Nua Collective: BLACKOUT
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Nua Collective: BLACKOUT

  • Ely Center of Contemporary Art (map)
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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art is pleased to present BLACKOUT, a collection of 13 lino prints created by the Nua Collective. Scattered around the world, Nua Collective is a group of professional visual artists that collaborate together to create, share and support one another in their journey as artists. BLACKOUT marks our first physical exhibition.

Featuring 13 artists, this exhibition presents a unique series of lino prints that, in their creation and processing, have traveled the globe. Together, it makes an inquiry about our climate catastrophe and the energy crisis that we face once again.

The climate-related events of last summer have brought a stark realization to Nua Collective, as artists and viewers, forcing them to confront the harsh realities of humankind's impact on the planet. This series of work serves as a poignant reminder of the blackout they experience regarding the urgent need to address the problems that contribute to a steadily warming planet and the dire consequences that result. Starting with discussions and sharing, like all concepts explored by Nua Collective, they digitally came together to understand and consider the theories and ideas that formed BLACKOUT.

Independently, each artist created their works using various materials, such as painting, photography, pastel and other mixed media. Digitally rendered, the final pieces were sent to Scotland, where Nua Artist Robert Jackson laser cut negatives of these artworks and using a 19th- century, traditional Colombian printing press, created unique editions that form the BLACKOUT exhibition.


Contributing Artists: Christina Geoghegan, Carol Healy, Caoimhe Heaney, Luke Hickey, Robert Jackson, Maria Markham, Paul McMahon, John Murray, Saoirse O’Sullivan, Katrina Tracuma, Eamonn B. Shanahan, Josh Stein, Anne Martin Walsh

For more information please visit Nua Collective’s website.

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Think About Water: Exquisite River
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Think About Water: Exquisite River

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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

Exquisite River is a collaborative installation created by members of the Think About Water collective (TAW). TAW includes over 30 environmental artists/activists in the US and abroad whose work addresses global water issues. Exquisite River is composed of 19 works of art evoking rivers. The images are connected to one another to form one continuous flowing river—a river of images of rivers.

For the exhibition at ECOCA, the 19 artists were inspired by the format of the Surrealist Exquisite Corpse game, in which one artist drew a head, folded the paper so it could not be seen, passed it to another artist who drew the next part of the body, and so on until the paper was unfolded to reveal the whole figure. In the spirit of artistic play and mimicking the fluid nature of rivers, the TAW collective has created an Exquisite River.

For the exhibition, each artist created a section of a river in his or her own studio using their distinctive materials, processes and intentions and without seeing other artists’ contributions. The sections were then assembled into one long river that winds across the gallery walls. The goal of the exhibition is to bring awareness to the importance of rivers to the health of the environment and to encourage visitors to appreciate a river in their own lives. 

Personal stories about each of the rivers represented in the exhibition, along with information about the artwork, bios of the artists, and links to their websites are available in a digital catalog accompanying the show. 


Contributing Artists: Michelle Boyle, Diane Burko, Betsy Damon, Leila Daw, Rosalyn Driscoll, Susan Hoffman Fishman, Doug Fogelson, Fredericka Foster, Giana Gonzalez, Fritz Horstman, Basia Irland, Sant Khalsa, Stacy Levy, Jaanika Peerna, Ilana Manolson, Aviva Rahmani, Lisa Reindorf, Meridel Rubinstein, Leslie Sobel, Naoe Suzuki

For more information please visit the TAW website.

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Water Women: Flood 2.0
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Water Women: Flood 2.0

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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

Krisanne Baker, Susan Hoffman Fishmen and Leslie Sobel, the three artists who make up the Water Women are established artists whose individual practices focus on water in the context of climate change. 

Flood 2.0 links future apocalyptic flood predictions to the ancient flood narrative of Noah and the world’s first apocalyptic flood. In the original Noah story, the Earth was flooded as a result of human greed, selfishness and immorality. Similarly, the predicted future apocalyptic flooding will occur as a result of the same human behaviors, which, this time, have caused significant environmental damage to the Earth itself. 

The installation is comprised of 3 video projections, 45+ scrolls painted to imitate the motions of flood waters, a make-shift boat, sails and mast, and the performance of a Greek Chorus, which tells the story of Noa, the lone female survivor whose name in Hebrew means “action.” Flood 2.0’s goal is to use art, flood mythology and history to inspire community dialogue on local water issues. Water Women selected New Haven, CT as the site of the project’s second iteration because of its close proximity to both the Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River. The project’s videos incorporate documentary images of New Haven’s waterways and past floods. Flood 2.0 was first installed in 2023 at Five Points Gallery in Torrington, CT, a small inland community with a history of catastrophic flooding.

For more information please visit the websites of Krisanne Baker, Susan Hoffman Fishmen and Leslie Sobel

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Yvonne Shortt & Rebecca West: Shedding My Toxic Core Part III
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Yvonne Shortt & Rebecca West: Shedding My Toxic Core Part III

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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

Shedding My Toxic Core Part III is the continuation of work by the mother/daughter duo Yvonne Shortt and Rebecca West. The concepts of scarcity and abundance have become more and more prevalent in how Shortt addresses her artistic practice. Scarcity is found across industries such as art, education, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations; essentially in society at large. Examples of what Shortt defines as scarcity are: competition, gatekeeping, hierarchies, and exclusivities. The concepts of abundance, Shortt finds, are found in “intentionality and freedom as well as sustainability from a financial, emotional, and environmental perspective.”

The act of making art is almost always tied to a material. One must take a material from its natural state to create, often with environmentally harmful means of manipulation. Shortt and West have been approaching sustainability from a materials perspective in their practice. They collaborate with beavers, using their discarded sticks to create pieces for play, conversation, and energy shifts. Shortt and West will continue to investigate these concepts as they invite others to work with them in the gallery space for the duration of their exhibition, using abundance to source their art making techniques, such as creating paint from soil.

