Posts by Connecticut Arts Alliance
‘Entangled & Ingested’ exhibit at Middletown college shows how discarded plastic harms animals
A Middletown interdisciplinary artist who creates life-size portraits of animal species affected by discarded plastics has an ongoing exhibit at CT State Community College – Middlesex. Kat Owens of Middletown is also a teacher and researcher who focuses on the environment. Her show, “Entangled & Ingested,” can be seen in both the Pegasus Gallery and The Niche through…
Read MoreMickalene Thomas makes art that ‘gives Black women their flowers’
In Mickalene Thomas’ art work, Black women are front and center. Her subjects are often at leisure, resting on couches and chairs, sometimes nude, and frequently accentuated by rhinestones and rich colorful patterns. “I would describe my art as radically shifting notions of beauty by claiming space,” she says. “We’ve been supportive characters for far…
Read MoreThe Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum Presents Martha Diamond: Deep Time
A five-decade survey at the Connecticut museum highlights the the architectural and compositional fascinations that define the artist’s vision. Martha Diamond is among the most perceptive painters of the last five decades. Her work’s formal concision and painterly bravado reflect an inner dialogue with generations of abstract artists, and the results demonstrate an inimitable…
Read MoreCT’s Florence Griswold Museum spotlights Native American landscapes in new exhibition
Imagine a forest waterfall. You might picture a scene like Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole’s “Kaaterskill Falls” of 1826, from Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. (Daniel Wadsworth was one of the English-born artist’s friends and patrons.) From the mouth of a cave behind the shimmering falls, one views autumn-tinged woods; rain from a dark cloud echoes the cascade…
Read More‘We invest in artists as changemakers’: using art to help increase US voter participation
Michelle Obama’s non-partisan organization When We All Vote has partnered with Art for Change for a new collection of artwork aimed at enhancing voter turnout Everything is politics, so the saying goes, and never more so during an election year. With its newest collection, Art for Change is taking the “everything” one step further. Since 2018, Art…
Read More‘Journey of Memories’ art exhibition makes the rounds in CT. Why it’s more than just an exhibit
An art exhibition showcasing stories of Afghan, Syrian, Sudan and Congolese women who have settled here is making a few more stops in Connecticut, according to a release. “Journey of Memories,” per its Artistic Director, Neda Izadi, “is more than an art exhibition; it is a heartfelt tribute to the cherished moments and cultural treasures…
Read MoreHow Connecticut theaters have found themselves in crisis
Reduced government funding, declining ticket sales and pandemic closures contribute to challenges facing theaters. It’s Saturday night at the New Haven Food Terminal complex. The parking lot is deserted and there’s an eerie quiet. For 57 years at Long Wharf Theatre some of the finest productions of American theater were produced, presented and premiered, many with stars…
Read MoreCT artists and scholars win prestigious Guggenheim awards
Of the 188 people chosen to be Guggenheim Fellows in 2024, quite a few have ties to Connecticut. The awards have been given annually since 1925 and are considered among the most prestigious honors given to leading figures in arts, sciences and humanities. Most of the Connecticut-related names on this year’s list are affiliated with Yale University. Yale…
Read MoreNew Haven’s Q Bridge takes center stage in Long Wharf Theatre’s ‘A View from the Bridge’
New Haven Harbor and the Q Bridge will serve as the backdrop for Long Wharf Theatre’s latest production, “A View from the Bridge” which runs Feb. 10 through March 10 at New Haven’s Canal Dock Boathouse. Arthur Miller’s play is about an Italian-American family living in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. New Haven’s waterfront…
Read MoreSpring into spring in CT with five big modern and classical dance shows
Call them dances to spring. The winter has been largely subdued, with some plants, trees and mosses never succumbing to the chill. That is the same sort of freshness, vitality and perseverance that marks modern dance in Connecticut this year. The state has been a key stop for nationally touring dance troupes for a century or more,…
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