Host Ray Hardman heads to South Norwalk to The Norwalk Art Space, where he meets Erika Wesley, the Executive Director of the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. Erika is a poet, author and longtime Fairfield County resident. She shares a bit about the rich diversity of arts and artist organizations in the area, including the role The Norwalk Art Space has played since its opening in 2021 to expand opportunities and equity in the local art community.
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At The Norwalk Art Space, host Ray Hardman interviews Erika Wesley, Executive Director of Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County for Connecticut Public’s original series "Where ART Thou?” on January 17, 2024.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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The gallery of The Norwalk Art Space, a community arts and education space that opened in 2021 after being converted from a former church.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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Erika Wesley, Executive Director of Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County tells "Where ART Thou?" host Ray Hardman about the thriving arts scene in the area.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
While we’re there, we meet with one of The Norwalk Art Space’s 2023-24 resident artists, Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche. She is an oil painter and educator originally from Coahuila, Mexico. Her paintings focus on the stories and memories of the people around her and her identity as a Mexican person now living in the United States.
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Artist Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche stands in front of a painting she’s working on in her studio during filming for “Where ART Thou?” at The Norwalk Arts Space. Alejandra presents her work as a third culture that is still being shaped and recognized. The identity of being “de aquí y de allá” (from here and there) — a blend of Mexican heritage in northern soil, and not “ni de aquí ni de allá” (neither from here nor there).
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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Host Ray Hardman interviews Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche next to her painting “Trenzas de Amor” at her Norwalk Art Space studio during filming for "Where ART Thou?" in January, 2024.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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“Doña Luchona” by painter Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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— Where ART Thou? Season 3 Still Frames
Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche works in her studio at The Norwalk Art Space in January, 2024.
Dave Wurtzel / Connecticut Public
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Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche works on her painting “El Guardian” during filming for “Where ART Thou?”. At far left is visuals journalist Dave Wurtzel, far right is sound recordist Glenn Goettler.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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Host Ray Hardman interviews painter Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
On our way to Trumbull, Ray stops at The Barnum Museum in Bridgeport. The museum is currently closed to the public due to renovations, but before they go deeper into the next phase of preservation and construction, Executive Director Kathy Maher shares some of the classic pieces of Barnum's history. An immersive, 21st-century Barnum Museum is on the horizon.
Our final stop in Fairfield County is the home of visual poet and author, Monica Ong. She uses art and poetry to invite people to talk about uncomfortable issues or explore hidden histories.
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Monica Ong shows "Where ART Thou?" host Ray Hardman some of her visual poetry, where she explores how text and image can function together creating a sense of feeling.
Dave Wurtzel / Connecticut Public
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Artist and visual poet Monica Ong during an interview for "Where ART Thou?" in November 2023 at her home studio in Trumbull.
Dave Wurtzel / Connecticut Public
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Visual poet Monica Ong shows Ray Hardman her poem “The Star Gazer: Planisphere Poetry."
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
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Monica Ong reads her poem titled “Her Gaze" through a ViewMaster reel, a tribute to astronomer Caroline Herschel.
Julianne Varacchi / Connecticut Public
In 2015, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo selected her book, Silent Anatomies, as the winner of the Kore Press First Book Award in poetry. Ray has the opportunity to see the various ways Monica alchemizes words and visual mediums to create a unique experience for those who come in contact with her art.
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