For more information please visit Shortt’s website.

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Kevin Hernandez Rosa: Based Kevin
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Kevin Hernandez Rosa: Based Kevin

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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

During the summer of 2022, while undergoing treatment as an inpatient at the Institute of Living, Hernandez Rosa read "What You Practice is What You Have" by Zen awareness practitioner Cheri Huber. The book’s primary “practice tool” is a recording of “reassurances”, defined as “True statements, made by one’s center… meant to solidify the relationship between the human being (oneself) and the wise, compassionate awareness (the centered self)”. The book goes on to assign “In your own voice, make a recording that reminds you of everything you need to remember so that you can make the choices you know you need to make, from center, to have the life you know is possible for you.”

“Although I found solace in the teachings of Huber's book during my recovery, I hesitated to create my own reassurance recording. I grappled with the notion that the ego-self and conditioned mind, as discussed in the book, might render statements centered around "I" or self-improvement debased. This artwork serves as my attempt at composing reassurances, albeit straying from the book's original purpose as a practice tool for a self and instead opting to share words apt for love in its pure form, and boundless freedom.” -Kevin Hernandez Rosa

For more information please visit Rosa’s website.

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Sariah Park: Embedded Memory
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Sariah Park: Embedded Memory

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April 14 - June 2, 2024

Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

The exhibition, Embedded Memory, addresses issues of identity, culture, and the act of making in relation to the Land. Sariah’s work asks important questions about how intrinsic identity informs what and how we make, and speaks to the devastating effects of overconsumption on the environment. This exhibition features work that repurposes textiles and damaged materials into new forms through her printing with waste series. Sariah’s work shows the transformation of material made immaterial, craft as a form of ceremony, and the transfer of energy and spirit into a living process, striving to become in balance with the natural world.

Sariah Park is an interdisciplinary artist of European and Indigenous descent, and an enrolled member of the Chiricahua Apache Nation. Sariah’s work has been featured in Hyperallergic, the Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar. She is a recent recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship in 2019, as well as artist grants from Creative Capital, Foundation for the Arts, and the CERF+. Her work is included in portfolios, traveling exhibitions, and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She is currently Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons School of Design where she has been teaching art and design for the last thirteen years.

For more information please visit Park’s website.

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Hanlyn Davies: This Bad Apple
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Hanlyn Davies: This Bad Apple

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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

Hanlyn Davies is a Welsh-American painter and printmaker whose work has been widely exhibited and is included in public and private collections both in the United States and abroad. His current exhibition, This Bad Apple at the ECoCA, stems from his interest in growing apples in his New Haven backyard. It was observing the natural decay of these apples, while musing about the representation of ‘the apple’ in art, mythology, and folklore, that led to the work in this exhibition. This Bad Apple, 2019-2023, is a cautionary, allegorical tale for our current times. It is visualized in three works of archival pigment prints: one work is comprised of a set of thirteen prints; the other two works are individual prints. Each work uses an apple on its entropic journey to tell the tale.

For more information on Davies’ biography and portfolio, please visit his website.

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Lionel Cruet: Sunburnt
Apr
14
to Jun 2

Lionel Cruet: Sunburnt

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Opening Reception Sunday April 14, 2024, 1-3 pm

Sunburnt features Cruet’s video performance 'Sun Simulacrums.’ The title alludes to the history of human civilizations and the use of the sun as a symbol of god, energy, power, and clarity. Ultimately, the performance challenges viewers to reflect on our role in the climate crisis and the delicate natural world on planet Earth. Other works featured include ‘As far as the eyes can see’ print series, ‘Exercises to understand how to be together (Hand open)’, a series of carbon prints, and ‘Without Horizons’, a large scale painting on polyethylene canvas. This industrial material is used in high risk areas and the orange color is indicative of caution and/or danger. Cruet uses these multiple media, which include experimental digital printing processes, performance, and audiovisual installations, to confront issues concerning ecology, geopolitics, and technology. 

Lionel Cruet was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and lives and works in both New York City and San Juan. He received a Bachelor in Fine Arts from La Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño en Puerto Rico, a Master in Fine Arts - DIAP (Digital Interdisciplinary Art Practice) and  from CUNY - The City College of New York, and a Master in Education from the College of Saint Rose. 

For more information please visit Cruet’s website.

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ECOCA @ SPRING/BREAK LA Art Fair 2024
Feb
27
to Mar 3

ECOCA @ SPRING/BREAK LA Art Fair 2024

  • 5880 Adams Boulevard Culver City, CA, 90232 United States (map)
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Boarders at Boundries

curated by Aimée Burg

Art blurs boundaries, but a glance at the news shows the boundary between interior and exterior remains urgent, relevant, even frightening. ECOCA’s Boarders at Boundaries interrogates the divide between inside and out, juxtaposing ten artists’ work about this split against an arresting wallpaper and light-destroying black that defies interstitial readings.

We’re bringing local and regional artists out West- stay tuned for more info and pics of the booth!

Carol Bouyoucos, Srishti Dass, Opal Ecker DeRuvo, Madison Donnelly, Julianna Foster, Tamsen Williams, Lauren Lee, Jihyun Lee, Caroline McAuliffe, Barbara Owen, Andre Rubin


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Stanwyck Cromwell  Revival: A Spiritual Journey
Feb
1
to Mar 31

Stanwyck Cromwell Revival: A Spiritual Journey

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Stanwyck Cromwell is a Guyanese-born contemporary artist. He lives and works in Connecticut since moving here in 1970, though his Caribbean roots serve as a visual footing for his work as he draws on memories full of saturated colors and patterns that make up his paintings. “A visual kaleidoscope from this exotic land, is referenced in my art. Coming from a tropical country, where everything is referenced by color, my art radiates a colorful energy that is both visually and spiritually stimulating. I find resiliency in being able to create artforms that reflect my rich and diverse culture.” His thick application of paint invites the viewer to physically enter Cromwell’s own world where the people of the Caribbean shine, radiating strength. His work combines both imaginary and spiritual concepts through myths and folklores, combining abstraction with representational. Cromwell’s work embodies his experiences as a human being and a Guyanese-born artist.

