The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

Exhibitions:in 2023, The Aldrich opened five new exhibitions, three Aldrich projects, one main street sculpture project, and a new Aldrich box series. In january, we opened our first Aldrich project: kathleen ryan: head and heart. It featured two of ryan's monumental sculptures, daisy chain, 2021 and pearls, 2017, sited in The Museum's leir atrium. Kathleen ryan: head and heart was on view january 12, 2023 to may 14, 2023. In february, we opened a solo exhibition and group exhibition: prima materia: The periodic table in Contemporary Art and hangama amiri: a homage to home. Prima materia was a group exhibition linking works of Art with an element from The periodic table - exploring science, The environment, sociology, politics, and The spiritual through elemental origins. It was on view february 5 to august 27, 2023. Hangama amiri: a homage to home was The solo Museum debut of The afghan canadian artist hangama amiri. Amiri's work combines painting and printmaking techniques with textiles-weaving together stories based on memories of her homeland and her diasporic experience. The exhibition unveiled a new body of work created for The Aldrich. It was on view february 5 to june 11, 2023 and then traveled to The kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas city, mo, where it opened on january 26 and remained on view through may 5, 2024.in may, we installed The second Aldrich project: amy brener: harbingers. It was The artist's first solo Museum presentation in The us. The two works included, flexi-shield harbinger (rose) and flexi-shield harbinger (ice), both 2021, were suspended from The ceiling in The Museum's leir atrium. Amy brener: harbingers was on view may 17, 2023 to september 3, 2023.in june, we opened raven halfmoon: flags of our mothers, which was co-organized with The bemis center for Contemporary arts in omaha, Nebraska. It is halfmoon's first major traveling Museum exhibition; it features new and recent works made over The last five years, including The debut of The artist's largest works to date, including a three-part stacked ceramic sculpture standing over twelve-feet tall. The exhibition was on view at The Aldrich from june 25, 2023, to january 7, 2024. It will be on view at The bemis center may 18 to september 15, 2024. In july, we opened alex strada and tali keren: proposal for a 28thamendment? Is it possible to amend an unequal system (2021-present). It was exhibited in The Museum's sculpture garden and front terrace. Strada and keren's work was on view from july 15 to september 17, 2023.in september, we installed our third and final Aldrich project for The year, ping zheng: where memories of travels go and two solo exhibitions: yvette mayorga: dreaming of you and chiffon thomas: The cavernous. Ping zheng: where memories of travels go was The artist's first solo Museum presentation in The us, installed in The Museum's leir atrium, it debuted six new paintings on paper by The artist. Ping zheng: where memories of travels go was on view september 7, 2023 to january 7, 2024. Yvette mayorga: dreaming of you is mayorga's first solo Museum presentation on The east coast and includes a combination of new and borrowed works made over The last seven years alongside a new artist-designed wallpaper and ceramic vase made during a monthlong residency at cermica suro in guadalajara, mexico. Yvette mayorga: dreaming of you is on view september 15, 2023 to march 17, 2024. Chiffon thomas: The cavernous is thomas' first solo Museum exhibition and includes a new body of sculptural work including The artist's first outdoor sculpture, marking this year's main street project, sited on The Museum's campus along ridgefield's historic main street. Chiffon thomas: The cavernous is on view september 15, 2023 to march 17, 2024.the 2023 Aldrich box featured hilma's ghost, laura ortman, ali kenner brodsky. Inaugurated in 2021, The Aldrich box is a year-long traveling exhibition unbound to a physical space. This year's edition focused on performance-underscoring The cooperative and interdisciplinary aspects of making Art. A collaboration between The Museum's curatorial and education departments, it featured commissions by dancer and choreographer ali kenner brodsky, musician, composer, and artist laura ortman, and The feminist artist collective hilma's ghost (founded by artists and educators dannielle tegeder and sharmistha ray). Each artist/collective created work presented inside individualized Aldrich boxes, which was accompanied by a live performance enacted inside The Museum. The Aldrich boxes were released on a rolling basis from december 18, 2022 through march 3, 2024. The public is invited to borrow an Aldrich box for up to a week at no cost. One of The Aldrich boxes has been on view inside The Museum's leir atrium throughout The project's duration. Five exhibitions and two Aldrich projects are accompanied by Museum publications. For The two Aldrich projects, amy brener and ping zheng, we published 8-page 'zines. For hangama amiri: a homage to home we published The artist's first Museum publication, a 60-page, softcover, perfect bound, 9 x 9 inches catalogue. Prima materia was accompanied by a 70-page, softcover, 8 x 9.5 inches catalogue published by The Museum. Raven halfmoon's exhibition, flags of our mothers, is accompanied by The artist's first Museum publication, a hardcover book, 8.5 x 11 in. With 120 pages,

Museum operations: exhibition and public and school programs require a well-maintained, high-functioning facility to house The exhibitions and provide a place for programs. To accomplish this, funds are used for maintenance, security, capital projects, utilities, depreciation, and operations staffing.

Public and school programs:aldrich education experienced an exciting 2023 season through a variety of programming with partners, community members and audiences of all ages inspired by The wide array of exhibitions. In public programming, we began The year launching The first edition of The Aldrich box created by dancer and choreographer ali kenner-brodsky and presented a sold-out dance-theater performance by kenner-brodsky developed with numerous collaborators. On february 25th, we offered a sold-out art-making workshop led by hangama amiri sharing her process of making large-scale fabric works. We continued our Aldrich after hours throughout The year, offering late hours in The gallery alongside a variety of programming including book signings, music, tours, and more. Throughout The year we held curator and expert-led tours of current exhibitions as well as conversations between exhibiting artists and academics in relevant fields. In july, we organized our first collaboration with The prospector theater in ridgefield, ct - a film screening of christopher nolan's oppenheimer and pre-film conversation with artist bryan mcgovern wilson and richard klein on wilson's work oppenheimer's ghost, a replica of The iconic hat worn by j. robert oppenheimer cast it from uranium glass. In september, we hosted a solo improvisational performance by composer and artist laura ortman alongside The launch of her Aldrich box - interactive boxes made from violins with limited edition books of her music transcribed for The first time. In october, we hosted a free day of tours and artmaking inspired by The colossal sculptures of raven halfmoon on indigenous people's day for families. Our "getting" Contemporary Art lecture series returned in october focused on our current exhibitions from an Art historical context. We also held performances by ridgefield symphony orchestra's chamber quartet concert inspired by raven halfmoon's exhibition and worked for The first time with new canaan library utilizing their new commercial teaching kitchen with a cookie decorating workshop inspired by yvette mayorga's work and led by caitlin monachino. We hosted a bilingual tour for The first time featuring yvette mayorga's exhibition inside The galleries with a spanish translator paired with caitlin monachino. We also hosted additional workshops in coil-building inspired by raven halfmoon and as a part of our third and final Aldrich box, launched in early december, and created by The spiritualist feminist Art collective, hilma's ghost, founded by artists sharmistha ray and dannielle tegeder. The project consisted of a workshop and an apothecary box with spell jars inspired by women artists and spiritual leaders and instructions for users on magical rituals in their everyday lives. Inspired by artist hangama amiri's story and her exhibition, we reached out to regional iris and dara volunteers who assist refugees and immigrants. On may 6th, we hosted afghan families we connected with through The iris network for a guided tour and art-making workshop led by hangama amiri herself. We have held over a dozen group tours for individuals and organizations including three girl scout visits from The ridgefield area, two daisies, and one brownie troop. In july and august, we partnered with rosie voulgaris of pop Art! Kids for two family workshops featuring five multi-sensory artmaking and play stations and reached over three dozen