Connecticut Landmarks to host artist exhibitions at historic house museums

Roses at First Encounter Beach by Gina Trusiewicz

History and art go hand-in-hand at Connecticut Landmarks’ historic house museums across the state. From decorative wallpaper and landscaped gardens to paintings, ceramics, and statues, when touring the organization’s museums, visitors will discover the significance of the art to the lives of the people who lived in the homes. To complement the historical pieces of art, Connecticut Landmarks displays the work of talented local artists at select museum locations each year to connect the experiences and perspectives of people today to those who lived in its house museums in the past. This year, visit the organization’s Hartford, Suffield, and Coventry museum locations for the 2025 featured art exhibitions by Amanda Roy, Emma Chadwick, Luis Cotto, Frank Poulin, Andy Hart, Gina Trusiewicz, and Scott E. Rhoades.

This season at Hartford’s Butler-McCook House & Garden, the Amos Bull Community Room and the Butler-McCook Aetna Gallery will be home to several artist exhibitions. The exhibitions are free and will be open during the Butler-McCook House & Garden’s open tour days on the first Saturday of the month between May and December from 1 pm–4 pm, as well as during the free Sunset Sounds Concert Series held on the property every second Thursday between June and September from 6 pm–8 pm, with grounds opening at 5 pm. The exhibitions will also be open during the Make Music Day concert on June 21, 6 pm–8 pm and Connecticut Historic Gardens Day on June 22, 12 noon–4 pm. If you are interested invvisiting the exhibitions in the Amos Bull Community Room during weekday business hours, pleasevcontact olivia.grella@ctlandmarks.org to schedule a visit.

From May 3 to June 30, Hartford-based artist Amanda Roy will display works from her exhibition, Through the Layers, in the Amos Bull Community Room. Known for her unique process of creating abstract and meditative artworks using handmade inks derived from natural materials, her painting process allows the symbolic meanings of plants and her connections with music to influence her color palettes and brushstrokes. Roy’s art incorporates mark-making with various tools and embroidery stitched with threads dyed with her handmade inks. Roy was named a member of the Hartford Business Journal’s (2019) and Connecticut Magazine’s (2020) “40 Under 40” for her work in arts administration and community organizing. She is also currently the Interim CEO at the Greater Hartford Arts Council. An opening reception for this exhibitionwill be held before the first Sunset Sounds concert of the season on Thursday, June 12, from 5 pm–6 pm.

Emma Chadwick, a multimedia artist located in East Hartford, will have her work on display in the Aetna Gallery between May 3 and July 31. The exhibition, your hand holding mine, is a series of black and white 35mm film photograph enlargements and woodblock prints. Chadwick completed her BFA with a concentration in photography at the University of Connecticut in 2023. She is currently a Makerspace staff member at the Welles Turner Memorial Library in Glastonbury and at East Hartford Raymond Library. An opening reception for this exhibition will be held during the first Sunset Sounds concert of the season on Thursday, June 12, from 5 pm– 7:30 pm.

The Amos Bull Community Room will hold Luis Cotto’s exhibition, aqui to be called negrito, from July 7 to August 31. Cotto is a cultural worker and photographer with over three decades of experience, based in New England and Cidra, Puerto Rico. Raised in Hartford, his passions range from arts equity to civic engagement at the municipal level. He loves catching live music sets as much as walking empty streets, capturing the ways urban and rural spaces breathe. Cotto has combined his passions by giving talks at universities on placemaking and placekeeping in communities of color. Cotto’s collection draws inspiration from the closing lines of Pedro Pietri’s seminal poem, “Puerto Rican Obituary,” and, like the poem, is a tribute to the melanin-rich resilient subjects who navigate spaces not always designed for them. Cotto continues the conversation begun by Pietri and the Nuyorican poets, exploring how contemporary life mirrors, redefines and complicates the immigrant experience in today’s world. An opening reception for this exhibition will be held before the Sunset Sounds concert on Thursday, July 10, from 5 pm–6 pm. From August 1 to November 1, Andy Hart’s work will be on display in the Aetna Gallery. Hart is a writer, graphic designer, and photographer at the Hartford News and the Hartford Guide. A Hartford native and resident, he enjoys photographing and documenting the region and especially its many diverse communities. In addition to assignments for various publications, he does freelance photography for Riverfront Recapture, Achieve Hartford, Capital Community College, Hartbeat Ensemble and the University of Saint Joseph. An opening reception for this exhibition will be held before the Sunset Sounds concert on Thursday, September 11, from 5 pm–6 pm.

Windham-based professional photographer Frank Poulin will display his work in the Amos Bull Community Room between September 11, 2025 and Spring 2026. Poulin specializes in action photography, documenting sports for several New England colleges and universities. However, capturing portraits of nature is what feeds his soul. He also documents Hartford-area musicians and musical events. An opening reception for this exhibition will be held before the Sunset Sounds concert on Thursday, September 11, from 5 pm–6 pm.

In Suffield, the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden will host Gina Trusiewicz’s exhibition, Pastel Paintings, in its Visitor Center this season. With a longtime interest in art, Trusiewicz developed her craft in an online class during the pandemic. Her interest in nature, animals, and plants, combined with her certification as a Master Gardener, has inspired the work for this exhibit–capturing everyday moments and the feelings they evoke through the medium of soft pastel sticks. This exhibition is free and open during the museum’s regular open hours on the second Sunday of every month between June and October, 1 pm–4 pm. During the museum’s open tour day on September 14, Trusiewicz will be onsite from 1 pm–2 pm to demonstrate the art of pastel painting.

At the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry, experience the work of artist and art instructor Scott E. Rhoades between August 9 and August 31 for his Scenic New England art exhibition. Raised in Coventry, Rhoades’ work has been published in several magazines, and his school mural program was nationally recognized. He will receive a first-place prize from Marlborough Arts Center for the painting featured above, “Nathan Hale Homestead Field,” which also won the 2024 Painting Award at the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition will be free and open to the public during the museum’s regular open hours (Friday & Saturday, 12 noon–4 pm and Sundays, 10 am–2 pm). Stop by on Sundays in August during the Coventry Farmers’ Market to visit Rhoades, who will be onsite working on his latest artwork and answering questions.

Additional information about the artists and the exhibitions can be found at www.ctlandmarks.org/art.

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Connecticut Landmarks to host artist exhibitions at historic house museums