Press:

Artists Let In The Light

GUYANA-BORN, NEW ENGLAND STRONG: FORRESTER & CROMWELL ELEVATE NEW HAVEN’S ELY CENTER

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Marlon Forrester: Skyward Bound
Feb
1
to Mar 31

Marlon Forrester: Skyward Bound

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Opening Reception Sunday February 4, 2024, 1-3 pm (storm date February 11, 1-3 pm)

Marlon Forrester, born in Guyana, South America, is an artist and educator raised in Boston, MA. Forrester is a graduate of School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, B.A 2008 and Yale School of Art, M.F.A. 2010. He is a resident artist at African-American Masters Artist Residency Program (AAMARP) adjunct to the Department of African-American Studies in association with Northeastern University. He has shown both internationally and nationally, concerned with the corporate use of the black body, or the body as logo, Forrester’s paintings, drawings, sculptures, and multimedia works reflect meditations on the exploitation implicit in the simultaneous apotheosis and fear of the muscular black figure in America.

Press:

Artists Let In The Light

GUYANA-BORN, NEW ENGLAND STRONG: FORRESTER & CROMWELL ELEVATE NEW HAVEN’S ELY CENTER

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Avant Colony: Unearthing the Westbrook Gallery
Feb
1
to Mar 31

Avant Colony: Unearthing the Westbrook Gallery

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Opening Reception Sunday February 4, 2024, 1-3 pm (storm date February 11, 1-3 pm)

Curated by Eric Litke & Peter Hastings Falk

Avant Colony: Unearthing the Westbrook Gallery presents the early history of an artist-run gallery and performance space on the Connecticut shoreline - the Westbrook Gallery, founded in 1956 by West Haven native Aage V. Hogfeldt (1925-2014) a Word War II veteran and 1951 graduate of the Yale School of Art. The exhibition presents original artwork which has not been seen publicly since the period by six artists who constituted the Gallery's core active group in the early years of 1956-64: the aforementioned Hogfeldt, William Kent (1919-2012), Leo V. Jensen (1926-2019), David T.S. Jones (1926-1996), William Skardon (1923-1983) and Robert Alan DeVoe (1928-1992).

Through paintings, works on paper, three-dimensional works, and artist books - as well as printed ephemera, period newspaper articles, photography, and accompanying essay - this exhibition is the first to explore this group of artists and their interest in formal innovation, collaboration, and exchange of ideas. Accompanying the exhibition will be a satellite gallery presenting 1960s paintings by a contemporary of the group, artist Ruth S. Tyler (1922-2006) including works last seen publicly at the Ely Center in 1963.


Avant Colony is being organized in conjunction with related shows at several museums across Connecticut devoted to the work of individual Westbrook Gallery artists.

Leo Jensen exhibition at the Florence Griswold Museum details HERE

Leo Jensen exhibition at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum details HERE

Dalia Ramanauskus exhibition at the Mattatuck Museum details HERE

William Kent retrospective scheduled to open at the New Haven Museum in spring 2024.


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Desmond Beach: Threads of Memory
Nov
12
to Jan 14

Desmond Beach: Threads of Memory

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Threads of Memory, Beach’s latest installation, consists of large quilt tapestries and a site specific altar. Beach uses quilting and portraiture as a means to connect with the what it means to be black in America.

“My work is rooted in the rich tradition of African storytelling, a thread that runs through each piece I create. My ancestors and those of the African Diaspora are honored in my work, and through performance and installation art, I build sacred spaces for their souls to rest. My ultimate goal as an artist is to transform the horrific into the beautiful, to take the pain and trauma of the Black experience and turn it into something that inspires and uplifts. Recent and historical events related to the African-American experience and anti-Blackness inspire my work, driving me to explore these themes in new and thought-provoking ways.”

PATRICIA GRANDJEAN: DAILY NUTMEG
Everything and More | Nov 28, 2023

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Three Artists Follow the Moves | Dec 5, 2023


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Andree Brown: Leaves of Durham
Nov
12
to Jan 14

Andree Brown: Leaves of Durham

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The Ely Center of Contemporary Art is pleased to present Andree Brown: Leaves of Durham. There will be a reception from 1 pm to 5 pm on Sunday, November 12. This event is free and open to the public. 

Brown’s sculptures are organic, abstract, and influenced by forms she finds outside. In her latest series of work, Leaves of Durham, Brown is playful with form and scale, taking liberties with both. Brown’s inspiration came from leaves she foraged in the woods of Durham, CT and has defined their character and given them voice. “There is a direct connection between trees and humans. Without trees humans could not survive and without humans, trees could not live.” Brown uses her sculptures as a means to connect with the natural world and learn how trees communicate with each other and us. 

PATRICIA GRANDJEAN: DAILY NUTMEG
Everything and More | Nov 28, 2023

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Three Artists Follow the Moves | Dec 5, 2023


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Home: Amartya De, Lesley Finn & Vera Wu
Nov
12
to Jan 14

Home: Amartya De, Lesley Finn & Vera Wu

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Home is a group show featuring work developed during the pilot of our Keyhole Artists in Residence program. Using the former servants’ quarters to provide free studio space, ECOCA invited artists Amartya De, Lesley Finn and Vera Wu whose work touches on the subject of home in various interpretations. We invite you to see how working in the attic rooms of a Victorian mansion inspired and supported their work. Come see the dialogues that emerged during their stay.

