.: The Four Projects

.: The Artists

.: Our Community

.: Past Public Art Projects

Real Public: four public art projects in Parkville and Frog Hollow
free cell phone audio tour, narrated by the artists: 860-760-9979

See images from all four artists here

The Four Projects

Four public art projects, each created specifically for Hartford, make use of the existing creativity, vibrancy, and culture of the Parkville and Frog Hollow neighborhoods.

Photographer Margarida Correia has been working with members of Hartford’s Portuguese community.A Parkville billboard displays the Praia da Nazaré, Portugal's famous beach. Street lamp banners on Park Street display album covers of famous Fado singers. Stores along Parkville play music from the albums. Artist Talk: TBA

Satch Hoyt created a labyrinth in Frog Hollow's Pope Park. The labyrinth, constructed from clotheslines, addresses the migratory voyage of the residents who reside in the neighborhood. The public are invited to traverse the labyrinth's path. Artist Talk: Thursday, May 28 6 PM, with Matthew Rodriguez

Sofia Maldonado's mural, on the Pelican Tattoo building in Frog Hollow, blends elements of female aesthetics and street cultures. Maldonado worked with two interns to create the project, including a neighborhood teenager from Mi Casa. Artist Talk: Thursday, August 27, 6 PM

Matthew Rodriguez Has created faces on 77 trees in Pope Park The results are playful “characters” residing in the neighborhood’s neglected spaces. Artist Talk: Thursday, May 28 6 PM, with Satch Hoyt

The Artists

Kristina Newman-Scott, Real Art Ways’ Director of Visual Arts, explains the artist selection process:
“The world of contemporary art can sometimes be very insular, its audience limited to those who seek it out in galleries. The artists we selected for this program have a particular interest in working in the public realm, and their works simultaneously connect people to the art and to each other. Therein lies the magic.”

Margarida Correia was born in Lisbon, Portugal. Margarida's work explores the relationships that people from her generation develop with things they collect and care for. She is interested in how inherited objects are interwoven with personal stories to develop our understanding of history, how they can go beyond their simple physical existence by linking the cultural values of successive generations.

Satch Hoyt, born in London to a white British mother and a father of African-Jamaican ancestry, is currently living and working in Berlin, Germany. The sculptural trope in Hoyt’s work addresses the facts on the ground, so to speak, of black experience, while his drawings tap into a spirit of fantasy, refuge, and transcendence. Hoyt is also an accomplished professional musician and composer. His visual art often draws from his musical background.

Sofia Maldonado was born in Puerto Rico. During her undergraduate studies she painted numerous murals, with or without permission, in abandoned buildings, barrios and indoor spaces as a way to bring beauty to each site. Sofia's artwork is a blend of fashion trends, the Latina female aesthetic and various street culture elements, such as skateboarding, graffiti, public art, reggaeton and punk music.

Matthew Rodriguez was born in Houston, Texas. His childlike creations encapsulate urban anxieties while ridiculing them by standing out in stark contrast to their decaying surroundings. He draws out and celebrates the character of these overlooked spaces, asking the viewers to recognize the potential in the world around them.

Our Community

Last summer, Hartford made international news as the site of a hit and run accident in Frog Hollow. The incident was caught on a security camera; the grainy black and white video appeared to show a chilling scene: bystanders staring at a man in agony on the street, idling while someone else suffered. The apparent lack of compassion by the residents of this Hartford neighborhood was discussed on the major national news networks. The Hartford Courant front page the next day read “SO INHUMANE.” While it was later revealed that four bystanders immediately called 911, the initial perception of apathy lingered.

During that same week, a long-time Hartford activist was mugged and beaten while walking to breakfast in Frog Hollow. The public perception of the Frog Hollow and Parkville neighborhoods became intertwined with two chilling incidences of violence.

At the same time, the Real Art Ways staff were well into the planning of the four public art projects. In this new context, the projects became an opportunity to confound and reverse public perception through the creation of innovative new work that draws directly from the communities in these two neighborhoods.

Will K. Wilkins, executive director of Real Art Ways, says:
“Frog Hollow and Parkville are two urban neighborhoods with a lot to offer. Real Art Ways is sponsoring this new art, but we are also trying to make people aware of what is already in the neighborhoods.”

Past Public Art Projects

Real Art Ways’ history of commissioning, organizing, and presenting public art projects exhibits the organization’s commitment to community and to excellent, innovative art. Since 1990, Real Art Ways has originated, commissioned and produced 27 public art projects. Past participants in our public art program include: Rachel Berwick, Mel Chin, Karin Giusti, Lillian Hsu-Flanders, Liz Miller, Pepón Osorio, Robert Peters, Carl Pope, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, James Luna, Jessica Diamond, Danny Tisdale, Steed Taylor, Harrell Fletcher, Verandah Porche, Pruitt.Early, and Ellen Driscoll, and others.

.: Real Art Ways' online public art archive

Support

Major support for Real Public comes from:

The Ensworth Charitable Trust, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, The Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Art Campaign, The J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Sandy and Howard Fromson, Travelers, Robinson and Nancy Grover, The Wallace Foundation, and Real Art Ways' Members.

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Our archive is growing to include the numerous gallery shows and public art projects which have taken place at Real Art Ways since its founding in 1975. Please visit our public art archives and read through some of the past exhibitions and keep a look out for upcoming exhibitions and projects.

.: Real Art Ways Archives

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