The Show on Ridgefield's Main Street That Won't Come Back for Ten Years

Since June, a white and cream textile work has hung across the front of The Aldrich at 258 Main Street and been draped around one of the windows. It marks The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me, which fills the museum's 8,000 square feet of galleries and continues into the Sculpture Garden through January 10, 2027.

The museum describes the show as "the debut of a recurring survey taking place every ten years." If that schedule holds, the next edition will open around 2036. That leaves fourteen weeks from today to see this one. The programs set between now and closing day make it easy to visit more than once without paying full admission each time.

A Survey That Only Comes Around Once a Decade

There are three rules for getting into the show. Every artist lives and works in Connecticut. None has had a solo museum exhibition in the state. All of the work on view was made in the last ten years. The Aldrich calls itself the state's only museum devoted entirely to contemporary art. Diana Bowes Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart and Assistant Curator Caitlin Monachino made more than 100 studio visits around Connecticut to choose the 40 artists.

The title comes from Wallace Stevens's 1917 poem "Theory." Stevens lived in Hartford for 40 years. Even the typeface has Connecticut roots. DROIT was designed by Christopher and Kathleen Sleboda, artists based in Guilford.

Museum director Cybele Maylone told the Observer before the opening that a ten-year cycle suits a smaller, steadier cultural community. She said the roster runs from artists in their 30s to artists in their 80s, and that some are showing in a museum for the first time. In January, when Hyperallergic announced the artist list, Smith-Stewart described Connecticut as a place for "visionary artists and daring ideas."

Not every critic agreed. Writing in ArtReview, Jenny Wu compared the Decennial with other recurring surveys. She praised Emily Larned's material on police-training reform in New Haven for bringing local history forward, but argued that the show as a whole doesn't convey a distinct local identity. If you go in expecting a portrait of Ridgefield, you won't find one. None of the participating artists we could confirm lives in Fairfield County. The home studios named in coverage are in New Haven, Woodbridge and Storrs.

Where to Start in the Galleries

Jonathan Stevenson's September review in Two Coats of Paint gives a first-time visitor a useful route through the show. He called the selection "impressively catholic," meaning it is broad and not limited to one style. He also noted that the curators ranged across the whole state and did not stay close to "New Haven and points west."

These are the works he singled out:

• Ellen Altfest's hyperrealist paintings, Julia Wachtel's enigmatic canvases, and Jen Bervin's systematic mapping of Emily Dickinson's poetry.
• Anindita Dutta's Field of Flowering Bones, a 2025 sculpture made from used shoes, a used leather coat, human hair, a purse, a broken frame and an artificial flower.
• Enrique Figueredo's woodcut Paveando en mi Cadillac Antibalas (Cruising in My Bulletproof Cadillac). The 2020 print measures 48 by 70 inches.
• Danica Lundy's Labyrinth, an oil painting eight feet tall.

Stevenson saw abstraction as the show's most telling feature, and most of it is on the second floor. He wrote that the abstract works "gather" around Lula Mae Blocton's layered paintings. Nearby are Anoka Faruqee and David Driscoll's process-based work on linen, Kristy Hughes's casual geometric sculpture, Kern Samuel's bars and blocks, Aki Sasamoto's "sounding lines," and Jilaine Jones's deliberately clunky statues.

He found the sculpture darker than it first looks. He wrote that Carl D'Alvia's banana-yellow HotRod "would move like a snail" and that his Alien is a sickly green. Edward Henderson's Snakeskin is a steel pipe, and Dan Gunn's rhinestoned "ungrateful sons" have all turned into frogs. His summary:

"I am what is around me indeed. It is, abashedly, what it is."

The Show Continues Into a Garden That Reopened in 2024

The museum says the Decennial runs "in the Galleries and the Sculpture Garden." The Sculpture Garden reopened in November 2024 after a $3.25 million renovation that started with a groundbreaking in February 2024. The project added about 50 percent more outdoor exhibition space. It also built an accessible route from Main Street through the garden and added an amphitheater. The planting was redone too. More than 100 trees and native plants went in, along with smaller areas such as a pollinator walkway and a "secret garden," so the grounds can hold art at different scales.

