich Museum’s Peer Docent Program.

To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring16. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov

About the Housatonic Museum of Art
The Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) is home to one of the premier college art collections in the United States.  Its collection offers students and the community alike the opportunity to view works that span the history of art from the ancient to the contemporary.  Unique to the Housatonic Community College campus, this permanent collection is on continuous display throughout the 300,000 square foot facility, offering a rare opportunity for both art enthusiasts and casual observers to view and interact with the art on a daily basis.  Visit www.hcc.commnet.edu/artmuseum/ to learn more.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is funded in part by the Werth Family Foundation, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment of the Arts/Art Works and individual donors.

For immediate release

Contact: Laura Roberts 203-273-2218

HMA Peer Docent Program Acknowledged as a National Model

BRIDGEPORT, CT - Robbin Zella, Executive Director and Curator of the Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) and Janet Zamparo, the museum’s Curator of Education, will speak at this year’s Turnaround Arts Summer Leadership Retreat.  Turnaround Arts is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which uses arts education to help turn around America’s struggling schools.  Zella and Zamparo will present the HMA Peer Docent program, which teaches students to observe and discover local architecture, and to be trained as docents. 

Held in Warrenton, Virginia, the five-day retreat provides nearly 200 participants with engaging sessions led by presenters from the nation’s leading arts and education organizations.  New tools and concepts are learned and then shared with staff back home. 

“It is an honor to participate in this national effort that leads teachers to use the arts to transform their schools,” said Zella.  “Bringing the HMA Peer Docent program to the retreat allows us to share this remarkable teaching tool with passionate and dedicated educators from across the country.”

For fifteen years, the Housatonic Museum of Art Peer Docent Program has offered supplemental arts education to seventeen underserved Bridgeport schools.  The program provides students with an opportunity to use object-based inquiry and practice observing, questioning, discussing, and listening to ideas about art. Students develop visual, analytical and critical thinking skills that assist them across academic disciplines and throughout their lifetimes.

For the past three years, Janet Zamparo has acted as the Curator of Education for the HMA Peer Docent Program for its management, development and implementation. “The program teaches students about architecture, trains students to be docents and provides the opportunity for docents to guide their peers on tours.  It’s a chance for kids to recognize the transformative joy, hope and imagination that the arts can bring.” said Zamparo. 

“We are proud to have the Housatonic Museum of Art sharing this long-standing HCC program at this important event,” said Housatonic Community College President, Paul Broadie II, Ph.D. “Recognition of the Peer Docent Program as a model for schools throughout the nation celebrates our commitment to student learning and expands our ability to improve the world for many generations to come.” 

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), an advisory committee to the White House, launched the Turnaround Arts education initiative in 2011and its impact is remarkable.  A 3-year program evaluation of pilot schools found broad improvements, including significant surges in reading and math scores, an increase in attendance and a decrease in suspensions. 

Bridgeport’s Roosevelt School was one of eight schools that participated in the pilot phase of the initiative.  Today, Barnum School, Hall School, Hallen School and Jettie S. Tisdale School are also participants.  Turnaround Arts: Bridgeport is helping Bridgeport Public Schools to realize its mission of readying all its students to graduate college-ready and prepared to succeed in life.

About the Housatonic Museum of Art
The Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) is home to one of the premier college art collections in the United States.  Its collection offers students and the community alike the opportunity to view works that span the history of art from the ancient to the contemporary.  Unique to the Housatonic Community College campus, this permanent collection is on continuous display throughout the 300,000 square foot facility, offering a rare opportunity for both art enthusiasts and casual observers to view and interact with the art on a daily basis.  Visit www.hcc.commnet.edu/artmuseum/ to learn more.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is funded in part by the Werth Family Foundation, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment of the Arts/Art Works and individual donors.

Housatonic Community College Annual Student Art Exhibit

April 12, 2016

Contact: Esther Watstein 203-332-5226
Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Illustration: poster for the Annual Student Art Show

HCC’s art students will shine at the annual Student Art show at the Burt Chernow Galleries in Beacon Hall. The show will run from April 26 through May 26. The opening reception is on Tuesday, April 26 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. The public is invited at no charge.

Housatonic has Associate Degree programs in Fine Arts, Graphic Design and Graphic Design Multi-Media. Certificate programs are available in Web Design Technology, Graphic Design, Web Design Graphics. Multiple art courses are also offered.

