Mattatuck Museum Public Re-Opening and New Exhibits

After nearly two years and $9 million, the Mattatuck Museum located in Waterbury, Connecticut is proud to announce its re-opening on Sunday, February 28th, 2021 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. The Museum opens with four new exhibitions, an artist installation in the Plaza, reinstallation of the permanent collection, and a re-interpretation of the Orton P. Camp, Jr. History Exhibit. The renovation project has brought to life a reimagined space that continues to be a welcoming, inclusive, stimulating, and enriching community anchor. 

The “new” Mattatuck Museum includes an extensive 14,000 square foot renovation to the existing building and an addition of almost 7,000 square feet to expand educational programming, collections storage, and exhibitions. 

 In keeping with the idea of blending the historic and the modern, the new Museum plans to showcase a broad array of exhibitions and programs in the coming months, kicking off with the inaugural exhibitions opening on February 28th: 

· Free as Air and Water (on view through April 11): Guest curator Tajh Rust presents works by five emerging artists, all Yale MFA graduates, that remind us of the fluidity and buoyancy of these elements: Genesis Báez, Maria de Los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez, Naomi Lisiki, Allison Minto, and Anne Wu. While air and water are classic examples of simplicities we often take for granted, access to both is still a difficulty for many people. 

· Unleashed: The Art of Robert C. Jackson (on view through April 18): Full of wit and character Robert Jackson's paintings celebrate contemporary life while consistently drawing from his rich knowledge and love for art history. 

· Collecting Presidential History: Signatures and Ephemera: This exhibit represents a significant gift to the Mattatuck Museum of presidential signatures collected by Francis T. “Fay” Vincent Jr. augmented with ephemera from the collection of the Museum. Vincent, a Waterbury native and Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1989-1992, made this donation in honor of his parents. 

· The Future Starts Now: Recent Gifts to the Collection (on view through April 11): Our collection continues to grow in prominence with gifts of fine and decorative art, historical objects, and archives. We are extremely grateful to the generous donors of these recent additions of works that represent a diverse group of artists, Nazca textile fragments, 19th-century Tonalist paintings, political ephemera, and texts for our library. 

 · Cross Currents: A commissioned work by Connecticut artist Don Gummer has been permanently installed in front of the new Museum addition. Inspired by the beautiful and open Green and the intersection of the many roads surrounding it, Gummer has created a new monument to the life of Downtown Waterbury. 

These exhibitions are accompanied by a full roster of exciting and engaging programs for adults, families, and children including studio workshops, lectures, artist talks, and more. In response to COVID-19 and social distancing protocols, these programs are being offered both virtually and in-person. For more information on all of the Museum’s upcoming programs, events, and exhibitions visit the Museum’s website at mattmuseum.org or call (203) 753-0381. 

ABOUT THE MATTATUCK MUSEUM 

Located in the heart of downtown Waterbury’s architectural district, the Mattatuck Museum is a vibrant destination, known locally and regionally as a community-centered institution of American art and history. The collections at the Mattatuck Museum span the history of American art from the colonial era to the present day with special strengths in Naugatuck Valley history and Connecticut artists, as well as artists from around the world representing the diversity of our community. The Mattatuck Museum houses 15,000 objects in its varied collections and is also recognized for its collection of buttons, a group of 20,000 miniature works from around the world, donated by the Waterbury Companies in the 1970s.