PATRICIA GRANDJEAN: DAILY NUTMEG
Everything and More | Nov 28, 2023

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Three Artists Follow the Moves | Dec 5, 2023


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Ken Grimes: The Truth Is Out There
Nov
12
to Jan 14

Ken Grimes: The Truth Is Out There

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November 29 5-7pm Ken Grimes: Evidence For Contact Book Signing

Grimes’ show at ECOCA overlaps with his latest show at NYC Gallery Ricco Moresca, Evidence for Contact, which coincides with the release of his book of the same title. Grimes’ work focuses on the question of extraterrestrial life, a topic he has been focused on for most of his life due to a series of coincidences which he interpreted as messages from aliens. Grime’s work has primarily been black and white and so his paintings demand careful consideration yet also play with fantasy, indeed making the viewer question the possibility of life out there.

PATRICIA GRANDJEAN: DAILY NUTMEG
Everything and More | Nov 28, 2023

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Three Artists Follow the Moves | Dec 5, 2023


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A Way of Seeing Everything and Nothing
Nov
12
to Jan 14

A Way of Seeing Everything and Nothing

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Curated by Something Projects (Suzan Shutan & Howard el -Yasin)

The curators' state that in the book “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger, he suggests that we each see things in a way no one has before. By doing so, we discover something about ourselves and the world we live in. If nothingness is matter and energy, then it includes everything that exists within that nothingness. Can we see everything and nothing simultaneously? In traditional Chinese and Japanese art, the use of empty space or large areas left blank/unpainted are understood as information and considered a vital part of the artwork and composition. 

Our perception of realities are sensations that help us navigate the world, while our surroundings and our world is defined by the space we take up in it. The concept of there being emptiness and fullness in the same space is one that artists have long considered in their work. Abstraction refutes the Western world’s obsession with the visible and concrete. In nothingness a presence can be felt. In everything the material presence is seen. The artists’ work selected for this exhibition reveals an aspect of the autonomous inner essence of creation, as being everything and nothing, defining a way of seeing.

About SomethingProjects:  It is an artist-run curatorial project founded by longtime friends and co-directors Howard el-Yasin and Suzan Shutan.  As collaborators they are focused on empowerment and solidarity, studio productivity and communication among communities. They think holistically about  how a project can impact both an artist, and an audience's intersectionality. They believe value is highly subjective and their goal is to push how we understand value outside the margins of dominant culture. 

As a nomadic transitory and provisional space, SomethingProjects is an incubator for ideas, encouraging artists to step outside their boundaries and experiment with the intersection of materials, production, presentation and means of engagement with audience and space. Through collaborative projects,theybring together people of many different backgrounds- economic, geographic, geopolitical, age, BiPoc, queer and non-binary/gender identities. Their audience is all-inclusive and their projects are an opportunity to learn about one's neighbors, different ways of understanding art, acceptance of difference, and things happening within one’s everyday environment.

Brian Slattery: New Haven Independent
Artists Show ​“Everything And Nothing” At Ely Center | Nov 17, 2023

Patricia Grandjean: Daily Nutmeg
Everything and More | Nov 28, 2023


Featured Artists:


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Oct
1
to Nov 5

Daniel Recinos: My First Time Painting

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Closing Reception: November 5, 12pm -3pm

For Advertising Creative Photographer Daniel Recinos, it’s all about portraying honesty and honor through nontraditional methods which spark curiosity. Daniel has illuminated his unorthodox philosophy through countless multimedia projects for a range of well distinguished brands under parent companies including, Red Bull Energy, Adidas and Danone Foods. His work includes sports and lifestyle photography, as well as commercial and editorial videography. Daniel prides himself on his never dying curiosity and his dedication to producing real and raw content that will leave his audience in awe. He always strives for excellence in everything that he does and will not settle for content that doesn’t reinforce both a brand’s integrity and its value to the customer.

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Solo Artists Band Together at ECOCA | Oct 19, 2023

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Oct
1
to Nov 5

Brian Stephens: As Soon As The Sun Comes Up 

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Closing Reception: November 5, 12pm -3pm

Brian Stephens was raised in the quaint town of North Stonington, Connecticut. He became interested in photography before realizing his passion for painting in its roots. Stephens received classical training at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, CT. He then attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Very early on Stephens started showing his work to the public with undeniable enthusiasm. As a result, since 1996 his art has been featured in over 100 exhibitions internationally. In 2004, he received a MFA in Painting from the City College of New York where he also experimented with printmaking. Stephens has been affiliated with galleries in the USA, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and in Europe, Italy, France, Poland and Denmark.

Even though painting is like breathing for Stephens, he also sometimes is traversing the mediums including a wide array of materials within his pieces and working on video and installation projects. He currently divides his time between Old Lyme, CT, Brooklyn, NY and Łódź, Poland.

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Solo Artists Band Together at ECOCA | Oct 19, 2023

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Oct
1
to Nov 5

Kit Young: Ephemeral Machines, Transient Humans

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Closing Reception: November 5, 12pm -3pm, Kit Young performance at 2pm

Kit Young has been working at the forefront of expanded cinema and experimental video for many years. He builds video systems that can be played in an improvisational way. Heperforms collaboratively with other sound and visual artists at venues that host expanded cinema and performative media events. Kit has written and directed immersive works that place dancers in interactive environments. Experimental sessions conducted in his studio become video essays and shorts. Though his work utilizes new media technique, his practice is grounded in the experimental cinema thematic traditions of perception, awareness, social justice, and humor. He has been an artist in residence at the Squeaky Wheel Media Center, (Buffalo, N.Y.), and at Signal Culture, (Owego, N.Y.). He has guest lectured at San Francisco State University, and at the Academy of Art, Wroclaw, Poland. He is a Berkeley Civic Arts Grant recipient. He has screened and performed throughout the US and internationally, most recently at Crossroads Film Festival, (SF); Elastic Arts, (Chicago); the Ann Arbor Film Festival 60; and the Intermediale Festival, (Poland).

