The Sculpture Barn’s fifth season blossomed early this spring with “Creative Voice II,” a collaborative exhibition with Western Connecticut State University’s Bauhaus Art Club. The show, which opened March 30 featuring a live performance by Ernest Hem’n’haw and the Shotgun Republic, includes sculpture, painting, and works on paper by professionals and WestConn professors and alumni, as well as art and non-art students.

“Creative Voice” is an opportunity for students to step outside the classroom and produce work that is an extension of themselves rather than an assignment or learned technique. David and Carter Boyajian, respective founder and director of the Sculpture Barn, will judge the show, although students and artists are showing more for the gallery experience than to be judged. With collaborations such as these, the
art community is growing more
interconnected and reaching a greater
number of people. The show is also an opportunity for art lovers to see and buy amazing pieces and tour a paramount facility nestled in the woods.

Sculpture Barn is a self-supporting art center in New Fairfield offering workshops, artist residencies, a comfortable and spacious gallery, and a rolling lawn spiked with sculpture. It is also home to the Boyajians and the best-equipped metal sculpture facility in the Northeast.

David, who teaches Drawing I and II at WestConn, runs a bronze casting workshop in the studio below the gallery in December, March, and August. Those who attend his workshops learn the Boyajian method of casting, cultivated from years of David’s sculpture work.

Katie Bassett, a senior and president of the art club, is showing a number of her sculptures in the show. Her “FemForms” are articles of women’s clothing made from oxidized copper and mesh. One of her works, a torn and tarnished apron entitled “Mother’s Little Helper,” includes various body parts of different dolls.

Evan Valente, who is taking over the club’s presidency next year, is showing a bronze shark sculpture as well as an acrylic painting. A non-art student who studied textile design is showing her own dress designs, one mounted in a slowly rotating frame and another fitted over a chair.

Professor Cynthia Nixon’s delicate watercolor collages are also gracing the gallery walls. Her drawing, painting, and art history classes are known for being intense, demanding, and well worth the effort.

“The meek at heart stay away from her classes,” Carter says. “She is extremely passionate about her work, as well as her students’ work.”

The Boyajians and the students and professors at WestConn emphasize the collaboration between the university and the gallery. The Sculpture Barn provides students with a new experience: They move off campus, show their work in a gallery, and work intimately and intensely with David. With collaborations such as these, the art community is growing more interconnected and reaching a greater number of people.

The Sculpture Barn will host a number of events throughout the year. A screening of Riff, the final installation in a film trilogy by Ridgefield filmmaker D.J. Kadagian will take place April 11. Riff, a musical, visual, and poetic collage, follows Rant and Rave, and features poems by Pablo Neruda. The event is free and so is the popcorn.

“Landforms Real and Imagined” will follow the “Voice” exhibition on May 3, featuring abstract and realistic paintings and sculptures. Opera singer Gloria Capone will perform on May 17.

The summer will bring a performance of sacred dance to the Sculpture Barn, followed by a horror psycho-drama play brought to life by three actors in July. “Pieces of Her,” a four- woman exhibition, will take place in the fall, featuring local artist Erin Walrath.

Whether you love the arts or love to make art, the Sculpture Barn has something to make your mind move. Visit the Sculpture Barn at 3 Milltown Road in New Fairfield, just off Route 39. For information on workshops and events, visit the website at SculptureBarn.com or give the Boyajians a call at (203) 746-6101.

Pictures from L to R: Sculpture Barn; “Kinky” by Katie Bassett, “Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt” by Dan Hamilton; “Hug Me, Cranium Plant Jaws” by Stacy Kolbig