Waking the Dead: Housatonic Museum of Art presents Forensic Sculptor Lisa Bailey

April 6, 2016

Contact: Robbin Zella
203-332-5052

Bridgeport, CT...Forensic sculptors combine artistic talents with in depth knowledge of anatomy to assist law enforcement in identification. Sculptors might perform facial reconstructions on unidentified remains or use age-progression techniques to develop busts of missing persons. Waking the Dead is a lecture and demonstration by forensic sculptor and author, Lisa Bailey. This lecture and demonstration is sponsored by the Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT. The lecture will be held Friday, May 6, 2016 in the Burt Chernow Galleries in Lafayette Hall from 9:30 am to 11:00 am. Space is limited and registration for this free event is recommended. Call (203) 332-5052.

There are but a handful of forensic sculptors working today; a field that stands at the crossroads of art, crime, science, anthropology and plain old gut instinct. To that end, Housatonic Community College has introduced “Facial Reconstruction,” a brand new course in its Forensic Science Program, and a requirement toward the completion of course work in Forensic Anthropology. Professor Robin L. Avant said, “Lisa Bailey’s expertise comes from education, practice as an artist and her work experience, making her one of a kind. We are so pleased that she will be here sharing her knowledge as an artist and a scientist with our students.”

Lisa Bailey is a forensic artist, sculptor, and author based in Virginia. Her work involves the reconstruction of unidentified remains through facial reconstruction utilizing the human skull, often the only information with which to work. She also conducts research in the field of forensic facial imaging. She has instructed forensic art courses and has been a guest lecturer to numerous state and federal law enforcement agencies. Her book “Ask a Forensic Artist” provides a unique insight into one the of the most fascinating jobs in law enforcement, as well as providing career guidance for aspiring forensic artists. She can be reached through her website www.askaforensicartist.com.

For further information contact Robbin Zella at the Housatonic Museum of Art at or (203) 332-5052.

Housatonic Community College Annual Art Faculty Exhibit

March 22, 2016

Contact: Esther Watstein 203-332-5226
Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Housatonic Community College Art faculty will exhibit their work in the Burt Chernow Galleries in Lafayette Hall from Tuesday, March 29 through Tuesday, April 19. The exhibit features the HCC faculty’s latest works in sculpture, photography, drawing, installation and painting. The opening reception is on Tuesday, March 29 from 5:30 – 6:30. The public is invited at no charge.

After April 19, the exhibit will move to the Bridgeport City Hall Annex where it will be on display till May 20.

The Burt Chernow Galleries are open Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursday evening until 7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Closed on Sunday.

Housatonic Museum of Art presents
Harry Moritz: Medium Cool

February 19, 2016

For immediate release,
Robbin Zella (203) 332-5052

Bridgeport, CT—As Marshall McLuhan, the media theoretician, argued, the automobile is a medium not unlike the printing press, radio or phonograph. It is “an extension of man” and a means of expression, and therefore can be a medium for art. Westport sculptor, Harry Moritz, explores the framework of contemporary culture from the perspective of the machinery that makes human imperialism possible. With a fascination of the Interstate Highway System and a deep knowledge of mechanics and machines,Moritz is able to infuse a unique perspective about Globalization and the accelerated rate of expansion of first world economies into third world countries. His work explores Globalization while deeply grounding the human body within the context of the work.

Moritz argues that the body and the machine have melded into what he refers to as the Humachine. The body resides in the situation of the Humachanical Complex which he defines as the immersion of machines into everyday life. The highway and machinery are a visual metaphor for the human body and encapsulate the Humachanical experiences of life in the present day. 

Harry Moritz will offer a talk about his work to be held in the Events Center in Beacon Hall on the campus of Housatonic Community College on Wednesday, March 16th at 5:30pm. This event is free and the public is cordially invited to attend
Visit the website, www.HousatonicMuseum.org for gallery hours

About the Artist
After graduating from Pratt Institute in May 2015, Harry is now attending Housatonic College in Bridgeport, CT, where he is enrolled in the Advanced Manufacturing Program. Here, he is conducting intensive artistic research to learn Computer Numerical Control which is the basis for the manufacturing industry in the 21st century. Harry's aim is to use this in depth knowledge of Manufacturing to continue creating a highly informed and grounded body of work. 
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Werth Family Foundation Supports Housatonic Museum of Art@Housatonic Community College

February 4, 2016

For immediate release

Contact: Robbin Zella 203-332-5052

Bridgeport, CT--The Werth Family Foundation has awarded $55,000 to benefit the Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA). This commitment will allow the Museum to continue its conservation efforts, a key element in maintaining the integrity of this important art collection. The gift also ensures the continuation of the Peer Docent Program and will provide for a Museum Curator/Collections Manager. It will also support special exhibits. All activities of the Museum are open to the public at no charge.