The Decennial uses that rebuilt three-acre campus along with the galleries. Parking in the lot next to the museum is free for all visitors.

October 17: The Easiest First Visit

The Aldrich's annual Community Day falls on Saturday, October 17, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free. It also happens to be the third Saturday of the month, which the museum already keeps free.

The day's events tie directly to the Decennial:

• 2 to 3 p.m. Anindita Dutta debuts a new performance, The Dream Of Being. It centers on a freestanding, double-sided work with day on one side and night on the other. If you saw Field of Flowering Bones in the galleries earlier, this is a chance to see the same artist working live.
• 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Aldrich educators lead art-making in The Studio inspired by the exhibition. A scavenger hunt runs through the galleries and the Sculpture Garden.
• Noon to 2 p.m. Connecticut Music Therapy Services leads an interactive music activity outdoors. Pop Art! Kids runs an outdoor art session from 1 to 3 p.m.
• Morning Story time with Ridgefield Library. Preregistration is required.

There's more throughout the day. The Caudatowa Garden Club runs a seed exchange table, where you can bring seeds to swap or take some home for your garden. Make-Modern leads a textile arts activity. Artist and creative director Bri Emery hosts "Do The Dots," a collective wall project. Woodcock Nature Center is also taking part. Food is for sale all day from Chez Lenard and Bridge Street Premium Ice.

The Rest of the Calendar, in Order

Community Day is the busiest visit of the fall. Each of the other dates gives you something different, whether that's music, the artists themselves or the curator.

1. Friday, October 9, 7 p.m. The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra Quartet plays music inspired by the Decennial. Tickets are $37.50 for Aldrich and RSO members and $42.50 for everyone else.
2. Saturday, October 17, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Community Day. Free.
3. Friday, October 30, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Lula Mae Blocton, Anoka Faruqee, David Driscoll and Kristy Hughes talk together in a conversation moderated by Karis Medina. These are the artists at the center of the second-floor abstraction galleries. You can attend in person or online, and tickets run from $5.30 to $26.50 with fees, depending on format and ticket type.
4. Saturday, November 21 A free Third Saturday with Story Time, drop-in art-making in The Studio, and an All Ages Discovery Tour from 1 to 2 p.m.
5. Wednesday, December 16, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Amy Smith-Stewart leads an after-hours tour of the show. It's free for members, $10.60 for general admission, and $5.30 for seniors and students, with fees included. This is one of the few chances to hear the curator who led more than 100 studio visits explain her choices in the galleries.
6. Saturday, December 19 The last free Third Saturday before the show closes, with the same Story Time, Studio and Discovery Tour schedule. The third weekend of January comes after January 10, so this is the final free weekend for the Decennial.
7. Sunday, December 27, 2 to 3 p.m. A Sunday Afternoon Tour, free with museum admission, that includes the Decennial.

The museum's visit page describes free admission in two ways. The admission table lists "Third Saturdays," and the text below it says the whole third weekend of each month is free. If you're planning around a Sunday, check with the museum before you go.

On regular days, The Aldrich is open noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed on Tuesdays, and the last entry is at 4:40 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors 60 and over, and $9 for students. Children under 13, members and educators get in free. The museum also closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day, which removes three dates from an already short run. For questions, the front desk is at 203.438.4519. Programs and ticket availability can change, so check The Aldrich's event calendar before you go.

At Susan Vanech Properties, we think a museum that rebuilt its garden and then set aside a decade for its home state's artists is part of what makes Main Street in Ridgefield worth the walk. If seeing how The Aldrich presents its campus has you thinking about how your own home would present, we'd be glad to talk it through. Request a confidential valuation whenever the timing suits you.