Eleanor Polak photo
The Legacy Mobile Exhibition inside the cARTie museum bus.
A small white bus was parked outside of NXTHVN, at 169 Henry St., its walls decorated with handwritten definitions of the word “legacy”: “legacy is saying cheers to the next generation,” “legacy is taking actions with purpose, and not stopping when faced with failure.”
The bus was part of the cARTie program, housing the Legacy Mobile Exhibition, which will be touring New Haven through Aug. 13.
The Legacy Mobile Exhibition features art from seven high schoolers in the NXTHVN Apprenticeship Program, which pairs apprentices with NXTHVN fellows and staff to teach them about art and the art world. This year’s theme — of legacy — is inspired by the “Portrait of an Unlikely Space” exhibition by Mickalene Thomas that ran last year at the Yale University Art Gallery. The apprentices were encouraged to create their own projects in a medium of their choosing, all inspired by the question of what legacy means to them.
“Art is so important for young people to develop their imaginative muscles,” said NXTHVN program manager Janai Kemp. “We wanted young people to bring art to the community, so we made it mobile.”
To do this, NXTVN partnered with cARTie, a nonprofit museum bus for kids based in Shelton. The program involves driving the bus to schools with less access to the arts, so children who might otherwise not get to go to museums can have one come to them. “We’re weaving into the fabric of early education and making sure museums are not forgotten,” said cARTie co-founder and executive director Clare Murray.
Art by Hannah Grey Home residents Doris Sanders, Brenda Lemay, Norma Montaque, Carol Oberempt, Beverly Pompay, and Carmen Estrada.
The Legacy Mobile Exhibition also features art made by residents of the Hannah Gray Home, a residential care home for the elderly. Kemp stressed the importance of multigenerational legacy, young people not only speculating on what they wanted to leave behind, but also thinking about what they could learn from people with years of legacy under their belts. The apprentices visited the residency and worked with them on creating their pieces, a process that Kemp said was beneficial for all parties.
“Teens and the elderly connect so well and listen so well,” he said.
Isaac Perry.
Isaac Perry has two pieces in the exhibit, Echoes of The Funky Drummer: The Beat That Shaped Generations, and Forging the Legacy: Hellboy’s Right Hand of Doom. The former is an audio-visual piece that represents the history of sampling in popular music, intended to reflect the impact an artist can have while still alive. The latter is a foam hand that demonstrates the manual feeling of building a legacy.
“To me, legacy is not just about what you leave behind, but what you do when you’re here,” said Perry.
Isaiah Hampton has three drawings entitled Moments of Reflection, two in black and white and one, in the middle, in color. The three pieces tie to legacy because “legacy isn’t something people are born with; it’s built up through connections with people,” said Hampton. “The fractures represent how many pieces are put into one legacy. … You have to go through experiences to build your legacy.” The middle drawing was in color because it was the piece Hampton was the most proud of, and he wanted to draw attention to it.
Briana Doctor.
Briana Doctor’s Home is an acrylic painting of an apartment building filled with people, inspired by the work of Martin Wong. “It’s about family and about generations,” she said. “I visualize it like an apartment building.” The idea was that we are all neighbors in life, and we pass things between us, the good and the bad, which all become part of a mutual legacy.
Luca Rivera.
Luca Rivera’s Threads of Joy is a dress made out of fabric printed with photographs of various smiling mouths. “When you think of a smile, it can have many meanings,” he said. “It’s about emotions, even masking our emotions.” Smiles can be passed down through generations, as when people say, “you have your mother’s smile.” Rivera sees smiles as multifaceted and complex, which makes them all the more interesting. “A smile expresses how legacy doesn’t just have one specific version,” he said.
Ryan Rugarema’s Four Seasons, Four Organs is a multimedia piece made up of four parts that fit together. “I wanted to tackle the idea of legacy in an additive way,” he said. The first layer is sand, representing the earth from which we all come. The second layer is photos of family, and the third is an abstract figure. The fourth layer is about “putting the other layers together and figuring out what I want to do,” as an individual, he said.
Lauriann Burt’s project is an “interactive box that allows you to see a story from two different perspectives.” The first side shows a grandmother knitting a quilt; when you turn a knob, slats shift to show a young girl playing with the same quilt. “It showcases the legacy and connection between two individuals, and how one can influence and benefit another,” said Burt.
Assiata Ayinla.
The final piece in the show, a watercolor entitled Ethereal Roots, belongs to Assiata Ayinla. It shows a figure surrounded by weaving vines and roots.
“The figure represents me, and the trees and plants are like a family tree,” said Ayinla. The ghostly figures in the background are the people who have affected her the most in life. “The legacy they imparted on me is in me every moment,” she said.
Alanna Herbert and Dray Tam didn’t have any pieces in the exhibit because they had apprenticed as curatorial assistants. They got to know the artists and what their work was about, in order to arrange the artwork by shared themes. They put Ayinla’s piece next to Burt’s because both pieces were about family, and Burt’s artwork was next to Hannah Grey’s Home because it shared the topic of intergenerational legacy.
“I learned to think on my own and make my own decisions on the art pieces,” said Tam.
“It was interesting to see how people interpreted legacy,” added Herbert.
Legacy is both personal and shared, and the NXTHVN apprentices were building their own legacies by sharing their artwork with New Haven. The exhibit will move between various locations around town over the next two months, increasing the number of people who will be able to see it. Artwork, like a legacy, should always have an impact, and The Legacy Mobile Exhibition is moving in every sense of the word.
The Legacy Mobile Exhibition will appear at the Humanities Quadrangle on June 29, Yale University Art Gallery on July 11, ConnCAT on July 31, and City Gallery on Aug. 10. Visit NXTHVN’s website for more details.