PAST EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
Mysterious Circumstances
October 19, 2023 – January 24, 2024
An Exhibition of Haunting Contemporary Art, Rare Books, and Volumes from our Collection of Mysteries. PLUS a Rogue’s Gallery of Historic Family Photographs
Read “Art Exhibition Unveils The Horror Beneath The Horror” by Brain Slattery, The New Haven Independent
Organized by Martha Willette Lewis
OASIS
June 3 – September 16, 2023
Oasis, our sprawling group summer show featured the work of: Ioana Barac, Marsha Borden, Trae Brooks, Amira Brown, Jody Clouse, Jeanette Compton, Susan Czark, Laurie Flaherty, Dan Gries, Lys Guillorn , John Hatch, Abeer Hussain, Helen Kauder, Aidan Keefe, kHyal, Steph Kubish, Linda Lindroth, Andres Madariaga, Kiara Matos, V.V. Aldebaran McEvoy, Tom Medwell, Bailey Murphy, Gerry Niemierowko, ArtGuy Pat, Karen Ponzio, Alice Prael, Kacey Ramirez, DG Reid, Melissa Coleridge Rich, Judy Sirota Rosenthal, Alison Safford, Roxy Savage, Scott Schuldt, Lisa Siedenberg, Emily Teall, Kim Van Aelst, Adam Viens, Amy Wachtel, & Doron Wolf
The exhibit featured an exciting textural mix of collage, video, assemblage, ceramics, painting, sculpture, bead work, installation and more to refresh and enliven your senses.
Read a review in the New Haven Independent here: https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/institute_library_oasis
Oasis was organized by Martha Willette Lewis & Maxim Schmidt.
Read and listen:
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• Artists Hear The Female Future, Brian Slattery, New Haven Independent
• Listen to Live Culture Episode 79 : Women’s History Month Max Schmidt and Martha Willette Lewis on Live Culture talking with George Corsillo, Clymenza Hawkins and Amy Wachtel as a PODCAST
Sound & Vision II: For the Record
Celebrating Feminism, Music and Visual Art with a Group Exhibition of Imaginary Album Covers!
• Opening Reception: Saturday, March 11, 2023 | 4-6 pm
• Closing Reception! Wednesday, May 3, 2023 | 5-7pm
The art exhibition For the Record was a feminist celebration of music and visual art. It took place at the historic Institute Library in New Haven from March 11 through May 6 in honor of Women’s History Month. The exhibit featured dozens of artists who submitted through open call to make imaginary record album covers. The title—For the Record—comes from setting the “record” straight. Being allowed to speak- or sing- for ourselves, in our own true voices. This is a diverse and inclusive exploration of the roles of women in music.
For the Record not only featured memorabilia from notable musicians but also album covers designed by local artists, and some treasures unearthed from WPKN’s extensive vinyl archive.
For the Record was curated by Martha Willette Lewis as a collaboration between The Institute Library, WPKN Community Radio and Café 9. The exhibit will feature an opening reception on March 11 with a May 6 closing reception and dance party to wind the whole thing down in style. The Gallery Upstairs at The Institute Library is located at the Institute Library, 847 Chapel Street, New Haven CT.
Don’t miss this fun, festive and imaginative exploration of feminism and creativity!
Participating: Amanda Bouquet, Amelia Maurer, Amy Wachtel, Angelica Sistrunk, Ann Kennedy, Carol Snyder, Christine Ohlman, Claudia Doring Baez, Corinthia Saez, Dika Kuljis, Dylan Strazar, Emily Herberich, Eva Geertz, Eve Hars, George Corsillo, Jahmal Henderson, Jeff Sokolowski, Joanne Connon, Jody Clouse, John Keefer, Julia Cumming , Julie Bowers Murphy, Kathleen DeMeo, Linda Lindroth, Martha Willette Lewis, Matt Feiner, Michelle Beaulieu-Morgan, Mohan Maharaj, Sr, Patrick Carroll, Linda Lindroth, , Sally Hill & Tim Nighswander, Regan Avery, Sadie Grey Murphy, Sue Czark, T.M. Stewart, Tammy Faye Starlite, Tina Sarno, V.V. Aldebaran McEvoy, The Collection of Alec Cumming, The Collection of Eva Geertz, The Collection of Del La Pietro, The Collection of Steve DiCostanzo, The Collection of WPKN
Waste Management: Reuse, Reimagine, Repurpose
October 2022 – January 2023
Opening reception will be October 6, 2022, 5-8pm
Thursday, January 26, 2023 Closing Party 5-7pm + Exhibit Tour at 6pm
Organized by Rashmi Talpade & Martha Willette Lewis
Click here to find more about what is going on locally, nationally and internationally with out climate crisis bulletin board!
