art exhibitions Archives - Connecticut Art Trail

To mark the opening of the exhibition For Which It Stands…, Aaron Q. Weinstein, PhD, Assistant Professor of Politics, will deliver a lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, exploring the complex role of the U.S. flag in America’s “civil religion.” Dr. Weinstein will examine how the flag’s meaning shifts based on context, political use, and personal interpretation.
His talk will be introduced by Executive Director and Exhibition Curator Carey Weber, with remarks by Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD. The lecture will also be livestreamed on Arts & Minds Live.

About the exhibition: This exhibition examines depictions of the American flag through 70+ works by a diverse group of artists, beginning during WWI with Childe Hassam’s Italian Day, May 1918 and continuing to the present day, including a textile sculpture commissioned for the show from Maria de Los Angeles. The exhibition includes work in a variety of media by artists including Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Shepard Fairey, and Julie Mehretu, and challenges viewers to consider who the American flag truly represents and whether justice is available to all.
For Which It Stands… forms part of America250: The Promise and Paradox, an initiative through which Fairfield University Explores 250 Years of the American Experiment.

Join us from 6:30-8:30 p.m. for a reception in Bellarmine Hall with live music, food, and drinks to celebrate the opening of the exhibition For Which It Stands…
Both the Bellarmine Hall Galleries and the Walsh Gallery (in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts) will be open for viewing during the reception. Shuttle service will be available between Bellarmine Hall and the Quick Center.

About the exhibition: This exhibition examines depictions of the American flag through 70+ works by a diverse group of artists, beginning during WWI with Childe Hassam’s Italian Day, May 1918 and continuing to the present day, including a textile sculpture commissioned for the show from Maria de Los Angeles. The exhibition includes work in a variety of media by artists including Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Shepard Fairey, and Julie Mehretu, and challenges viewers to consider who the American flag truly represents and whether justice is available to all. For more information, click here.
For Which It Stands… forms part of America250: The Promise and Paradox, an initiative through which Fairfield University Explores 250 Years of the American Experiment.

To mark the opening of the exhibition For Which It Stands…, Aaron Q. Weinstein, PhD, Assistant of Politics, will deliver a lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, exploring the complex role of the U.S. flag in America’s “civil religion.” Dr. Weinstein will examine how the flag’s meaning shifts based on context, political use, and personal interpretation.
His talk will be introduced by Executive Director and Exhibition Curator Carey Weber, with remarks by Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD. Shuttles will be available between the Quick Center and Bellarmine Hall.

Join CCP staff and volunteers for a fun afternoon of making Valentine’s cards! Participants will have the opportunity to carve and ink their own designs. Linocut techniques will be demonstrated to get everyone started and inspiration photos will be provided.

Participants can expect to go home with their own set of Valentine’s cards!

All levels welcome and all materials included.

This exhibition examines depictions of the American flag through 75 works by a diverse group of artists, beginning during WWI with Childe Hassam’s Italian Day, May 1918 and continuing to the present day, including a textile sculpture commissioned for the show from Maria de Los Angeles. The exhibition includes work in a variety of media by artists including Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Shepard Fairey, and Julie Mehretu, and challenges viewers to consider who the American flag truly represents and whether justice is available to all. The exhibition will be on view in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries and Walsh Gallery from January 23 – July 25, 2026.

For Which It Stands… forms part of America250: The Promise and Paradox, an initiative through which Fairfield University Explores 250 Years of the American Experiment.

Curator: Carey Mack Weber, Executive Director, Fairfield University Art Museum
Faculty Liaison: Aaron Weinstein, PhD, Assistant Professor of Politics

Hear directly from artists whose work will be on view as part of the exhibition For Which It Stands…
Thursday, March 5, 5:30 p.m.: Sara Rahbar and Maria de Los Angeles

Tuesdays, November 4, 11, and 18 | 5:30 to 6:30pm
Individual Class: $49 Member; $55 | Full Three Class Series: $108 Member; $120 | Limited seats available

“Getting” Contemporary Art is an interactive class series designed to connect today’s exhibitions with the deeper currents of art history. Each session explores the art historical and cultural contexts of artists currently on view at The Aldrich, blending storytelling, close looking, and discussion to help participants uncover new ways of seeing contemporary art. No prior experience with art history is required, only curiosity and a willingness to dive in.

“Getting” Contemporary Art is led by Kristen Erickson, art history teacher and Director of the Luchsinger Gallery at Greenwich Academy.

Attend all three classes or a single class!

Classes

Tuesday, November 4 – Nickola Pottinger: Jamaica, Memory, and Folklore

This class delves into the history and folklore of Jamaica to better understand Nickola Pottinger’s shape-shifting sculptures. Through a gallery walk, participants will examine the mix of spiritual and personal symbols in her works, which include casts of her own body and family heirlooms. Group discussion will encourage participants to uncover the layers of meaning carried by these spectral figures, which merge ancestral traditions with contemporary stories.

