The Housatonic Museum of Art presents its newest exhibition, “Object Lessons,” with over ten new displays of its permanent collection in small thematic installations. On view throughout the campus of Housatonic Community College, this exhibition will open with a special reception on Thursday, September 13th from 5:30 until 7pm in the Lafayette Hall atrium. This free event is open to the public, and will offer light refreshments and music by the Survivors Swing Band.

Object Lessons will showcase recent acquisitions by significant contemporary artists such as Joe Fucigna, Steve McCurry, Kenda North, Creighton Michael, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Deborah Dancy, Hans Neleman, Sean Kernan, and Niki Ketchman, as well as many of the museum’s most celebrated pieces by Picasso, Calder, Alex Katz, Jenny Holzer and Andy Warhol.

Over two hundred paintings, sculptures and works on paper are presented in over ten thematic installations exploring a range of subjects.

Telling Portraits features works from the museum’s photography collection and presents a variety of portraiture from traditional representations of the sitter to settings, clothing or environments that capture a mood or convey the disposition of the subject.

Mark-making is the subject of the A Fine Line display, and includes etchings, paintings and sculpture by such artists as Paul Signac, John Taylor Arms, Alexander Calder and Barbara Hepworth. These works explore the ways in which line — thick, thin, diagonal, vertical or horizontal, cross-hatched or contoured--functions as an alphabet of sorts to create a visual language that conveys thoughts, feelings, moods and ideas.

Torn, Ripped and Cut: The Art of Collage presents the work of Paul Nonay, Janet Slom, Bryce Lafferty and Fred Otnes, to name a few, that shows a series of mixed-media works.

Language is the preferred vehicle for the artists included in Word/Play. Initially posted as bills in public spaces, the works Inflammatory Essays and Truisms by Jenny Holzer deliver unsettling messages in order to disrupt and engage passersby in a dialogue about the human condition. Fragments of poetry are scratched into the surface of Susan Sharp’s canvas, while Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ slyly subverts simple advertising text and Mel Ramos has a bit of fun with witty visual puns.

Additional installations will feature works based on place, including Latin American Art, Arts of Africa, Southwest Native American Art, The American Landscape, The Urban Landscape and an exhibit on Bridgeport’s seaside village founded by free blacks, entitled Reimagining Little Liberia.

Solo installations featuring the work of Vince Baldasanno and Alice Baber will be on display, as well as installations of art that is political, and art that gives a nod to our area’s Barnum connection.

The Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) is located on the Housatonic Community College campus, located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in Bridgeport. It is home to one of the premier college art collections in the United States.  The museum’s collection offers the opportunity to view works that span the history of art from the ancient to the contemporary, and is on continuous display throughout the 300,000 square foot facility. Visit www.HousatonicMuseum.org to learn more.

For a slideshow of the images, please click here.