July 16-September 22, 2022
Decoys & Mimics:
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Decoys & Mimics is a group exhibition designed to fake you out this summer with books, objects, and images. This open-call exhibition mixes books in our collection with decoys, mimics, faux, imitations, ersatz, parodies, fakes, forgeries, deceptions, and—more positively—works addressing transformation, morphing, passing, changing, and becoming. It’s a beguiling blend of fantasy, humor, and mordant wit addressing the now, the was, and the never-was…..
Featuring the work of: Frederic Acquaviva; Regan Avery; Marsha Borden; Hank Bradley; Janet Severi Bristow; Robert Brush; George Corsillo; Leila Daw; Eva Geertz; Edward Gorey; Clymenza Hawkins; Jack Hitt; Ann Kennedy; Martha Willette Lewis; Zohra Rawling & Brian Slattery; Maddy Rosenberg; Scott Schuldt; Jean Scott; Jeff Slomba; Christina Spiesel; Rita Valley
Organized by Martha Willette Lewis
April 1 – June 30, 2022
Cover Story II: Return to the Stacks
We return with a second iteration of COVER STORY, this time with input from staff, volunteers, and the Board of Directors of the Institute Library adding choices to curator Martha Lewis’ selection. As with the exhibit of 2021, these books were chosen purely on the basis of their covers, which are by turns odd, funny, beautiful, menacing, topical, and intriguing.
Read more.
Institute Library Offers Another “Cover Story”
New Haven Independent | April 8, 2022 | by
John T. Hill: Persistent Observer
September 15, 2021- January 15, 2022
John T. Hill is a photographer, graphic designer, and author. He taught photography and graphic design at the Yale University School of Art, co-founded Yale’s first Department of Photography, and was its first director of graduate studies. His published works include Walker Evans: Depth of Field and May Day at Yale,1970: Recollections.
Organized By Stephen V. Kobasa
Selected from 65 years of photographs
Monica Ong: Planetaria
June 8 – September 8, 2021
We are proud to present our summer show Planetaria. Monica Ong blends poetry, astronomy, printmaking, assemblage, and personal meditations on family and working motherhood, into a compelling, tactile exhibit that telescopes between the personal and the cosmic.
Please consider becoming a member of the Library or contributing to the Gallery or Library- all gifts are greatly appreciated. The Gallery does not charge fees to artists or visitors and most Gallery events are free of charge.
Read the Press Release.
Declaration of Sentiments: a Visual Celebration of 100 years of Women’s Right to Vote
September 25 – February 27, 2021
Online and In-Person when the Library reopens.
Closing Reception: February 26, from 6 to 7:30!
In Honor of the Centenary of the 19th amendment, the gallery has organized “Declaration of Sentiments” an exhibit celebrating suffrage* – and the women’s right to vote! As we head towards the elections in November it becomes more important than ever to motivate, activate and reflect upon our right to participate and to have representation in our government. *Suffrage simply means the right to vote — it is not related to suffering. The word suffrage comes from Latin suffragium, which initially meant a voting-tablet, a ballot, a vote, or the right to vote.
Participating Artists:
- Autie Gibson Belshe /Ann Kennedy
- Sasha Chavchavadze
- The Feminist Letters
- Linda Lindroth & Zack Newick
- Katrina Majkut
- Florence Fleming Noyes/Bill Morrison
- Judy Polstra
- Margaret Roleke
- Mary Wigzell Rouillion/ Laura Boyer
- Rita Valley
- The Victory Garden Collective
- Brenda Zlamany
“Declaration of Sentiments” was organized by Gallery Curator Martha Willette Lewis with special Historic research for the exhibit by Ava Hathaway Hacker.
