211 State Street Pop Up, #10
Address: 211 State Street, Bridgeport CT

The BAT is grateful for the opportunity to activate the vacant 3rd floor, for the 4-day weekend, Nov 9-12, 2023. Attendees will explore halls and office spaces energized with mini-exhibits, live music, spoken word, film screening and installations.

Established, emerging and new artists exhibit and present together. Enjoy the unique opportunity to experience a full spectrum of artistic expression, a hallmark of the BAT weekend celebration.

BAT partners producing the 211 Pop Up for the Bridgeport Art Trail are The Firm + Shim# + City Lights Gallery #21. Community partners include Meet Mario Productions #10b and The After Party Collective #10c. Among the featured installations is “Thoughts and Prayers,” a collaborative piece by Martha Willette Lewis and Margaret Roleke, and a fiber art installation by Nest Arts Factory #29 artist Carlos Biernnay.

EVENT: 211 BAT Pop Up Open House, 211 State St 3rd floor full of art

Thursday November 9, 2023, 6:00 pm- 9:00 pm

Friday November 10, 2023, 12:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Saturday November 11, 2023, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

Sunday November 12, 2023, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

211 Special Events

A.I. Experience “Drawing Under Drones”

Thursday, November 8, 2023, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Exhilarating AI/Drawing experience with Conor Flynn "Drawing Under Drones" is an immersive and groundbreaking Meta Quest game that combines the thrill of creative expression with the excitement of high-speed action. In this unique virtual world, you can unleash your artistic imagination by drawing in 3D space and on towering walls of city buildings, all while dealing with the relentless presence of aerial drones.

Meet Mario Productions #10a, CHOICES: The Art Show and film screening
Accepting suggested donations of $20 for future projects that present personal stories to raise awareness of the opioid crisis.

Saturday November 11, 2023 12:00 - 5:00 pm

An artistic exploration into the opioid/fentanyl epidemic in our communities. An exhibition of mixed media works that draw from digital media, the abstract, and visual arts mediums.
12 – 3:00pm – Casual viewing of art
3:00pm – 3:30pm – SMACKTV screening
3:30pm – 4:30pm –
About CHOICES: The Art Show
Mother, author, poet and activist - Iris Seda
Spoken Word Artist - Iris Seda
Rem the Gem

The After Party #10b, listening and looking, art and live music

Saturday November 11, 2023, 7:00-9:00 pm

The After Party hosts their first public art event: Emerging. This is a pop-up, group art show highlighting young artists and musicians who have lived and/or worked in the greater Bridgeport area and are working to establish themselves as professional artists in and outside of the city. A lot of our artwork and music explores themes surrounding what it feels like to live and love in a generation with so many unique experiences like the internet, environmental crisis and a global pandemic. The show will focus on creating more understanding around the tools we’ve learned to use to express ourselves, given the time we live in.

Documentary Screening: Larry Locke

Sunday November 12, 2023, 2:30 – 4:30 pm

Larry Locke, award winning filmmaker has selected 80 minutes of documentaries. In his own words, “I’m pulling out the best for this show. Two of them are brand new, one of them Bridgeport centric. Please put it on your calendars.”

Pechakucha Storytelling #10l

Sunday November 12, 2023, 5:00-8:30 pm

A BAT tradition is to end the weekend arts celebration by gathering to socialize, and to tell and listen to stories. It starts with a delicious and nourishing meal for purchase by Chef Rachel. This storytelling style has been succinctly described as “the Moth with pictures”. Storytelling runs 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Exhibiting Artists and Groups

#a Meet Mario Productions
. Meet Mario Productions is a local independent film production company, that has created a sequence of “hard-hitting” cautionary tales, designed to raise awareness of the opioid crisis happening in the world today. SMACK, an award-winning series created by writer/director DJ Higgins and produced by Julie Robinson, provides viewers with the opportunity to learn about the opioid crisis and its impact on society.