The Werth Family Foundation has enabled the museum to bring important exhibits to the region including David Hayes: Modern Master of American Abstraction featuring drawings and sculptures by the Connecticut sculptorand the upcoming show by internationally acclaimed Magnum photographer, Steve McCurry. In addition the HMA presented Larry Silver: Then and Now comprised of works by the renowned Westport artist and, finally, the celebratory exhibition, 50 Objects/50 Years, that highlighted fifty of the most important works in the collection as well as marking the anniversary of the HMA.

Funds were also leveraged dollar for dollar with the Fairfield County Community Foundation to fund the Peer Docent Program. The HMA’s educational outreach program, now in its 15th year, introduces middle and high school students to art, architecture and art history and teaches them how to look critically at art, equipping them with the visual and analytical skills that will assist them in all areas of study. In addition to learning the history of architecture, students visit other sites with such iconic buildings as The Glass House in New Caanan and the Chrysler, Seagram and Empire State buildings in New York City. At the end of the program, the students share what they have learned with their classmates who come to Housatonic for architecture tours of downtown Bridgeport given by the docents.

The Housatonic Community College Foundation was formed in 1990 to assist the College and its students beyond the fundamentals provided by the state.  The Foundation provides resources for scholarships, equipment, program enhancements, community outreach and support for the Housatonic Museum of Art.
For more information about the Museum visit www.HousatonicMuseum.org

Housatonic Museum of Art’s new exhibitions focus attention
on World Hunger and Habitat Destruction

January 11, 2016

For immediate release,
Robbin Zella (203) 332-5052

Bridgeport, CT—The Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) is pleased to announce the opening of two new installation pieces by New York artists Mary Giehl and Kim Waale. With both artists using maps to orient the viewers, the installations are intended to raise awareness about our relationship to the environment and, in the case of Giehl’s work, its/our ability to sustain life and to support the almost 1 billion people now facing issues of hunger, water shortages and habitat destruction. Both exhibits will be on view from February 12 through March 18, 2016. The HMA will host an opening reception for the artists on Thursday, February 11 from 6pm until 7:30 pm. with an informal gallery talk by the artists from 5:30 until 6:00 pm. This event is free and the public is cordially invited to attend.
On March 18, the last day of the show, from Noon until 5:30pm the public is invited to bring a canned food item to be donated to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission and in return will receive one of the bowls from the Rice Is Life installation to keep.

Maps tell stories. They speak of discovery and conquest, of inequality and exploitation, and of privilege and power. Maps not only provide a concrete shape of the world, but they also shape our ideas and knowledge about the world, informing our perceptions of others as well as our own identity.  Although both artists use maps to situate us within their works, each artist leads us to a very different place:  Mary Giehl’s Rice is Life navigates the geopolitics of food while Simulacrutopia (again,) constructed by Kim Waale, leads us on a melancholy journey to a “make-believe” environment that bears no relationship to the real one.

Rice is Life, is the visual manifestation of world hunger. In the first decade of the 21st century, according to foreign policy writer Lester R. Brown, access to grains has emerged as the dominant issue while the world transitions from “an era of food surpluses to a new politics of food scarcity.” Giehluses rice, the main food staple for people around the globe, as a sculptural medium, to fashion bowls comprised of white, red and black rice. Red threads shoot through each vessel and serve as a metaphor for our interconnectivity and interdependence as global citizens. Giehl’s work beautifully documents the largest populations within developing nations such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean that depend on rice as the mainstay of their diet.  The bowls are suspended from the gallery ceiling, like looming clouds of uncertainty, that warn of rising temperatures, water shortages and population growth that threaten the world’s food security.