Thanks to those who joined us via Zoom to celebrate 100 years of women voting, women in politics and to give our exhibition Declaration of Sentiments our last hurrah before it closed.
“Vote” Matchbook art by Linda Lindroth, design by Martha Willette Lewis.
Tap here to access the interactive Padlet.
Press: Read about the show at the following.
Institute Library Goes To The Ballot Box | New Haven Independent | | September 30, 2020
Institute Library Digs Deep On Women’s Suffrage | Arts Council of Greater New Haven | Lucy Gellman | October 7th, 2020
Finding Home: A Campaign for Sanctuary Jan 18-March 14, 2020
A Group Exhibition organized By Stephen Kobasa
Joy Bush
Robert Brush
Margaret Roleke
Marc Hors
Jason Noushin
Eric Epstein
Paul Bloom
Closing Reception: Saturday, March 14 from 12 to 2 pm Refreshments will be served.
John Jairo Lugo, from ULA, a New Haven immigrant rights organization, will speak at 1 o’clock about the current status of the Sanctuary City campaign in New Haven.
Posters included in the exhibit will be offered for sale in return for donations to benefit ULA’s work in the community.
Please consider becoming a member of the Library or contributing to the Gallery or Library- all gifts are greatly appreciated. The Gallery does not charge fees to artists or visitors and most Gallery events are free of charge.
Melted Pots & Cooked Books
June 1 through September 7, 2019
Exhibition Catalog now available at the Library.
$25 includes mailing to you or $20 if picked up at the library during open hours.
To preview, scroll over the upper right corner of the catalog and click on the curled corner.
Press for Melted Pots
Read Melted Pots press release
“Melted Pots” Is A Feast by Brian Slattery| New Haven Independent 9/20/19
A Blue Dark
June 1 through September 7, 2019
Closing Reception Saturday, September 7, 4-6 pm
A limited supply of exhibit Catalogs are still available. Artist Fritz Horstman will be present to discuss his work and Light refreshments will be served.
For further information and press inquiries please contact Gallery@Institutelibrary.org Press Release available here. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis
Shelf Life: History Biography & Fame
September 29 – December 29, 2018
Opening Reception Saturday, Sept. 29th, 4-6 pm Artist-led tour at 5pm
Lives are adventures full of stories and relationships, and storytelling—perhaps our oldest art—is at the heart of any portrait. Shelf /Life features the work of 11 artists working in a broad range of media including assemblage, photography, printmaking, and painting that celebrates the varied lives of real individuals, catching them at a given moment or reimagining them in a new way. At this particular moment in time, it seems appropriate to stop, take stock of the Institute Library’s historic collection of biographies, filled with the memoirs of past illustrious figures, and to look at artists’ depictions of real people, historic and contemporary, with a lens aimed critically at this disjuncture. Who is visible in our collective consciousness, and who deserves our admiration and accolades?
Artists: Adger Cowans, Mary Dwyer, Patricia Fabricant, John T. Hill and Tom Strong, Thomas Mezzanotte, Aly Maderson Quinlog, Allan Rubin, Tina Sarno, Jean Scott, Catherine Vanaria, and Brenda Zlamany with historic biographies from the Institute Library’s collection.
Press Release available here. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis
Wish You Were Here
June 2 – August 31, 2018
Opening Reception Thursday, June 7, 6-8 pm Artist-led tour at 7pm
A summer exhibit dedicated to armchair travel, vacations, and adventures elsewhere featuring the work of 12 contemporary artistsin conjunction with selected travel books, atlases, and other vintage materials from the library’s historic collection.
Artists: Fran Antmann, Leila Daw, Ed Dionne, Roberta Friedman, David Guy, James Lancel McElhinny, Isabella Mellado, Maryann Ott, Abigail Reynolds, Rob Rocke, Scott Schuldt, and Lisa Seidenberg. Press Release available here. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis Photos of Ark/\Hive by Jessica Smolinski.
