Fair Haven Art Show Finds A Place To Land

Luz, by Milena Alvarez, gets its effect first and foremost from the atmosphere the artist captures. It’s a picture that looks hot, a blazing afternoon. The people are keeping cool. The artist is part of the painting, as all three subjects are aware of her, which complicates things. Was the artist just taking their picture? Or was the artist interrupting something? The ambiguity is heightened by the subjects’ blurred faces. They seem relaxed enough, but we’ll never know what they’re thinking.

Luz is part of ​“Tierra,” a show of the work of seven New Haven-area artists curated by Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez and running now at the Fair Haven Library with a closing reception May 20. The show is remarkable not only for the bold voices on display, but the way Hernandez has brought their work into the community, turning the library into a gallery and meeting people where they are.

“Before this land was called Fair Haven, it was Quinnipiac land,” the introductory text to the exhibition explains. ​“Tierra is the soil, and the land that we stand on, that has always been here.” The show has ​“the intention to introduce local artists and their work to the neighborhood, in a space that is meant for all.” 

Hernandez got involved in organizing a show in Fair Haven partly in response to current events among New Haven’s arts organizations, but more deeply, because of a long-running desire to help build up Fair Haven’s own art scene for itself.

“I think artists are beginning to organize ourselves,” Hernandez said. She is in the current cohort of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s Artist Corps program, receiving a grant and mentorships. ​“Especially in this moment, in this climate, in the arts community, there are so many frustrated artists. There’s this big push and pull with arts organizations, wanting clarity, accountability … some clear line of communication, to feel like you can integrate better, or be a part of that community,” she said. 

Part of that communication, for Hernandez, would involve creating more meaningful opportunities for New Haven’s visual artists. She noted that she and other artists do not want to have to pay to be considered for an exhibition. ​“That’s not guaranteeing any sort of opportunity,” she said. ​“That’s just giving your money and hoping that something sticks.” She feels similarly about donating pieces to an organization for fundraisers. ​“That’s not an opportunity to me,” she said. ​“Those aren’t opportunities that I would want to offer to the community we all belong to.”

Hernandez was born and grew up in Fair Haven, and lives there now. Near the end of last year, she saw an opening to help create the more welcoming and deeply rooted art show she had in mind. 

“I, for a long time, wanted to get more deeply involved with the Fair Haven community,” she said. She contacted the International Festival of Arts and Ideas and volunteered for the planning committee for Fair Haven Day, allowing her to partner with the likes of Mary Wade as well as the festival. For six months, she said, ​“me and about 15 to 20 other amazing community members” worked to bring the day to life. These included Sarah Miller, Fair Haven’s alderperson and her brother Erick, who is currently president of the Grand Avenue special services district. Each committee member, she said, ​“took on a role” and ​“we just started working.” Hernandez volunteered to make t‑shirts and design banners.

Toward the end of planning, however, she realized that the day ​“didn’t have an art show, an exhibition.” As someone with experience in art handling and installation for arts organizations, she saw that ​“we could do something with that.”

She began by collecting work from Fair Haven artists. ​“It was really important to me to find Fair Haven artists. We are here.” Some of the artists in the exhibition are friends of friends. Some are university students who have stayed around New Haven. ​“These folks are familiar to the landscape of Fair Haven already.”

Next it was a question of reaching out to the library and figuring out how to turn the space into something like a gallery, showing the art well, while also letting library patrons use the library as they regularly do. ​“This is a non-traditional space, and we accepted it as it is,” Hernandez said. The artists decided collectively where the best locations might be for their pieces. The pieces move viewers from the lobby to the children’s area because ​“we want to show younger people the exhibition.”

She was glad to put the show in the library. A ​“traditional gallery space” with ​“large white walls can be a little bewildering,” she said, ​“because it’s unfamiliar. Folks who aren’t necessarily rooted in the art world don’t necessarily always go out of their way to look at art, whereas here you have kids from the school, teachers and parents, people who shop at C‑Town who come by the library.”

“This is a space that is familiar to the community and is an easier way to step into introducing folks to local artists and art in general,” she added.

Also, the show ​“came together pretty quickly,” she said, lauding the library staff for their helpfulness of making the show happen. It was ​“nicer than any gallery I’ve ever worked in, if I’m completely honest,” she said. Hernandez included texts in Spanish and English, and the artists ​“really put in the work to get here.”

Hernandez would like to do more to strength the visual arts scene in Fair Haven. She would like to ​“connect Erector Square artists, who have studios here in the neighborhood, with the predominantly Spanish-speaking community. I think there has been decades of disconnection. I didn’t know until I worked at Artspace that there was an annual open studios” event. ​“That’s so frustratingly common. It’s not unique to Artspace,” she said. For arts organizations, connecting with the surrounding community ​“requires that effort to be in the community, to reach out, be present, and offer whatever accessibility folks need.”

She has also started Fair Side to ​“connect artists to other artists without the gaze of arts institutions on us. I didn’t want to go through a nonprofit to host something because I didn’t want nonprofits to ask something of us. We have what they need. It’s not the other way around,” she said. Often, she pointed out, the staff of arts organizations are themselves artists, and so know how to do many of the functions of arts nonprofits. ​“They know how it’s run,” she said.

“We can do this ourselves, and we are,” Henandez added. ​“This is just the beginning.”

“Tierra” runs at the Fair Haven Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library through May 20. Visit the branch’s website for hours and more information. Visit Fair Side’s website for future information on that initiative and how to get involved in it.