Watering Holes Become Art Galleries

When Josh Gaetjen rolled into 116 Crown for a midweek refresher, he didn’t have a drink du jour in mind. Nor the deviled eggs from the bar’s back tables. He was there to talk about his career as an artist, celebrating the new placement of his paintings on the bar’s exposed brick walls.

Around the corner at Ordinary, welder Lianne Audette was following suit, lifting not a cocktail but a piece of her artwork from the table for visitor Wendy Marans. Sculptor Sam Shevelkin looked on smiling, surrounded by tens of his ceramics.

A few new patrons trickled in, ordered event-themed cocktails, and moved toward the art.

That’s the idea behind two new exhibitions downtown, each of which had recent opening.

In the Ninth Square, Gaetjen’s paintings hang proudly at 116 Crown through May. On Chapel, Shevelkin’s ceramics, perched on a hand-built shelving unit, greet bar-goers as they enter Ordinary through the end of the month.

Together, the two mini-exhibitions reflect a trend New Haven has been embracing for some time now: fine art — good fine art, not kind-of-OK coffeeshop art — in restaurants, bars, and watering holes around the city. The latter also included a fundraiser for Creative Arts Workshop, which will be celebrating its big annual gala next month.

For Shevelkin, Audette, and Gaetjen, as well as Ordinary’s Tim Cabral and 116 Crown’s John and Danielle Ginnetti, events like thes are a way to merge the worlds of culinary and visual as April brings a new wave of wacky weather around the city.

“I fell in love with them when I first saw them and think they’re really cool,” John Ginnetti said of Gaetjen’s paintings, large, precise oils of New Haven’s streets, parking garages, and buildings past and present (the dearly departed New Haven Coliseum features prominently). ​“The year we opened was the year the Coliseum came down, and it feels timely.… We have such a rich art community. It would be a sin to ignore it, and it would be a shame not to celebrate it.” 

Placed beside the bar’s large front windows and beside jovial diners, the paintings came alive as he spoke, paying homage to the Ninth Square neighborhood around them.

For Gaetjen, who knows Ginnetti and Ginnetti because their sons went to preschool together, the exhibition is a reminder that he’s home. ​“I slowly got into painting New Haven” he said, reflecting on a 2001 residency at Creative Arts Workshop. ​“Feeling like I knew New Haven was part of my story in a way. This [exhibition] has been a good kick in the pants for me to get back in the studio and see what’s going to happen.”

That sense of being in the right place was true down Chapel Street too. As Audette, Shevelkin, and CAW Director Dan Fitzmaurice settled into conversations at Ordinary, others perused the specials that feted them and their work. A Birdwalk Empire cocktail paid tribute to Audette’s career — she is best known for welding a five-foot heron. A second Amaro Morphus was made to match Shevelkin’s work, a series of clay pots with elaborate glazes. 

“We wanted two drinks where we could incorporate some of the flavor profiles with the art,” said Ordinary Manager Matt Kolosky. ​“With the Birdwalk Empire, you have salty, almost dry metallic taste, while the Amaro Morphus has almost an earthy flavor to it to complement Sam’s art working with pottery and ceramics. It’s sitting down and thinking about the basic qualities of what we’re doing, and what we can extract. What feeling does this art represent for you?”

“It’s kind of like art in that sense,” he added. ​“You’re always tinkering with it, and you know when it’s done.”

To listen to episode of WNHH’s ​“Artbeat” featuring Audette and Shevelkin on their art and lives in New Haven, click on or download the audio above, or check out WNHH’s new podcast ​“WNHH Arts Beat.”

To listen to an interview with John Ginnetti about spring at 116 Crown, including the new exhibition of Gaetjen’s work, click on or download the audio above, or check out WNHH’s new podcast ​“WNHH Arts Beat.”