#b The After Party Collective

A young group of Bridgeport artists and musicians make their debut in the Bridgeport Art Trail, exhibiting artists include: Quintinn Bravo, Javanny Hernandez, Rachel Kosa, Tea Powell

#c Thoughts and Prayers by Martha Willette Lewis and Margaret Roleke

Thoughts & Prayers is a collaborative installation by artists Margaret Roleke and Martha Willette Lewis, addressing gun violence in America. Making its debut in the fall of 2022 on Governor’s Island, NYC the goal is to have Thoughts & Prayers tour the country, installed in various civic spaces, to help incite better conversations about our collective relationship to weapons and violence in the United States.

A large, cruciform structure was built by Roleke who painstakingly threaded, then wrapped dozens of used shotgun shells around the armature, to create a colorful, texturally rich take on the Christian cross. The prayer flags were made by Lewis, using crowd-sourced tee shirts handcut and stenciled with her custom messages. Every flag contains human DNA, signs of wear and a past as the covering on a human torso. They act as fluttering surrogates, protesting and bearing witness to each weaponized incident.

#d Carlos Biernnay, Fiber Art Installation

View a site-specific fiber art installation of absurd and mythical imagery of hand painted, dyed, felted and quilted forms. Carlos will demonstrate art quilt techniques on Thursday at 211 State St and on Saturday and Sunday at the NEST Arts factory.

#e Undue Burden

Envisioned by artist/designer/curator Linda Lindroth, this traveling exhibit originated in New Haven, and was on view in March 2023 at City Lights gallery Bridgeport, during International Women’s Month. A selection of the poster art exhibit is presents artists’ expressions advocating for women’s rights, including access to contraceptives, abortion rights, the right to choose and healthcare support for women and their children.

#f Francis Pressley

Mr. Francis Pressley is a Poet, Playwright, and Visual artist, native of Bridgeport, CT, evolving as an artist since 1996. He is dedicated to being a grassroots ambassador of the arts to the Bridgeport community. His latest body of work is called, “BREATH”. His distinctive style depicts the people and places of Bridgeport and his beloved dogs.

#g Larry Morse

Larry was born in Harlem hospital, Harlem USA, October 3, 1947. His artistic strengths became apparent early in his youth and educators were quick to encourage and support him in that area of his development. After a tour of Vietnam, he obtained a BFA from The School of Visual in New York City, worked in the New York City commercial art world and taught art in the city as a certified teacher. All throughout, Larry pursued his personal vision, artistically, and amassed a sizable body of work. Larry is now at a point in life when over the last 10 years he has promoted and endeavored to share and sell his art with and to others. Notable venues have been galleries in Chelsea, Good News Cafe, Mark Twain Library, Richter Gallery, Gallery 287 in Danbury, City Lights gallery and others. His work has been collected by patrons and corporations in the NY-CT region.

#h Veronica Martins, Paintings, solo exhibit
https://studioveronicamartin.wixsite.com/veronica/info
Veronica is a prolific portrait artist with a distinct style, where her love of people is palpable. She often adapts realism to express her ideas on canvas. She describes herself as “a painter, designer, portraitist...figurative, realistic and abstract expressionist.” Veronica says her influences are Salvator Dali - Surrealism, Leonardo DaVinci – Classical, Frida Kahlo - Latin Magical Realism and Vincent Van Gogh, Expressionism

#i Scott Schuldt: View from the Canoe Installation
Artist Scott Schuldt never disappoints, presenting his stunning works inspired by his passion for canoeing, and his concern and study of environmental conditions and fascinating choices of materials. From hand hewn paddles to schematic renderings about the condition of marine life and waterways, his canoe themed installation demonstrates how he thinks, creates and sees the world, as an artist, engineer and lover of nature. Watch Scott as he demonstrate time consuming hand sewn bead embroidery for “The Talking Squirrel” 38” x 55” a work in progress, at 22 months progress.