Fairfield University Art Museum To Mark 10th Anniversary

FAIRFIELD, CT — The Fairfield University Art Museum (FUAM) will mark its 10th anniversary with an exhibition of work by Connecticut-based British painter Andrew Forge (1923-2002). Eighteen of Forge’s large and luminous “dot paintings” and ten smaller wa­tercolors are included in Andrew Forge: The Limits of Sight, which will be on view in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries beginning Wednesday, Sept. 25 through Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020. On Thursday, Sept. 24, an opening lecture at 4 p.m. will be led by scholar and guest curator Karen Wilkin, a New York-based independent curator and art critic specializing in 20th-century modernism.

The exhibition will be accessible through the museum’s website as a 3-D virtual exhibition with audio tour. Due to COVID-19 precautions, Fairfield University’s campus is closed to the outside community for the foreseeable future, and in-person viewing of the exhibition will not be available. In conjunction with the exhibition, and with the assistance of faculty liaison Suzanne Chamlin, associate professor of studio art, Department of Visual & Performing Arts, the FUAM has organized a full roster of public programs which will be presented virtually.

The museum’s 10th anniversary celebration will take place online, Thursday, Sept. 24, from 6–7 p.m., featuring Executive Director Carey Weber and former directors Jill Deupi, PhD, and Linda Wolk-Simon, PhD, among other special guests. The FUAM will also debut a film celebrating the history of the museum, and will share a filmed tour of their Andrew Forge exhibition.

“We are so grateful for all of the support of the museum over these past 10 years, both from the University and the greater Fairfield community,” said Weber. “We hope our patrons will continue to engage with us during this fall, even while we, sadly, remain closed to the general public.”

In addition to the FUAM’s 10th anniversary celebration, and Andrew Forge: The Limits of Sight exhibition, Ruby Sky Stiler - Group Relief, is on view from Sept. 11 to Dec. 19, 2020. This exhibition features new relief paintings and figurative furniture-sculpture by New York artist Ruby Sky Stiler (b. 1979), and is presented as part of the celebration of 50 years of women at Fairfield University. Stiler, who holds a BFA from RISD and an MFA from the Yale University School of Art, has been investigating images of women inspired by the techniques and language of classical antiquity for more than a decade.

The exhibition is in the museum’s Walsh Gallery in the Quick Center for the Arts, and while in-person viewing is not be available, it is accessible through the museum’s website as a 3-D virtual exhibition with audio tour. In conjunction with the exhibition, and with the assistance of faculty liaison Katherine Schwab, PhD, professor, Art History & Visual Culture Program, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, the FUAM has organized a full roster of public programs which will be presented online.

Upcoming programming, including lectures and gallery talks relating to FUAM’s two fall exhibitions include:

Tuesday, September 22, 5:00 p.m.
Gallery Talk: Classical Influences in the Work of Ruby Sky Stiler
Kathy Schwab, PhD, professor, Art History & Visual Culture Pogram, Department of Visual & Performing Arts

Thursday, September 24, 4:00 p.m.
Opening Night Lecture - Andrew Forge: Limits of Sight
Karen Wilkin, curator of the exhibition
Independent curator and art critic
Professor, Master of Fine Arts Program, New York Studio School
Part of the Edwin L. Weisl, Jr. Lectureships in Art History, funded by the Robert Lehman Foundation

Wednesday, September 30, 6:00 -7:00 p.m.
Gallery Talk: Andrew Forge: An Artist’s Perspective
Suzanne Chamlin, associate professor of Studio Art, Department of Visual & Performing Arts, Fairfield University

Thursday, October 22, 5:00 p.m.
Lecture: How to Look at an Abstract Painting
Danielle Ogden, adjunct professor, Art History & Visual Culture Program, Department of Visual & Performing Arts

Thursday, October 29, 5:00 p.m.
Lecture: The Psychology of Art
Jennifer Drake, PhD, professor of Psychology, Brooklyn College
Presented in partnership with the Departments of Psychology and Visual & Performing Arts

Thursday, November 5, 5:00 p.m.
Conversation: The Body Paramount: Gender, Tradition, and Design in the Work of Ruby Sky Stiler
Amy Smith-Stewart, senior curator, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, and Mellissa Huber assistant curator, The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Part of the Edwin L. Weisl, Jr. Lectureships in Art History, funded by the Robert Lehman Foundation

Program information can be found listed on the FUAM website and Eventbrite site.