Direct from the Director, Summer 2020
Dear friends, I hope this note finds you and your families all well - we’ve missed seeing you in the galleries over the last six months! The health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and community is our priority as the University moves forward with operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Fairfield University campus is closed to outside visitors this fall, we regret to announce that the museum will also be closed to the public for the foreseeable future. We do, however, look forward to presenting you with a full slate of programming created in celebration of our 10th anniversary.
We were very busy over the summer putting the finishing touches on our fall calendar, but we’d like to know if what we’re doing is working for you! Let us know what kind of online content you have most enjoyed, and what you are interested in seeing more of, by filling out our 2-minute programming survey.
Two wonderful exhibitions will open virtually in September, along with a calendar full of lectures, gallery talks, and events designed to enhance the experience.
The exhibition Ruby Sky Stiler: Group Relief features new relief paintings and figurative furniture-sculpture by New York artist Ruby Sky Stiler (b. 1979). Stiler has been investigating images of women inspired by the techniques and language of classical antiquity for over a decade. Recently, Stiler’s art has expanded to include the subject of “father and child.” The dearth of art historical precedent for depictions of men displaying emotional intimacy, or being defined by their relationship to their children, is in stark contrast to the abundant impressions of “mother and child.”
Curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, this exhibition will also include contemporary interpretations of the traditional museum “viewing bench” as a form of utilitarian sculpture. The exhibition will open with a virtual conversation between Stiler and Berry on September 10th.
Among the works featured in the exhibition is a recent acquisition by the museum (pictured below), made possible by donations to our art acquisitions fund and the support of members of our 2010 Society.
Andrew Forge: Limits of Sight is organized by scholar and guest curator Karen Wilkin, and features some 20 paintings and works on paper by British artist Andrew Forge (1923-2002). Forge was a painter and art critic, as well as the dean and professor of the Yale University School of Art from 1975-1994. His highly personal abstractions distill his perceptions of place, season, and time of day into subtle orchestrations of pure color. Lenders to the exhibition include numerous private collections, the artist’s widow Ruth Miller, and the collections of the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.
As President of the CT Art Trail, I would also like to draw your attention to an exciting exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum opening on October 15th, Made in CT: Celebrating 25 Years of The Connecticut Art Trail, to which FUAM is lending artworks. The Art Trail—one of the first tourism trails in the state—has been guiding art aficionados across Connecticut on a journey that includes 22 world-class museums and historic sites for 25 years. In celebration of this milestone anniversary, Made in Connecticut brings together works of art and objects from the collections of each of the Art Trail member institutions.
Curated by James Prosek, American artist, writer, naturalist, and Artist-in-Residence at the Yale University Art Gallery, the exhibition features paintings, drawings, prints and other works of art, alongside a number of decorative and industrial art objects including a rubber desk, an early typewriter, and a selection of historic buttons.
We spent time this summer creating “art kits”! We distributed over 500 to students at Bridgeport’s Turnaround Art Schools, CIRI (CT Institute for Refugees and Immigrants), Mercy Learning Center, and St. Thomas Aquinas School in Fairfield. This fall, we’ll be creating new kits on a monthly basis to accompany our virtual field trip program, as well as our new virtual Family Days, so please check the Eventbrite listings to sign up and join the fun!
I hope you’ll join us in the months ahead to experience our fall exhibitions through our virtual tours and programming, and perhaps to participate in one of our virtual Family Days, Art in Focus programs, or meditation sessions. (Please register at Eventbrite). Thank you for your continued support of the Fairfield University Art Museum. I look forward to seeing you in one of our upcoming virtual programs, and I eagerly await the day when we can be together again in person.
With warm regards, Carey
Captions: Ruby Sky Stiler, Blue Bather, 2020, Baltic birch plywood, paint, and hardware. Courtesy of the artist and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. Ruby Sky Stiler, No Title (Pink and Peach Shapes), 2020, acrylic paint, acrylic resin, paper, glue, and graphite on panel. Museum purchase. Andrew Forge, Winter, Kent, 1973, oil on canvas, Collection of Patrick J. Waide, ‘59 Laurie Simmons, Lying Objects (House), 1992, Color offset photolithograph, Gift of the artist. ©Laurie Simmons Fairfield University Art Museum Art Kits, Spring 2020