Open Studios 2024 Begins

You know October is here when New Haven sidewalks are dotted with fallen leaves, and art studios and galleries are open for all to see. Open Studios 2024 began on Saturday with a variety of locations ready and waiting to share art in a variety of media, including City Gallery, The Institute Library, the Ely Center of Contemporary Art, and Creative Arts Workshop (CAW).

CAW, however, had a unique set up offered to the public. While an exhibit by eight artists from the Ely Center’s 2024 open call was on view on the first floor of the Hilles Gallery at CAW on Audubon Street, those same eight artists were on the second floor, creating new pieces and greeting visitors who wanted to engage them in discussion about their work.

The eight artists — Marquis Brantley, Linda Colletta, Danielle Giroux, Maria Markham, Luca McCarthy, Omar Muqbil, Dana Simmons, and Jean-Pierre Solis-Sanchez — will have this temporary studio space through Oct. 28. Each one is also taking a CAW class, some in a new medium and some in a familiar medium hoping to add to their repertoire. 

NONESUCH, the group exhibit on the first floor curated by David Borawski, included one piece by each of the eight artists. The open and airy design of the gallery gave the viewer ample room and light to engage in each piece in both a singular and complimentary fashion, each one unique to its creator’s vision.

Dana Simmons, a visual artist from Waterbury, offered her digital print on metal titled Hope Realized. She described it as a ​“neurographic” piece, a term she said was coined in 2014 by a Russian scientist that means ​“to bridge the gap between the subconscious and conscious,” taking into account ​“emotional regulation.”

A lifetime of chronic illness saw Simmons turning to creating art, which she said put her in remission; she has not been in the hospital at all since she began creating. 

“It’s better than any therapy or medicine,” she said. ​“It makes you feel powerful.” 

The title of the piece comes from her hoping she would be better, which she now is. 

“It’s a blessing,” she said with a smile. 

Upstairs she also talked with visitors about her printmaking and silk screening, some of which she had displayed in her workspace. 

Danielle Giroux engaged with visitors while working a piece similar to the one she had displayed downstairs across from Simmons. Fragile Heaven, made of white stoneware and red thread, is part of Giroux’s ​“conceptual work inspired by the violence in the world.”

“My making this is a way to protest and to expose different ideas,” she said. 

Giroux turned her focus recently from work in virtual reality to ceramics as a way to ​“work through frustrations” and ​“share a connection to people.”

“The way art is yielded in society, pushed into different corners, is fascinating and worrying,” she added, ​“especially since it can be connected to power.”

She is currently taking a pottery class at CAW and hopes to make pieces that are ​“more expressionist” and ​“more without a plan,” using three types of clay, stoneware, and porcelain. 

Bridgeport-based artist Linda Colletta worked on a large piece that was spread out on the floor in her space next to Giroux. She spoke of how her paintings and printings often become sculptures. She has taken to incorporating any leftovers from her large-scale paintings into future paintings, even sewing cropped off pieces together to make another larger piece. 

“The core of my practice as a painter is to push the boundaries of traditional painting,” she said. ​“How can I make my paintings sculptural?” 

Her table and workspace were covered in painted pieces and boxes of scraps.

“Every little scrap has its own conversation,” she added with a smile.

Luca McCarthy of West Haven also had a box full of scraps of yarn and other textural pieces that he was using to weave into a new piece of art, a practice in line with his goal of using found and recycled materials in all his work. Sandcastle Stories, his piece on exhibit downstairs, was made of shells and papier mâché that utilized pages from a book of Greek plays. 

“My main focus is accessibility for everyone and me,” he said, noting that he concentrates on making art ​“using everything.”

“I’m very anti-garbage. Nothing is garbage,” he said.

He is taking a jewelry class at CAW as part of his recent interest in wearable and useable art, including the hats on his table and the shirt he was wearing. He was working on a piece he had been weaving for a while because he was ​“all about slowing down” and working with his hands on more tactile projects.

Next to McCarthy, New Haven-based multimedia artist Maria Markham showed the cocoons she was working on in her CAW welding class. Into the Future, her piece downstairs that was made of bioplastic, brass, and wood, was part of her MFA thesis and had originally been part of an installation that included five boats overhanging a garden. This was her first Open Studios as a participating artist. She will also be participating in the Erector Square weekend, opening her studio there for the first time (last year she worked as a volunteer). 

“It’s an important opportunity to bring people in and converse about art in a different way,” she said. 

Around the corner, artists Marquis Brantley and Omar Muqbil did just that with visitors perusing their workspaces. Brantley’s space was resplendent with large paintings, including one interpretation of a familiar Michael Jordan play. Muqbil’s space had a multitude of colorful marker-based drawings on paper and even on a pair of sneakers. As the afternoon went on, more and more people came through the two floors with questions and comments, filling the air with laughter and conversation. This was only the beginning, as the next three weekends bring more opportunities — to see what local artists have made and might be working on for next year, and for artists and non-artists alike to make the connections that, in turn, make community. 

As Markham had said earlier: ​“We need to focus on what we can do together.”

The NONESUCH exhibit at CAW will be open to the public at 80 Audubon St. during CAW’s regular hours through Oct. 28. For more information please see the CAW website. For more information about the next three weekends of Open Studios, please see the Erector Square Open Studios website. There is also a pamphlet with a map and more information that you can pick up at CAW and other participating studios and galleries.