The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

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Established	November 1964
Location	258 Main Street, Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States
Type	Art museum

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is a special place in Ridgefield, Connecticut. It's the only museum in Connecticut that focuses only on showing contemporary art. This means art made in our time! The museum doesn't have its own permanent collection of art. Instead, it always shows new and exciting works. It often features artists who are just starting out. It also highlights artists who are already well-known but might not get enough attention. The museum also creates new art pieces and group shows about art and society.

History of the Museum

The museum building prior to its expansion

The Aldrich Museum was started in 1964 by a man named Larry Aldrich (1906–2001). He wanted it to be one of the first museums in the United States to focus only on contemporary art. Mr. Aldrich sold his own art collection to raise money. This collection included famous artists like Picasso and Chagall. With the money, he bought an old building from the 1700s. It used to be a church and a general store. He turned it into the Larry Aldrich Museum.

The museum was first located in this old building called "Old Hundred." It was built in 1783 by two soldiers from the Revolutionary War. Over the years, the building was a grocery store, a hardware store, and a home. Today, it holds the museum's offices.

In 1967, the museum changed its name to The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. In 1981, the museum's leaders decided to sell off its permanent art collection. They did this to focus even more on showing only the newest art.

Mr. Aldrich stayed involved with the museum until he passed away in 2001. Before he died, the museum's leaders decided to make the building much bigger and better. Construction started in 2003. The new and improved galleries opened in June 2004. The museum got a new name too: The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. The new building was designed by architect Charles Mark Hay. It looks like a modern version of old New England buildings. It even won an award for its design!

In June 2022, Amy Smith-Steward became the chief curator of the museum. She is the first woman to hold this important job since the museum started.

In September 2023, the museum shared exciting plans. They want to add a secret garden, a special walkway with plants that help pollinators, and an outdoor stage. This will make the outdoor space 50% larger for art and events. They also want to make the museum easier for everyone to visit. They also plan to improve how they manage rainwater. This project will cost about $3.25 million. Construction is set to begin in the fall of 2024.

Exhibitions and Featured Artists

The Aldrich Museum shows art by artists from all over the world. These artists are often just starting out or are in the middle of their careers. Larry Aldrich once said that many famous American artists showed their work here early on. These include Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella.

Other well-known artists who have shown their work at The Aldrich include Eva Hesse, Ann Hamilton, Robert Smithson, Jack Whitten, Olafur Eliasson, Huma Bhabha, KAWS, Mark Dion, and Shazia Sikander.

Some recent and interesting exhibitions include:

• Material Witness, Five Decades of Art by Harmony Hammond (2019)
• The Domestic Plane: New Perspectives on Tabletop Art Objects (2018)
• A Roll in the Way by Kate Gilmore (2014)
• The first solo museum show for KAWS (2010)
• Cameras by Tom Sachs (2009)
• Navigator by Karla Knight (2021-22)

Learning and Education Programs

Interior view of the museum's central hall

In 1993, a program called the Student Docent Program began. A "docent" is someone who guides tours in a museum. Students from local schools were trained to lead their classmates through the museum. They learned to talk about contemporary art and ideas like shape, meaning, and symbols. Students also got to see how art shows are set up. They even met the artists!

The program helped students think carefully about how art is made and shown. It helped them understand that real people create these artworks. This program was so good that other museums across the United States started their own versions of it.

Museum Directors

• Dorothy Mayhall
• Carlus and Ruth Dyer
• Robert Metzger
• Ellen O'Donnell Rankin
• Barry Rosenberg
• Jill Snyder
• Harry Philbrick
• Alyson Baker
• Cybele Maylone

Important Board Members

• Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
• Joseph Hirshhorn
• Philip Johnson
• Vera List
• Ruby Lerner
• Michael Joo

See also

In Spanish: Museo Aldrich de Arte Contemporáneo para niños