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Solo Artists Band Together at ECOCA | Oct 19, 2023

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eMOTION
Sep
3
to Nov 5

eMOTION

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Curated by Xinyi Liu and Rebekah Church

Emotion offers a fresh take on sequential art, with work by rising illustrators and recent graduates and current students from regional fine art programs including Central CT State University, Lyme Art Academy, RISD, School of the Art Institute, School of Visual Arts, and Yale, curated by Summer Fellows Rebekah Church and Xin Yi Liu. The work encompasses illustration, comics, moving image, video, and sculpture.

There will be free lunchtime tours on Wednesdays at 12:30pm starting September 13.

 eMOTION was made possible thanks to the Connecticut Office of the Arts- Arts Workforce Initiative and the Yale President Public Service Fellowship.

Curator Statement: This gallery showcases the signature possibilities of sequential arts, encompassing the progression from still images to moving images, evolving from single frames to multiple frames. We aim to provide a platform for young and promising artists who are seeking opportunities to exhibit their artworks, including illustration, comic books, manga, graphic novels, and animation. Artists can engage with potential buyers, selling their original and printed artworks, as well as copies of their publications/zines. Moreover, they can gain valuable experience and expand their professional network in a gallery setting, which is essential for their artistic career.

Through this exhibition, we strive to open new doors of opportunity for sequential artists while expanding the audience reach of the Ely Center. Visitors can appreciate the gradual transition from static images to dynamic videos and animations, experiencing the integration of motion and interactive elements in artworks.

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Sequential Artists Break The Frame | Sept 22, 2023

DAN MIMS: DAILY NUTMEG
Arthouse Flicks | Sept 28, 2023


Featured Artists:

Lauren Klotzman
Osvald Landmark & Amanda Hermansen
Jiayue Li
Xinyi Liu
Thea Lu
Laura Camila Medina
Ryan David Murphy
Maya O Perry
Lydia Pinkhassik
Junyi Shi
Pap Souleye
Pebble Stone
Iris Yan
Avery Youngblood
Jo Zixuan

Kim Abraham
Jun Cen
Suzy Chan
Juice Chen
Vanilla Chi
Rebekah Church
Yingda Dong
Jam Dong
Sophie Foulkes
Sophia Gaia
Rosalio Galvan
Lindsie Gero
Mary Jo Helchowski
Naon Jeong
Jiaqi Li


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Connecticut Watercolor Society Autumn Exhibition
Sep
3
to Sep 17

Connecticut Watercolor Society Autumn Exhibition

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Cheri Weymann, First Award

Andy Yelenak

Juror: Del Bourree-Bach
Opening Reception
: Sunday, September 10, 3-5pm

Featured Artists:
Ralph Acosta
Barbara J. Alex
Douglas Armistead
Bivenne
Margot Callahan
Sandra Cointreau
Justine Coleman
Christine Diehl
Gretchen DiGiannantonio
Silvia Drewery
Betsey Everts
Terry Donsen Feder
Lorraine Ficara
Marian Gansely
Stephen Henderson
Mary Lou Horan
Lisa Kassow
Earl Grenville Killeen
Jan Olsen
Grace Scharr McEnaney
Sharon Rowley Morgio
Anne B. Pierson, M.D.
Bob Perkowski
Stephen Plaziak
Jean Polka
Lori Rapuano
Ashley Rek
Robert Sauber
Vladimir Shpitalnik
June P. Webster
Cheri Weymann
Jeanette Wimmer
Andy Yelenak

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Embodied Knowledge
Jun
11
to Jul 30

Embodied Knowledge

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Opening Reception: June 11, 3-5pm
Closing Reception: July 30, 1-3pm

Featuring artists selected from ECOCA’s 2023 Open Call.


This far-reaching exhibition explores the concept of embodied knowing, or that knowledge both resides in and can be conducted through the body. With a focus on art’s role in documenting complex processes of embodied knowing, the show celebrates the power of individual insights to deliver us to mass liberation. The artists featured in Embodied Knowledge each uniquely consider: how ritual, performance and labor cultivate a deeper sense of self in relation to society; how radical intimacy subverts prescribed social roles and formations, welcoming more instinctual ways of knowing; and how direct observation and introspection catalyze the transfer of wisdom across time, space, and constructed borders.

Artists: Faustin Adeniran, Lexi Arrietta, Constance Brady, James Leonard Buxton, Lauren Cardenas, Julia Cella, gwen charles, Stanwyck Cromwell, Andrew Demirjian, Sophia DeJesus-Sabella, Lisa DiDonato, Vincent Dion, Thompson Ekong (TSE), Julianna Foster, Andrae Green, Jonathan Virginia Green, Margaret Hart, Homosocial, Ali Hval, Margaret Jacobs, Samantha Jensen, Katelyn Kopenhaver, Ryan Lewis, Rosemary Meza-Desplas, Steven Montinar, Desiree Morales, Claudia Mullaney, Clara Nartey, Catherine Nelson, Mesoma Onyeagba, Chiara Baima Poma, Kate Rusek, Danyang Song, Remy Sosa, Ariana Stoll, Esmeilyn Tejeda, Yige Tong, Zella Vanié, Qiaosen Yang

BRIAN SLATTERY: NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Artists Seek The Knowledge Within | June 28, 2023

CHRISTOPHER ARNOTT: HARTFORD COURANT
‘Embodied Knowledge’ comes alive at New Haven’s Ely Center of Contemporary Art | June 18, 2023

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New Haven Paint and Clay Club 122nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition
May
8
to May 27

New Haven Paint and Clay Club 122nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition

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Ellen Gordon

Opening Reception: May 14, 1-3pm

Showcasing the work of its members and regional artists through annual exhibitions, the New Haven Paint & Clay Club actively supports, encourages, and promotes exploration of and involvement with the visual arts in the Greater New Haven area and beyond. The club further engages local communities by sharing loaned artworks from its permanent collection, offering merit awards, scholarships, free programs and lectures, and other art related activities. 

