January 23, 2022-April 24, 2022
Spaght Gallery
Engraving copper plates with a simple sewing needle, John Taylor Arms was highly respected by his friends and fellow artists for his printmaking expertise as much as his amiable personality. Arms himself has been featured in a number of exhibitions that celebrate his precise engravings of European architecture, but this exhibition is the first to highlight Arms’ connection to other prominent figures in Connecticut. Helen Keller, Francis Luis Mora, Clare Leighton, and Thomas W. Nason all made their homes across the state, but made their mark right here in Fairfield by signing—and sometimes sketching—in John Taylor Arms’ studio guestbook.
Learn more about the individuals and their relationship to Arms through artwork, photographs, archives, and objects.
May 15 – July 24, 2022
Jacky Durrell Meeting Hall
The Fairfield Museum’s annual IMAGES exhibition cycle is now in its 14th year! This juried photography exhibition celebrates the exceptional work of talented regional photographers. Open to professional, serious amateur, and student photographers from Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, photographs submitted will be of the following categories: Landscape, Portrait, Nature, Abstract, and Architecture. Artists may submit up to 10 images as either a Professional/Serious Amateur or Student photographer (active student under 24 years of age). Three jurors will choose photographs to be presented in conjunction with an exhibition of work by featured photographer Allison Minto.
(At left: detail of IMAGES 2021 winner Carolina Wren by Susie Buckley.
IMAGES 2022 Featured Photographer: Allison Minto
May 15 – September 25, 2022
Spaght Gallery
Trained in journalism and photography, Allison Minto uses her artistic practice to explore ideas of history, place, and how archiving—both personal and institutional—contributes to the preservation of memory, particularly for Black communities and the Black diaspora. She holds an MFA in Photography from the Yale School of Art, where she received the John Ferguson Weir Award, and a BA in Journalism from SUNY-Buffalo State College. Minto is currently a Yale University Art Gallery/Artspace New Haven 2021-2022 Happy and Bob Doran Connecticut Artist in Residence, a 2021-2022 DocX Archive Lab Fellow at Duke University, and a member of Diversify Photo.
Image credit: Allison Minto. Photograph by Alicia Knuppel.
On permanent display
Jennings Beach, Fairfield, Day to Night
Main Gallery
Stephen Wilkes of Westport is renowned for his amazing Day to Night series, in which he shoots breathtaking iconic landscapes, portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours, to capture fleeting moments over the course of a full day to night. Fairfield’s Jennings Beach has now joined Stephen Wilkes’ Day to Night portfolio from around the world.
Jennings Beach, Fairfield, Day to Night has been generously commissioned and donated to the Fairfield Museum by the Saft family in memory of Marcia Saft, a former Board member, friend and longtime supporter of the Fairfield Museum.
Limited edition fine art prints are available exclusively at the Museum Shop.
Creating Community: Exploring 375 Years of Our Past
Main Gallery
This hands-on exhibition invites visitors to explore the history of Fairfield and its region over the past four centuries. Look inside a Native American wigwam, climb into an American Revolution fort, decipher a spy code, and look through the windows of a trolley. Young and old alike will enjoy learning how people worked, lived, and built communities over time by exploring original objects, individual stories, and engaging activities.
Sponsored by CT Humanities, Fairfield County Community Foundation, The Perry Family and Southport Area Association.
Gustave Whitehead: First to Fly
Tulloch Library Gallery
Gustave Whitehead was the first to fly a powered airplane, although his flights in Fairfield and Stratford in 1901 and 1902 are not nearly as well-known throughout the world as the Wright brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. This mini-exhibition in the library foyer displays items from the museum’s William O’Dwyer/Gustave Whitehead Research Collection, which is available for research in the library. More information about Gustave Whitehead is available here.