ARK/\HIVE
March 9 – May 18, 2018
Opening Reception Thursday, March 8, 6-8 pm Artist-led tour at 7pm
An exhibit that looks at preserving and examining nature via ark, zoo, library, archive and collection. In other words: enclosures for sampling the natural world, to be looked at, categorized, examined, admired or protected.
Artists: Bayla Arietta, Marion Belanger, Alexis Brown, Helen Cantrell, Leah Caroline, Jeremiah Dine, Lys Guillorn, Stephen Grossman, Gabriella Radujko, Mark R. Smith, Joseph Smolinski, Sarah Stengle & Eva Mantell, Judi Harvest, Allard van Hoorn, Hanna von Goeler, and Adam Waimon with specimens from the historic collection of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station & poems by John Hollander & Susan Donnelly. Read Ark/\Hive Marries Heaven and Hell by Brian Slattery in the New Haven Independent here. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis Recorded poems featured in the exhibit:
John Hollander reads Adam’s Task
Susan Donnelly reads Eve Names the Animals
The Plot Thickens…
September 9 – October 31, 2017
Opening Reception Saturday, September 9, 4-6 pm Artist-led tour at 5pm
An exhibit exploring the shifting role of narrative fictions in visual art, featuring collage, assemblage, sculpture painting, prints, film and multi-media works by 9 artists.
Artists: Lani Asuncion, Chris Barnard, Susan Clinard, Maya Deren, Clymenza Hawkins, Nathan Lewis, Christopher E. Manning, Margaret Ann Withers, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Read On Chapel, Fairytales Regain their Power by Lucy Gellman in the Arts Paper here. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis
EVIDENCE: Art & Facts
May 27 – September 2, 2017
Opening Reception Saturday, May 27 | 4-6 pm Artist led tour begins at 5pm.
Artists: Mac Adams, Colin Burke, Jeanne Criscola and Linda Lindroth, Howard el Yasin, Joan Fitzsimmons, Fritz Horstman, Meredith Miller, Jiehao Su. Curated By Martha Willette Lewis This exhibit highlights the role of deductive reasoning and careful examination play in constructing a narrative and conclusion. All of the artists in this show collect and present data, constructing their works as a form of visual proof and use the documentary concept of “evidence” to undertake a creative act. This mode of practice, borrowed from science, looks at the traces of activity which surround us, presenting them to us anew to look again. EVIDENCE features photography, sculpture and installation that have the artist in the varied roles of collector, sleuth and witness.
Download the Press Release
Read Art Presents Its Case by Allen Appel in The New Haven Independent here.
Mincing Words: The Tactile Language of Unrest
CLOSING RECEPTION Saturday, May 20 | 12-2pm
Mincing Words: through May 20th
Mincing Words presents a range of works by contemporary visual artists focused a sense of play between images and words. In constructed photographs, prints, and installations, in a variety of media, they create a commentary of varied perspectives remarking upon our current socio-political climate.
Artists include: David Borawski, Matthew J. Feiner, Kirsten Hassenfeld, Learn – as – Protest, Cayla Lockwood, Jeff Mueller/Dexterity Press, Rita Valley, Robert Zott. Curated by Martha Willette Lewis.