 This year’s exhibit will be held at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art at the John Slade Ely House, 51 Trumbull Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06510. The exhibit will run from Monday, May 8th through Saturday, May 27th. The reception will take place Sunday, May 14th from 1-3 pm.  There will be multiple awards in excess of $4000 announced at the opening reception.  The Ely Center of Contemporary Art will be open Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 12-5 pm and Thursday from 3-8 pm. The juror for this exhibition is Robert Burns, the executive director of the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut. 

Learn more about the New Haven Paint & Clay Club here.

NHPCC Exhibition in the New Haven Independent

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Truth in Three Colors
Apr
2
to Apr 30

Truth in Three Colors

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Greg Aimé

Curated by Kim Weston of Wábi Arts

April 2 - April 30, 2023

The exhibition Truth in Three Colors is inspired by legendary jazz artist Charles Mingus. Truth can not be bent. It can be interpreted therefore be manipulated into something else, yet the foundation of the truth remains. The selected artists take a look at what is true from their gaze and social circumstances.  

Wábi seeks to bring a diverse perspective to these truth seekers as their visual stories take you on a journey of birth and vulnerability, to love and healing. Suffering and sacrifice often balance between passion and possession while hope, loss and forgiveness often existing in the same space. These artists use sculpture, photography, spray paint, collage and various materials to transform narratives based in authenticity.  

Indigenous genocide, slavery, racism, chinese immigration, family, separation, love of flowers, political power, dreams lands in the African diaspora, black matter, material, and the ability to release are a few topics to explore in the many frames of truth in this exhibition. Bring your beliefs to the visual conversation called Truth In Three Colors. 

Featured Artists
Greg Aimé
Junior Charles
Tracie Cheng
Dooley-O
Howard el-Yasin
Bud Glick
Leonard Harmon
Linda Vauters Mickens
Aisha Nailah

Press Release

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Ahree Lee: Program and Pattern
Apr
2
to Apr 30

Ahree Lee: Program and Pattern

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Ahree Lee, Timesheet: November 4–10, 2018

April 2 - April 30, 2023

Weaving Workshop: April 2, 1:30-3pm
Opening Reception: April 2, 3-6pm
Closing Reception: April 30, 1-3pm

Craft and technology are often considered to be two opposing concepts but the root of the word “technology,” techne, means “art” or “craft.” The first computers were derived from the same technology that runs Jacquard weaving looms.

The works in this exhibition highlight female labor in technology, whether in the Bauhaus weaving workshop, the history of women weaving computer memory cores and industrial-scale textiles, or the unpaid domestic labor that undergirds paid economic activity. They reclaim weaving as a computational activity and reframe computing as a craft, bringing technology back to its original meaning.

Ahree Lee is a multi-disciplinary artist working in video, new media, and textiles. Lee received her B.A. from Yale University in English literature and a M.F.A. in graphic design from Yale School of Art. Her commissions include the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the 01SJ Biennial, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and the Sundance Channel. Her honors include an artist residency at Santa Fe Art Institute and a Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Award nomination, and her work has been written about in Hyperallergic, Metropolis, and Fast Company.

Made possible with support from the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation and the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale.

Press Release

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January Yoon Cho
Jan
22
to Feb 19

January Yoon Cho

  • 51 Trumbull Street New Haven, CT 06510 (map)
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Opening Reception: Sunday, January 22, 1 - 3 pm

My work explores identity by examining the relationships between individuals and their environments through photography, video, drawing, and performance. The necessity to adapt to new places deeply impacted me to examine the connection with our surroundings. Growing up in Korea and living in many different cities from the metropolis of New York to suburban Texas, I have learned about nuances beyond the obvious differences in each location. Through my daily observations of these subtleties, I became increasingly interested in depicting matters that we are aware of, but which may not be physically visible. In my work, I utilize the simple graphics as clues to visualize these invisible themes.

I often pose in my photographs and videos. I work with an assistant who presses the shutter after I set up the camera composition. Subsequent to editing photographs and video, I create graphics with a digital pen on a digital drawing tablet to develop a narrative. The digital process of creating graphics lets me work on multiple versions of compositions before I select the desirable one while preserving the integrity of the hand drawn qualities of drawings with a pen on paper. As a following step of the digital process, I superimpose the drawings over the image of myself performing. The final output of the work is a series of photographic prints and videos. The result is the observations made in different social and physical settings while building a new identity by adapting and conforming to the new surroundings.

— January Yoon Cho

Exhibition List

Press

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Kit Hung: Forever 17
Jan
22
to Feb 19

Kit Hung: Forever 17

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Presented with Yale-China Association

January 22 - February 19, 2022
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 22, 1 - 3 pm

Opening Reception: Sunday, January 22, 1 - 3 pm

Kit Hung graduated from the MFA program from the Department of Film, Video and New Media, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His films have won numerous international awards, and was screened at over 160 international film festivals. His debut feature "Soundless Wind Chime" (2009, Hong Kong/Switzerland/China) was nominated for the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival and won him Best Director and Best New Director in Spain, Italy and Canada. His second feature “Stoma” was primed in the Taipei Gold Horse International Film Festival, Taiwan. He is currently working between Hong Kong and London, being a researcher in the PhD program in Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK and is teaching film studies and film production at the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. His main research interest are Cinema Affects, Hauntology and Queer Asian Cinema.

