art museum Archives - Connecticut Art Trail

Connecticut is a small state with a big arts scene, and you can find world-class museums and cultural sites just a short drive away. Spring is right around the corner, and hitting the road to visit the destinations on the Connecticut Art Trail is a great cabin fever cure. Don’t forget that the Passport-Journal gives you a key to all of these sites, and unlocks several additional benefits as well!

Read our latest newsletter to learn about the latest news and events on the Connecticut Art Trail, including:

The recognition of Old Lyme as a top small town arts destination, in part due to the Florence Griswold Museum and Lyme Art Association
A new director and CEO at the Bruce Museum
The 10th anniversary of a program connecting medical students with artwork at the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center for British Art
Family art programs at the Yale University Art Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, and the Fairfield University Art Museum
A look at Andromeda and Perseus, a Renaissance painting that was one of the key pieces of art in the initial collection at the Fairfield University Art Museum

Read the Newsletter

Join Jackie DeLise, master certified meditation and mindfulness teacher and stress management expert, for a guided meditation class in the tranquil Bellarmine Hall Galleries. Jackie will share ancient wisdom for your modern lifestyle, and will guide you in becoming your true self.
No prior experience necessary – learn how to cultivate inner calm, clarity, peace and harmony in your life. All are welcome!
To learn more about Jackie visit: https://www.jackiedelise.com/.

Artist Mary Mattingly speaks about the work that forms part of the exhibition To See This Place: Awakening to Our Common Home.
About the Exhibition: Environmental threats and climate change are urgent matters of concern at Jesuit universities, where conversations on this topic often take place in reference to two documents by Pope Francis: Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home (2015) and the 2023 update Laudate Deum. Artists play an indispensable role in our collective response to climate change. To See This Place: Awakening to Our Common Home, curated by Al Miner and David Brinker, will present work by Athena LaTocha, Mary Mattingly, and Tyler Rai, three contemporary artists whose outlook resonates with the themes of Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum. The works are artistically compelling yet can inspire us to creativity and boldness in our efforts to address climate change. This exhibition will open at Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art in Fall 2025.

Image: Mary Mattingly, Still Life Returning, 2023, chromogenic dye coupler print. © Mary Mattingly, courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery

Thursday, March 6, 12 noon in-person, 1 p.m. streaming on The Quick Live
Art in Focus: Stanton Macdonald-Wright, “Bright red sun cruelly hot but the wind is of autumn” – Bashō, ca. 1966-7, color woodcut
Warm yourself in the imagined heat of this vibrant woodcut, part of a portfolio created by Stanton Macdonald-Wright and printer Clifton Karhu using traditional Japanese methods of color woodblock printing. Join Curator of Education Michelle DiMarzo for an informal conversation in the galleries, or online via The Quick Live.

Image: Stanton Macdonald-Wright, “Bright red sun cruelly hot but the wind is of autumn” – Bashō, ca. 1966-7, color woodcut. Gift of the Stanton and Jean MacDonald-Wright Estate, 2023 (2023.13.01f)

Jeremiah Chechik, award-winning photographer, film director, and producer, considers himself first and foremost a photographer and is obsessed with the boundary between fact and fiction. The subtly investigative prints he creates explore our “post truth” reality, melding 21st century advanced digital design with traditional printing on paper. The resulting images are more than just visually stunning and thoroughly aesthetic – they also raise key questions about the nature of truth and knowledge in our media saturated age.

Jeremiah Chechik, artist, film director, and photographer, is obsessed with the porous boundary between fact and fiction. The subtly investigative prints he creates explore our “post truth” reality, melding 21st century advanced digital design with traditional printing on Hahnemühle paper. The resulting images are more than just visually stunning and thoroughly aesthetic — they also raise key questions about the nature of truth and knowledge in our media-saturated age.

Jeremiah Chechik, artist, film director and photographer, is obsessed with the porous boundary between fact and fiction. The subtly investigative prints he creates explore our “post truth” reality, melding 21st century advanced digital design with traditional printing on Hahnemühle paper. The resulting images are more than just visually stunning and thoroughly aesthetic — they also raise key questions about the nature of truth and knowledge in our media-saturated age.

Join us on Thursday, March 6 at 6 p.m. in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries for a reading of original poems and short fiction by the Fairfield University community, inspired by the works on view in the exhibition Dawn & Dusk: Tonalism in Connecticut! The event is open to the public.

Want to submit your work? We welcome all submissions from Fairfield University students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
In order to present your work during Art Speaks!, you must:
be a member of the University community
be willing to read your work at the event (or have a friend who’s willing to do it on your behalf!)
write a piece that responds to the artwork that’s part of the Tonalism exhibition

Please submit your work to museum@fairfield.edu by Thursday, February 27th.

Charles Harold Davis, On the Sound, Noank, Connecticut, ca. 1895, Oil on canvas. Private collection, Connecticut.

Join us on Saturday, March 15 in the Bellarmine Hall, Museum Classroom for a Family Day inspired by the artwork on view in our exhibition To See this Place: Awakening to Our Common Home! Learn more about the exhibition at fairfield.edu/museum! The first session will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. and the second at 2:30 p.m.
Please note: participants can only sign up for one session. If you cannot attend Family Day, we request that you cancel your reservation either through Eventbrite or by emailing museum@fairfield.edu. Frequent no-shows will result in the inability to register for additional Family Day programs. Thank you!

Mary Mattingly, Saltwater, 2022, Chromogenic Dye Coupler print, ed. 1/5. Courtesy of the artist and Robert Mann Gallery.