Simulacrutopia (again), on the other hand, underscores the prophetic vision of the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard who observed that our postmodern society no longer makes a distinction between the real and artifice, stating that there is only the simulacrum.  ”On Exactitude of Science,” a story by poet and writer Jorge Luis Borges, describes the replacement of the real with artifice. In the fable, a Cartographer’s Guild is charged with the making of a map designed to record (and replace) the Empire perfectly, so that the image of place is paramount to the place itself. Borges’ story aptly illustrates Baudrillard’s assertion that post-modern society has no relationship to the real, a world where style now trumps substance. Simulacra replaced the real, leaving us “outside” nature, essentially at a remove from the natural world. But Borges’ tale is also a metaphor for post-colonialism as well as postmodernism, the map merely a tattered remnant of cultures, fragments of meaning, and difference. And while we inhabit a world of illusion, of spectacle, a virtual reality as it were, very real events threaten our existence.

46.5 million Americans face crises every day, choosing between nutrition, housing and healthcare, while 795 million people world-wide are struggling with malnutrition and hunger according to 2015 estimates provided by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Right here in Connecticut 11.9% of residents is food insecure. Although current food production could feed every person on the planet, poverty prevents the purchase of and access to food. In addition, global warming has resulted in extremes in weather conditions such as floods, droughts and disruption of the growing seasons---all affecting the food security of people around the world. Rice is Life and Simulacratopia (again) strikingly maps out the magnitude of the issues that we, as a global society, must address.

Housatonic Museum of Art receives Museums for America
Collection Stewardship Grant

December 2, 2015

For immediate release,
Contact: Robbin Zella
203-332-5052

Bridgeport, CT, December 02, 2015 - Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) was awarded $20,356 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under its 2015 Museums for America program for Collections Stewardship.

This grant will fund an independent contractor to design, supply, and install custom, cost-effective modern-day storage systems that optimize the physical footprint of the current storage areas, improve organization, and maximize storage capacity for the museum's extensive collection of paintings, sculptures, textiles, and other objects. By improving the HMA’s storage facilities museum staff expect to increase the number of works that will stored in optimal conditions to ensure the collection's preservation.
The Housatonic Museum of Art is located at 900 Lafayette Boulevard in Bridgeport and specializes in 19th, 20th and 21st century art. The Housatonic Museum of Art is currently exhibiting Larry Silver: Then and Now through December 17.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

Artist to Talk at Housatonic Community College

October 29, 2015

For immediate release, Oct. 29, 2015
Contact: Esther Watstein 203-332-5226 or
Andrew Pinto 203-332-5173

Babette Bloch will talk about her artistic vision as expressed through her laser-cut and water jet-cut stainless steel figurative sculptures on Monday, Nov. 16. At 5 p.m. in the Beacon Hall Events Center at Housatonic Community College.

The talk is presented by the HCC Art Department. Bloch is a pioneer in the use of stainless steel, exploring form and the interplay between object and light in creating her contemporary art. Her wall sculpture, Magna Magnolias, is currently showing in the Atrium of HCC’s Lafayette Hall. The artist draws on several traditions in American art including modernist abstraction, cut outs, and collage found in Pop art.

Her works are in the permanent collections, of the Mattatuck Museum of Art, Waterbury, Ct.; Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore; Brookgreen Gardens, SC; and numerous private collections. She has received numerous awards including those from the National Arts Club, the National Association of Women Artists, the Salmagundi Club and Museum.

The public is invited at no charge to this talk. Parking is available in the HCC garage.

Housatonic Museum of Art’s Peer Docent Program Comes to Westport

October 16, 2015

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Robbin Zella (203) 332-5052

Bridgeport, CT - The Housatonic Museum (HMA) of art has been, and remains, committed to keeping the arts alive through a vibrant and engaging arts education program offered to the students of Bridgeport’s public and parochial schools. Robbin Zella, Director of the HMA and founder of the Program, understands its importance to the Bridgeport community. For 15 years, the HMA has delivered arts education to seventeen schools, teaching art appreciation, art-making, art history replete with onsite learning in our own museum as well as field trips to other institutions such as Yale Art Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Aldrich Museum. This year’s Peer Docent program includes award-winning architect Thom Mayne, originally from Waterbury, CT, and a Turnaround Arts Initiative Artist who will also be working with Hall school in Bridgeport. Enhancing this program even further, the HMA has partnered with the Westport Library in Westport, CT, where its award-winning Maker Space will allow peer docents to participate in a 3-D printing orientation, sketch-up class, and 3-D printing of their own architectural designs. While in Downtown Westport, peer docents will have the opportunity to study architecture in another downtown Connecticut setting with the Westport Historical Society!

