Reflecting Time: June Ahrens

Housatonic Museum of Art, located on the Housatonic Community College campus in Bridgeport, CT, proudly presents its newest exhibition, June Ahrens: Reflecting Time. A free, opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 8 from 5:30 to 7pm. The exhibit will be on view through November 12, 2022.

Stamford, CT artist June Ahrens has created an exciting exhibition exploring fragility and loss, as well as hope and renewal in two dynamic components: CHANGING and SURROUND (HIDING IN PLAIN SITE).

CHANGING is an immersive site-specific installation, offering the viewer an intense performance-based space of wonder and awe. An avenue of vining decayed flowers, tendrils and stems flank visitors entering the front gallery, urging them onto a colossal circle crafted of thousands of flower petals. Hundreds of fresh roses, added for the opening of the exhibition, creates elements of renewal and hope, and a metaphor for our personal experiences and memories. Free hand drawings of flowers line the walls, reflecting the artist’s own experiences and anxieties.

SURROUND is an adaptation of a previous site dependent installation: HIDING IN PLAIN SITE. Broken mirror and shards of broken glass are repeated in the exhibition, offering distorted likenesses and images. Amid the global devastation of Covid, the reflections reveal opportunities for closely examining one’s self-concept and our larger societal well-being. The peaceful scene offers a space for meditation, healing, and challenge.

Barbara O’Brien, an independent curator, and critic based in Milwaukee, WI, curated the exhibition and will contribute a catalog essay for the exhibition. A conversation with the artist program is planned for Wednesday, September 28 at 11am in the gallery. This event is free, and public is cordially invited to attend.

June Ahrens, age 83, was born in New York City and is an acclaimed sculptor and installation artist. She graduated from SUNY Purchase, NY and attended advanced seminars at Yale University. A resident of Stamford, CT, her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally with solo shows at venues including The University of Connecticut at Stamford; The Museum of Outdoor Art, Denver; and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO.

Her work is in the permanent collections of many universities and museums, and she is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Connecticut Commission on the Arts Individual Artists Award; a Connecticut Commission on the Arts Distinguished Advocates for the Arts Award, and a National Endowment of the Arts, Real Art Ways (Hartford, CT) Media Residency.