CRU – Contemporary Radical Underground
March 25 – April 27, 2017
CRU (“RAW” in French) is both a physical magazine and a virtual body: a secret website of sound art with access through a code only given to those who have bought the magazine and a printed issue documenting CRU exhibitions and performances held at La Plaque Tournante, a non-commercial artist space in Neukölln, Berlin. Conceived as a four-part publication, each edition CRU features postcards, posters, exhibition images, limited edition artworks, a DVD of performances and an audio CD. This is the first exhibition of CRU magazine, with deluxe editions of 1 and 2, curated by Martha Willette Lewis. A subsequent exhibition has been organized for later this year in London. Artists include: Frédéric Acquaviva, Tomomi Adachi, Silva Gabriéla Béju, Broutin, Henri Chopin, Denis Dufour, Bernard Heidsieck, Hém-Ish, Ione, Johannes Kreidler, Katherine Liberovskaya, Loré Lixenberg, Jacques Lizène, Alvin Lucier, Alex Mincek, Phill Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, François Poyet, Trevor Wishart and Gil J Wolman. More information at www.cru-web.org
Looking then Reading
Mikhail Shevelkin: Paintings & Drawings (through March 18)
OPENING RECEPTION Thursday, January 26 | 7-9pm
January 26 – May 25, 2017
Read The New Haven Independent article discussing the exhibit: ART EXHIBIT BECOMES A CARD CATALOG OF LIFE by Brian Slattery
An exhibition of paintings by local artists, displayed in the nooks and crannies of the Historic Institute Library, on our 2nd floor. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, January 26th from 7:00-9:00pm, when we will also be having an opening for our exhibit on the 3rd floor, Mikhail Shevelkin: Paintings & Illustrations. Musician and ambient soundscape artist Derek Piotr will perform.
Artists include: Susan McCaslin, Heather Hill Young, John Keefer, Barbara Marks, Daniel Eugene, Amy Vensel, Noe Jimenez, Frank Bruckmann, & Steve Digiovanni.
Mikhail Shevelkin is a working artist who has been living in New Haven, CT for twenty one years after immigrating from Moldova, former Republic of the Soviet Union, where it took him almost ten years to “break free” from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and achieve pure abstraction. Rather than working in any particular style, Shevelkin uses media and materials that best suit the particular idea in progress, including painting, sculpture, drawing, and ceramics. Shevelkin experiments with color and texture, aiming to create work that produces the flow of positive enlightening energy: all of his work is meant to be a “creator” in and of itself. His art is an ever changing and developing process, a slow but constant movement toward the absolute.
Both exhibitions are organized by Noe Jimenez & Maria Shevelkina.
Out of the Fog: Five Photographers
November 5 – January 15, 2017
OPENING RECEPTION Saturday November 5th | 12-2pm
Read The New Haven Independent article discussing the exhibit: PHOTOS LEAP OUT OF THE FOG by Allan Appe Marion Belanger, Sean Kernan, Steven B. Smith, Marjorie Gillette Wolfe, Stefan Znosko Organized by Stephen Vincent Kobasa
The Floral Ghost: Philip Taaffe, Susan Orlean and Planthouse Press
September 10 – October 22, 2016
PANEL TALK Tuesday, September 27th | 6-7:30pm
An exhibition of the two print editions of The Floral Ghost published by Planthouse Gallery, New York. The 2016 book The Floral Ghost, by Susan Orlean and Philip Taaffe, featuring Philip Taaffe’s silkscreen monotypes, and the deluxe portfolio edition for the 2014 show The Floral Ghost with prints by Simryn Gill, Florian Meisenberg, Katia Santibañez, Philip Taaffe, Fred Tomaselli, and Anton Würth, and a broadsheet of Susan Orlean’s essay. Organized by Martha Willette Lewis
Tasha Lewis: The Art of the Page A Visual Edition of Joyce’s Ulysses
Read The New Yorker article discussing Tasha Lewis’ work: WHY WE ARE NO LONGER SHOCKED BY “ULYSSES” by Louis Menand
May 6 – September 3, 2016
OPENING RECEPTION May 6th | 5-8pm
Artist Talk at 6:30pm
This massive visual undertaking dives headfirst into Joyce’s masterpiece, with the artist creating one image for every page of text. Using the Gabler edition of Ulysses, Lewis travels the book, shifting media by chapter, moving from collage to photography, monoprints, encaustic, drawing, totaling 18 different media over the course of 644 pages. More information at: www.TashaLewis.info
Organized by Martha Willette Lewis The Gallery Upstairs at the Institute Library features a challenging roster of contemporary art exhibitions throughout the year. We offer visual art with strong connections to words, language, literature, libraries, and collections, with the active interest of sparking dialogue, providing a locus and salon for visual culture within our community.
Are you interested in proposing a show? Visit our Gallery page here for more information and instructions on how to submit your ideas. Or, rent the space! More details on private event rentals, here.