Press

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AKWAABA II
Jan
21
to Feb 18

AKWAABA II

  • 51 Trumbull Street New Haven, CT 06510 (map)
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Susan Clinard

AKWAABA (WELCOME)

“In this moment there is an opportunity to reconnect. These past few years have separated us on many levels through social distancing, especially when it comes to art. Though there have been countless digital exhibitions - this one physically opens its doors to your eyes and your soul. Home is where art is seen everyday- in furniture, upholstery, paintings, clothing and more. Home is intimate. Join us as we, share with the viewer our appreciation for connectivity beyond virtual hugs.”

Shaunda Holloway

Organized by Shaunda Holloway
Curatorial Advisory Committee Member

January 22 - February 19, 2023
On-site at ECOCA

Opening Reception:
Sunday, January 22, 1 - 3 pm

Ridha Ali
Susan Clinard
Clymenza Hawkins
David Holzman
Shaunda Holloway

Winter Hours:
Sundays 12 - 6 pm
Wednesdays 12 - 6 pm
Thursday 12 - 6 pm
By appointment

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AKWAABA
Nov
14
to Jan 6

AKWAABA

  • 51 Trumbull Street New Haven, CT 06510 (map)
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Susan Clinard

AKWAABA (WELCOME)

“In this moment there is an opportunity to reconnect. These past few years have separated us on many levels through social distancing, especially when it comes to art. Though there have been countless digital exhibitions - this one physically opens its doors to your eyes and your soul. Home is where art is seen everyday- in furniture, upholstery, paintings, clothing and more. Home is intimate. Join us as we, share with the viewer our appreciation for connectivity beyond virtual hugs.”

Shaunda Holloway

Organized by Curatorial Advisory Committee Member Shaunda Holloway

November 13 - January 5, 2023
On-site at ECOCA

Opening Reception:
Sunday, November 13, 1 - 3 pm

Susan Clinard
Clymenza Hawkins
David Holzman
Shaunda Holloway

Winter Hours:
Sundays 12 - 6 pm
Wednesdays 12 - 6 pm
Thursday 12 - 6 pm
By appointment

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Artists Go Home And Abroad At The Ely Center | November 17, 2022

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Primal Affinities @ ECOCA
Nov
13
to Jan 5

Primal Affinities @ ECOCA

  • 51 Trumbull Street New Haven, CT 06510 (map)
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Donna Forma

Primal Affinities @ ECOCA

Curated by Debbie Hesse

November 13 - January 5, 2023
On-site at ECOCA

Opening Reception:
Sunday, November 13, 1 - 3 pm

Steven DiGiovanni
Linda King Ferguson
Donna Forma
Becca Lowry
Greg Slick
Kim Weston

Exhibition List

Winter Hours:
Sundays 12 - 6 pm
Wednesdays 12 - 6 pm
Thursday 12 - 6 pm
By appointment

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Artists Go Home And Abroad At The Ely Center | November 17, 2022

MIRANDA JEYARETNAM : ARTS PAPER
In "Primal Affinities I," Artists Bring The Outside In | December 12, 2022



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Full House
Sep
12
to Nov 7

Full House

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sk.ArtSpace

Full House
A collection of collectives and self-organizing situations

Opening Reception: Sunday, October 2, 1 - 3 pm
ECOCA Block Party: Sunday, October 2, 2 - 5 pm
Open Source East Rock Neighborhood Platform

Connectic*nt Community Zine Library
FEED
Ice Cream Social
Norwalk Art Space
sk.ArtSpace
SomethingProjects
Wábi
Yale Fabric Lab


Exhibition List

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Ely Center Draws A “Full House” | October 14, 2022

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Jonathan Weinberg: Genesis
Sep
11
to Jan 5

Jonathan Weinberg: Genesis

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Jonathan Weinberg

GENESIS
Window Paintings & Letterpress Prints
by Jonathan Weinberg

September 11 - January 5, 2023
On-site at ECOCA

Opening Reception: Sunday, September 11, 1 - 3 pm
ECOCA Block Party: Sunday, October 2, 2 - 5 pm
In Discussion: Jonathan Weinberg’s GENESIS: Sunday, December 4, 3 pm

Winter Hours:
Sundays 12 - 6 pm
Wednesdays 12 - 6 pm
Thursday 12 - 6 pm
By appointment

Jonathan Weinberg, Ph.D. is an artist and art historian. He is Curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. He is the author of several books including, Pier Groups: Art and Sex Along the New York Waterfront and Ambition and Love in American Art. He is the recipient of numerous grants, residencies and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and he was an artist-in-residence at the J. Paul Getty Research Center and the Addison Gallery of American Art. He was the lead curator for the touring exhibition Art After Stonewall, 1969-89 and he is the curator of Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak which opens at The Benton Museum of the University of Connecticut in late May of 2022. His paintings have been included in exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Leslie Lohman Museum, The Montclair Art Museum, The Yale Art Gallery and The Rhode Island School of Design Museum.

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Ely Center Gets Religion | September 20, 2022

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Suzanne Anker: After Eden
Jun
5
to Jul 17

Suzanne Anker: After Eden

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Suzanne Anker, Vanitas (in a petri dish) 08

THE AGE OF HUMANS: Artist Talk with Suzanne Anker
Thursday, June 16, 5:30 pm
In partnership with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas
Held at Yale Repertory Theatre

Opening Reception: Thursday, June 16, 7 – 9 pm, on-site at ECOCA
51 Trumbull St, New Haven CT, 06511

After Eden is composed of a series of collages, prints, sculptures and a video, all of which relate to altering nature. In this time of climate change and synthetic biology, living matter has undergone substantial change. The collages record the botanical specimens I have grown in my garden, interrupted by the "cut and paste" technique used in modern art to create new forms. In science, such a technique creates new living entities, by adding or subtracting gene sequences. — Suzanne Anker

Press release

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Artist Imagines A Future After Climate Change | June 16, 2022

AL LARRIVA-LATT : ARTS PAPER
At Ely Center, Artists Summon A Shared Humanity | June 28, 2022


Suzanne Anker is a visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. Her practice investigates the ways in which nature is being altered in the 21st century. Concerned with genetics, climate change, species extinction and toxic degradation, she calls attention to the beauty of life and the “necessity for enlightened thinking about nature’s ‘tangled bank’.” Anker frequently works with “pre-defined and found materials” botanical specimens, medical museum artifacts, laboratory apparatus, microscopic images and geological specimens. She works in a variety of mediums ranging from digital sculpture and installation to large-scale photography to plants grown by LED lights.

Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries including the Beijing Art & Technology Biennial, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; Daejeon Biennale, Korea; ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.; the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; P.S.1 Museum, New York, NY; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; the Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité, Berlin, Germany; the Center for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin, Germany; the Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey; the Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; and the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Anker’s exhibitions have been the subject of reviews and articles in the New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art, and Nature. Her books include The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, co-authored with the late sociologist Dorothy Nelkin, published in 2004 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Visual Culture and Bioscience, co-published by University of Maryland and the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Her writings have appeared in Art and America, Seed Magazine, Nature Reviews Genetics, Art Journal, Tema Celeste and M/E/A/N/I/N/G.

Her work has been the subject of reviews and articles in the New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art, and Nature. She has hosted twenty episodes of the Bio Blurb show, an Internet radio program originally on WPS1 Art Radio, in collaboration with MoMA in NYC, now archived on Alana Heiss’ Clocktower Productions. She has been a speaker at Harvard University, the Royal Society in London, Cambridge University, Yale University, the London School of Economics, the Max-Planck Institute, Universitiy of Leiden, the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, Banff Art Center any many others. Chairing SVA’s Fine Arts Department in NYC since 2005, Ms. Anker continues to interweave traditional and experimental media in her department’s Bio Art Lab.

Summer Hours Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays 12 - 5 pm • Thursdays 3 - 8 pm & by appointment

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Storytellers: Part II
Jun
5
to Jul 17

Storytellers: Part II

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Joan Wheeler

Storytellers: Part II
A satellite show of Storytellers @ ECOCA

June 5 – July 17, 2022
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 16, 7 - 9 pm

Kwadwo Adae
Matthew Best
Jenn Cacciola
James Cofrancesco
Tyler Cofrancesco
Mary Dwyer
Anya Kotler
Melissa Sutherland Moss
Joan Wheeler

Sharing stories is one of the most primal forms of communication, enabling us to document real events, dream states, unconscious realms, sacred spheres, and unknown dimensions.

The nine artists in this show tell visual stories that include characters — fictionalized, historic, dream-like — achieved through abstract narratives, material exploration and figuration to convey ideas about their personal experiences, places, and the human condition.

Debbie Hesse
Curator

Summer Hours Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays 12 - 5 pm • Thursdays 3 - 8 pm & by appointment

Press Release

Exhibition List

AL LARRIVA-LATT : ARTS PAPER
At Ely Center, Artists Summon A Shared Humanity | June 28, 2022

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
Artists Make The Most Of Life In Ely Center Exhibit | June 28, 2022

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UNDERCURRENTS
Mar
6
to Apr 24

UNDERCURRENTS

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Katie Hovencamp, Landmine Pie

Curated by Kristina Newman-Scott
March 6 - April 24, 2022
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 6, 2 - 4 pm

Featuring 43 artists selected from ECOCA’s 2022 Open Call.

Spring Public Hours
Sundays 12 - 5 pm
Mondays 12 - 5 pm
Wednesdays 12 - 5 pm
Thursdays 3 - 8 pm
& By Appointment

Exhibition List

Curator’s Statement
The challenges of the last two years living with the pall of a global pandemic and the heaviness of racial fury in this nation, has forced us to reimagine connectivity, community, and intimacy. While reviewing the over 400 works submitted for the Ely Centers Open Call, I couldn’t help but feel a profound connection to work that seemed to be exploring this moment, even if some of them were created pre-pandemic. Maybe I was projecting my own emotional state, but after selecting the 46 pieces for the exhibition and then looking at them collectively, I knew that they belonged together. These works needed to share space with each other, to have proximity to each other’s visual stories, to be in community. 

There may never be a return to what we have collectively assumed as “normal”.  These past years have shown us that there is always something hiding under the surface. This is where we find thoughts that convey joy, that consume trust and concede suffering. I’m hoping that the work in this exhibit might remind us of the beauty, pain, loneliness, and joy that we have been experiencing.  We have all been carrying active feelings under the surface.  These are our undercurrents. We are alive, and it is wonderful.

BRIAN SLATTERY : NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT
In Ely Center Exhibition, Artists Explore What Lies Underneath | March 17, 2022


Cindy Konits
Terrence Lavin
K’La Lawson
Suzanne Levy
Crystal Marshall
Melinda McDaniel
Melissa Sutherland Moss
Sarah Nance
David Van Ness
Caleb Portfolio
Sarah Schneiderman
Sarah Sipling
Yuli Sung
Mami Takahashi
Kelsey Tynik
Anthony Warnick
Elizabeth West
Marjorie Wolfe
Shiqi Wu
Yichen Zhou
Despina Zografos

Richard Bottwin
Joy Bush
Robert Carley
Jeremy Chandler
Alexandra Chiou
Zoe Cohen
Rima Day
Brooks Dierdorff
Christina Dietz
Daniella Dooling
Scott Glaser
Priya N. Green
Laurence Elle Groux
Clymenza Hawkins
Steven Holmes
Katie Hovencamp
Ruth Jeyaveeran
Laura Kern
Colleen Kiely
Zofie King
Susan Knight
Elizabeth Knowles


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