On Jan. 17, Bridgeport”™s Housatonic Art Museum (HMA) will premiere its latest exhibit: “The Practice of Democracy: A View from Connecticut.” According to Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye, the museum”™s director, the exhibit presents “a history of housing, land use, zoning and residential segregation in Connecticut” ”” a distinctive consideration of social, political and economic hot-button topics designed to provoke conversation on difficult issues while simultaneously evoking admiration for its artistic presentation.
Reynolds-Kaye became director of the museum last September; her predecessor, Robbin Zella, had been director since June 1998 and elevated the venue into one of Connecticut”™s most respected collections. When Zella announced her plans to retire last spring, Reynolds-Kaye believed the venue would be a perfect next chapter in her professional life.
“My career has pretty much always been in academic museums and galleries,” she said. “I am originally from California and I came here to work at the Yale University Art Gallery and pursue my education as a postdoc at the Yale Center for British Art. I worked in both of those museums for three years each. And then the pandemic hit and I transitioned to working for a fully remote foundation called the Momentum Foundation, but I sort of kept my foot in the museum world ”” I was also a consultant at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and taught as an adjunct in art history at Manchester Community College.”
Reynolds-Kaye was also impressed that the HMA was home to “one of the largest collections of artworks at any community college in the country” ”” works by Renoir, Matisse, Cassatt, Picasso, Giacometti, Miro, Warhol and Rauschenberg are part of its holdings. She was also invigorated by the “incredible student population” at Housatonic Community College, where the museum is based, and by the diversity of the wider Bridgeport community.
“The job was a perfect combination of all the things I”™m really passionate about,” she said. “So, it was a dream job.”
Bringing the collection to wider audiences has been Reynolds-Kaye”™s priority since she arrived at the museum. Last month, the museum hired its first full-time collections manager ”” for years, volunteers and part-time workforce helped maintain operations ”” and the institution is now in process of digitizing the collection and making it available for online viewing.
Reynolds-Kaye stated she is also working to “build more relationships to organizations on campus, including students and faculty. I”™ve been creating partnerships with the performing arts department to have really theatrical readings in the gallery, and I am working with our Office of Student Affairs to bring more students into the gallery and museum and bring students”™ voices to all aspects of the HMA.”
“The Practice of Democracy” is curated by Designing for Democracy in partnership with Connecticut State colleges and universities, The Housing Collective, and Regional Plan Association. The HMA is the exhibit”™s first stop ”” after wrapping its presentation at the HMA on Feb. 24, it will next be seen at New Haven”™s Gateway Community College before heading to Norwalk Community College.
Reynolds-Kaye plans to follow this exhibit with the college”™s annual faculty and students”™ shows in March and April, respectively, which will then lead into a summer presentation of the highlights from the HMA”™s collection.
Looking forward into 2023, Reynolds-Kaye is eager to reinforce the HMA”™s position within the local cultural environment. She cited the museum”™s ties with the City Lights Gallery and the Bridgeport Art Trail and is eager to explore future collaborations with Paier College. She is also working with the wider Fairfield County arts community, citing the HMA”™s relationship with the Fairfield University Art Museum and MoCa Westport.
And while 2023 has just begun, Reynolds-Kaye is already planning the HMA”™s January 2024 presentations.
“As a museum director, I inherited a few projects ”” and I”™m grateful to have those already in process,” she said. “In January 2024, that will be my first exhibition program as the director.”
She added she was looking ahead with the goal “to make the HMA known nationwide. I am working with the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, which is our nationwide organization, and I”™m also working with other community college museum leaders on applying for grants and putting together panel sessions at conferences. I am hoping that some of those will have come to fruition and our name will be more recognized locally and nationally.”
