There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love art museums and those who don’t. I fall in the latter group! So, why am I writing a story about MoCA Westport?
I have a soft spot for MoCA. I love the great drinks at the bar, the art classes for my kids and, frankly, the people. MoCA is much more than an art museum. It’s for people like me who don’t obsess about art, but love everything it encompasses.
The Westport Museum of Contemporary Art - now MoCA - has been a local gem for 50 years.
There may be no finer example of what and who MoCA is then their upcoming exhibit ‘The Westport Idea’(January 28 - March 12) of our Westport Public Arts Collection (WestPAC). Yes, we own an expansive collection of art dating back more than a century to 1910. The collection grew under the Depression-era Public Works Administration in the 1930s and in 1965 the late Burt Chernow, art historian, writer, and Westport resident, collected original fine art for students to view daily.
Burt believed that “the vital and formative years spent by children in public schools are significant in determining their adult attitudes towards art.” Westport Town Curator Kathleen Motes Bennewitz states, ”We’re a museum without walls, MoCA is giving us the walls, we’re in hallways, we’re in meeting rooms and when you put our works of art in that beautiful space it just shines.”
You may have seen some of WestPAC's incredible art at any one of eight local schools or five town buildings and never realized its rich history. “The art isn’t intended to be intimidating, it’s meant to be inviting” adds Kathleen.
It's the relatable, local quality that makes this exhibit one we can all, even skeptics like myself, appreciate. MoCA’s Director of Exhibitions Liz Leggett tells me “This is a great inter-generational opportunity.”
Liz is one of thousands of residents since the early 1900s who came to Westport because of its connection to the arts. By 1904, painters, sculptors, printmakers, and illustrators gravitated to Westport from New York City. “What happened became an art community, not an art colony. This was a very broad group of people, they were a jovial group and they got the party going” said Kathleen.
A newspaper quote from 1913, which you’ll see in the exhibit, is the quintessential summation of our history, “They belong to New York, to Paris, to Munich and Rome. They are first-class painters, and while their homes are in Westport, they are citizens at the same time of the wider art world.”
Though it often feels like more of a hedge fund town these days, our art scene is alive and well and, according to Leggett, is the reason MoCA expanded from a tiny space on Riverside Avenue to the gorgeous space at 19 Newtown Turnpike in Westport.
Renowned local photographer Jerri Graham came to Westport on the advice of a fellow artist in 2007 and says of her inclusion in this exhibit, “Whenever I take a photo, I want to make the moment last forever. Being a part of this show and this collection gives those points in time a longer life than just Instagram or Facebook.”
Well stated, Jerri! See the rest of you at Yappy Hour!
MoCAWestport.org