In 2013, the HMA Peer Docent Program expanded its curriculum developed by Janet Zamparo, Curator of Education, to include architecture with an examination of historic and noteworthy structures in Downtown Bridgeport, CT. In the first year, HMA partnered with the Philip Johnson Glass House and the Carriage Barn Arts Center, both field trip destinations in New Canaan, CT. The following year the Program included an architectural walking tour in New York City. The NYC trip expanded peer docents’ world and experiences, allowing students to view themselves and their city in a new, broader context, and teaching students why the Humanities matter. During the fall of 2014, out of 30 peer docents, only one student had ever visited Grand Central Terminal. This program provided students an opportunity to study significant architectural landmarks, such as Grand Central Terminal, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and the Top of the Rock observation deck for a panoramic view of the City.

Funding for this year’s Peer Docent program has been provided by the Werth Family Foundation and Fairfield County’s Community Foundation. Most of the students in the HMA Peer Docent Program come from homes and neighborhoods with limited resources and our funders understand that arts education programs play an important role in emphasizing the transformative joy, hope, and imagination that the arts can bring, and in celebrating the richness in these students’ own lives and in that of their city.

For more information about the Housatonic Museum of Art and its programs please visit our website www.housatonicmuseum.org.

Mega-amazing kHyal Brand to speak at Housatonic Museum of Art

October 13, 2015

For Immediate Release:
Robbin Zella
(203) 332-5052

Bridgeport, CT - The Housatonic Museum of Art will offer a presentation by kHyal, an award-winning creative director, designer, artist and writer on Monday, November 2 at 2pm in the Burt Chernow Gallery, in Lafayette Hall located on the Campus of Housatonic Community College. This event is free and the public is cordially invited to attend. For directions to the campus visit our website www.housatonicmuseum.org.

kHyal is currently Chief Creative Officer at Metropolitan Interactive where she has worked on projects for the new Whitney Museum of American Art, BRIC Arts Media and Lincoln Center for Performing Arts.

kHyal has held the position of Creative Director in cutting-edge technology companies and digital agencies at the forefront of innovation. She was co-founder and VP of Marketing for SunStar Publishing, a consumer software publisher, and Blowtorch Studios, an interactive agency and software development company; and founder of fiZz Agency and Free Range Copy.

Before founding fiZz, she spent five years working in educational publishing spearheading digital initiatives for Harcourt and McGraw-Hill. She also served as Interim Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Stamford Hospital.

kHyal majored in Mass Communications at Emerson College in addition to studies at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Art Institute of Boston; Boston Film and Video Foundation; Loyola Law School and Kodak’s Center for Creative Imaging; and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). She served on the MIT Enterprise Forum of New York City’s Marketing Committee; co-chaired the Fundraising Committee of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Los Angeles; and was an active member of the Connecticut Technology Council’s Vice President of Marketing Forum. She has been a juror for the London Interactive Advertising Awards, a judge for Hasbro’s Project Upcycle Design Awards, served as Communications Chair for the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Metro-North Chapter, and is currently on the advisory board of GraphicDesign.com.

kHyal uses the pseudonym “MegaGlam” to showcase her fashion design, art, illustration, surface and character design. Her work has been exhibited at the American Visionary Art Museum, Pictoplasma–Berlin, la Gaîté Lyrique–Paris, Outsider Art Fair–New York, City Museum–Washington–DC, Intuit–Chicago, EGGO Arte–Buenos Aires, Cooper Union, Art Basel–Switzerland, Aqua Art Miami, and galleries from New York to Los Angeles and London.

Since 2007, kHyal has collaborated with her husband Karl Heine on art, design and education projects. kHyal and Karl co-founded S0N0 Spaces, PUSH Workshops, PUSH Design Camp, Thrilling Projects and the Fairfield County Adobe Users Group. Together they have worked on projects throughout the US, China, Argentina, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Spain.

kHyal has been a technology junkie since the 80s and is a founding member of the Women’s Internet History Project. She began her tech career in the high-end audio field with industry pioneer Mark Levinson, founder of Mark Levinson Audio Systems, Cello, Ltd., Red Rose Music and Daniel Hertz SA. During this time she consecutively created interactive artworks and installations including sound, light, animation and video projections. Before her first Mac, kHyal used an Amiga computer to create live MIDI music performances and video animation. She was a member of the Amiga Users Group at Yale University, and active in Silicon Alley in the 90s. Her first blog on kHyal.com featured the emerging technology scene in New York City in 1996. Prior to that, she worked in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the fine art world, on art restoration projects and period framing for clients including the Getty Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.