“The Meaning of Us” featuring Resident Artists Greg Aime, Lily Morgan and Tiara Trent & Visiting Teachers Tim Cronin, Darcy Hicks, and Aisha Naliah. Opening reception on April 20th: Students of the Petty/Drayton Music Program will perform at 6:30pm. The Norwalk Metropolitan Youth Ballet will perform a dance at 7pm, inspired by the exhibited works (choreography by Yvonne Marie-Sain and Adam Holmes). Music teachers from INTEMPO will perform throughout the night. Exhibition runs through June 1st.

The Norwalk Art Space started with the primary intention of giving under-served students free art education and opportunity. The classes would be taught by emerging artists in our Resident Artist program, giving these artists teaching experience to build their careers and resumes. This year, we invited other talented artists outside our Resident Artist program to help teach. With this larger group of artists, we grew our program to offer 14 semester-long classes, giving 168 students opportunities to learn about art and activism, collage, color theory, character design, drawing as meditation, and installation art. These classes not only taught artistic craft and process but also focused on creative thinking and the importance of each student finding their own voice. Strengthening these life skills leads to stronger individuals who can be more confident in any career path they choose.

During the last 22 months, we at The Norwalk Art Space have watched how transformational our space can be to our community, and we are encouraged to create more programming. However, we wouldn’t be able to do so much without the support of our artists, teachers, volunteers, sponsors and students, who help to define who we are.