Current Exhibits
Latinissimo
Two Opening Receptions Saturday 9/21/24 6:00 - 9:00 PM
within three short blocks in Downtown Bridgeport
Exhibit runs Sept 18 - Oct 20
Regular City Lights Gallery and Frame Shop Hours
Weds-Fri 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Sat 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
The vision of artist/curator Yolanda Vasquez Petrocelli takes place at two art venues. 25 artists present work at Read’s Artspace and 2 Peruvian artists at City Lights Gallery, Guido Garaycochea and Samuel Pintos. Special thanks to co-curators Carlos Biernnay and Israel Zavellos
Lisie Orjuela / Argentina
Samuel Pintos / Peru
Filogonlo Naxin / Mexico
Arwe Journey: Afri-Caribbean Migration 1900 - 1999
Housatonic Museum of Art / Burt Chernow Gallery
A Solo Exhibit Featuring Iyaba Ibo Mandingo
Opening Reception: Wednesday Sept 18th 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Housatonic Museum of Art is excited to announce the opening of a new exhibition featuring the work of acclaimed artist Iyaba Ibo Mandingo. The exhibit will run from September 18, 2024, through February 21, 2025, at the Burt Chernow Galleries at CT State Housatonic’s Lafayette Hall. Free and open to the public, this exhibition will offer visitors a profound exploration of the Afri-Caribbean migration experience through Mandingo’s masterful paintings and sculptures. Arwe Journey, a sixty-one-part painting series inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s Great Migration and the plays of August Wilson will be on view for the first time as a complete collection. The series tells the compelling history of the Windrush Generation and the broader Afri-Caribbean migration to Europe and North America in the twentieth century. The exhibition continues in the back gallery, where Mandingo's work delves into his ancestral and spiritual connections, with a special tribute to Black women, who he credits as "nurturers, survivors, and leaders" in his personal life and the broader Afri-Caribbean community.
LISTEN: Artist Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, director of Housatonic Museum of Art and co-curator Suzanne Kachmar discuss the exhibit, "Arwe Journey" on WPKN with Val Richardson
The Bridgeport Art Trail in Venice!
Bridgeport Art Trail USA, an authentic narrative, is included in a group exhibit in Venice Italy, running from 9/3-11/3/2024.
Exhibiting artists include:
Isa Aldyn, Carlos B Biernnay, Will Corprew, Claude Desir Jr., Bob Keating, Suzanne Kachmar, Martha Willette Lewis, Inna Linov, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, Rita Valley.
A suitcase art exhibit featuring Bridgeport Art Trail artists presents a different perspective than the common narrative that people in other countries may have about people in the United States, formed from popular culture and media.
Bridgeport's involvement in this extraordinary opportunity would not have happened if not for the vision, energy and open heart of Peter Hopkins, director of the SHIM art network. Executive director of City Lights/Bridgeport Art Trail expresses her gratitude: "Peter Hopkins has opened the gate to the global art world! It's a fabulous opportunity for the artists and an invigorating curatorial challenge." The concept for the Bridgeport exhibit is a suitcase show, all work can be transported by suitcase, by the artists traveling to Venice to install the work, enjoy Venice and the Biennale. There will be daily videos and reports posted to the Only in Bridgeport site https://onlyinbridgeport.com/wordpress/ and the Bridgeport Art Trail Facebook page.
Artists and their work will arrive by August 30 and begin installing at the Palazzo Pisani. "...It's like going on a family vacation, with our Bridgeport Art Trail family, most of the artists in the exhibit are coming over!" The Venice exhibit is supported and organized by City Lights/Bridgeport Art Trail https://bridgeportarttrail.org /, invited by Peter Hopkins artist/director of SHIM Art Network https://www.shimartnetwork.com/ SHIM is the lead organizer and curator of an entire floor of art at the Palazzo Pisani-Revedin in Venice’s centrally located Campo Manin.