Tuesday, November 11 – Zak Prekop: Music in Abstraction

Have you heard of Song Exploder, the podcast where musicians take apart their songs piece by piece? In this class, participants will “explode” the vibrant abstract paintings of Zak Prekop. The session will focus on how he creates a sense of movement and stillness through color relationships, while also considering art historical precedents such as the “action painting” of the 1950s. Participants will further explore Prekop’s musical influences and how rhythm and harmony appear in his painting practice.

Tuesday, November 18 – Uman: Textiles, Calligraphy, and Transformation

Uman’s kaleidoscopic paintings reflect the story of her extraordinary life. She grew up in Somalia and Kenya, spent her teen years in Denmark, and traveled to Vienna and Paris before moving to New York where her artistic vision blossomed. This class will introduce participants to the art histories that shaped her, including East African textiles, Arabic calligraphy, and the work of Gustav Klimt and Sam Gilliam. During a gallery walk, participants will consider how Uman captures her memories, dreams, and personal transformation in visionary paintings that celebrate survival and creativity.

Instructor Bio

Kristen Erickson has been teaching art history and curating exhibitions for the past three decades. She spent eight years working in the curatorial field at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Smith College Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art before turning to teaching. Kristen currently teaches art history at Greenwich Academy, where she also runs the campus art gallery. She holds degrees in French and art history from Vassar College and Oxford University. A resident of Ridgefield, Kristen loves making contemporary art come alive for new audiences.

Thursday, December 11, 2025 | 6 to 7 pm
Free: Members; $10 General Admission; $5 Seniors/Students

Join Diana Bowes Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart for an exclusive after-hours tour of Uman: After all the things…. The exhibition includes new and recent paintings, a mural, and sculpture. New York Magazine recently hailed the artist’s work as “a reminder of what painting can still do.”

Members, please join us at 5:30 pm for refreshments with Amy Smith-Stewart prior to the tour. To become a member, email hhart@thealdrich.org or join online here.

Experience Mikailwitl For Generaciones Perdidas, a new performance by Marcela Torres in The Aldrich’s Sculpture Garden. Featuring Mitotilliztli danzantes, traditional danza, sound, reggaeton rhythms, and ceremonial elements, the work honors lost lineages and the sacredness of land while paying tribute to the Ramapough Lenape Nation and Lunaape Munsee Delaware Nation. Guests are invited to bring a flower or bouquet as their offering and admission to the collective altar.

Throughout human history, clouds have occupied a unique place at the crossroads of observation, imagination, and inquiry. From ancient sky-gazers to modern meteorologists and engineers, our engagement with clouds and the perpetual motion of the atmosphere reveals both a desire to interpret the world visually and a need to understand its physical processes.

The panel will explore perspectives at the intersection of art, science, and engineering: What is the role of clouds and the turbulent atmosphere in art, science, and engineering? Clouds are always transient: How do we observe, analyze, and understand ephemerality? Clouds and their role in environmental change, from extreme weather to climate change impacts: what are opportunities and challenges in visual communication and public engagement? The panel is held in conjunction with the exhibition Clouds: A Collaboration with Fluid Dynamics.

FREE. Everyone is welcome.
RSVP appreciated.

PANELISTS
Ann Fridlind is a Physical Scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Dr. Fridlind’s studies have concentrated at the intersection of detailed models and rich observational data sets to advance understanding of the clouds that are most relevant to Earth’s climate. She has used a wide array of airborne in situ and ground-based and satellite remote-sensing data to study stratiform clouds from Arctic to Antarctic, tropical to mid-latitude deep convection, mid-latitude continental cumulus and synoptic cirrus, and subtropical stratocumulus. She is also a developer of cloud microphysics schemes in computational codes, such as NASA’s ModelE3 climate model.
Helen Glazer is a visual artist whose work bridges photography and three‑dimensional sculpture. Helen ‘s photography and sculpture made from 3D scans are profoundly influenced by scientific insights into the physical forces that shape ecological environments, including human activity. A 2015 participant in the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, her solo show of that project, “Walking in Antarctica” is currently touring US museums and galleries. She is working on a photographic landscape history of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, focused on the impacts of a US Cold War air base and climate change.
Miad Yazdani is a principal fellow at RTRC. Dr. Yazdani is responsible for leading strategic initiatives and defining technology roadmaps particularly pertinent to interfacial physics to ensure RTX’s competitive advantage in key technological areas is preserved and expanded while having impact to business units’ near-term and long-term technological objectives and requirements.

Moderated by George Matheou, Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Manufacturing Engineering. Dr. Matheou’s research focuses on computational fluid dynamics, leveraging theory, advanced algorithms, and data to study complex multi-physics fluid flows, with applications in weather forecasting and climate. Dr. Matheou is recognized for his innovative approaches to research and education, including integrating artistic expression to engage students.