Fair Haven | Arts & Culture | New Haven Free Public Library | Visual Arts
Jennifer Simpson Photo.
The following was submitted by Lee Cruz, director of strategic partnerships at the Community Foundation for New Haven, with editing and writing from Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman.
Just off Grand Avenue, one side of the Fair Haven Branch Library has come to life. A dove soars across the brick, its wings lifted against the red-orange, dusky sky. Behind it, chains of bright flowers form a peace sign in violet and butter yellow; in front, a banner that reads "Peace" flutters in its beak. Two smaller birds fly ahead, finding their way. Beneath them, tiny, flattened figures link hands in the tall, undulating grass and begin to dance.
It marks the culmination of a new peace-themed mural at the Fair Haven Branch Library, thanks to a collaboration among CITYarts, the Yale School of Art, Creative Arts Workshop, ACES Educational Center for the Arts and the New Haven Free Public Library. Lee Cruz, a champion of the neighborhood who also leads the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, helped connect several of the partners.
"The energy and unity we experienced reminded us of the incredible strength we have when we come together," said CITYarts Founder and Executive Director Tsipi Ben-Haim at a ribbon cutting last week. "With every project, CITYarts plants the seeds for a new generation of creative and compassionate leaders. I firmly believe that when kids create, they don’t destroy—they uplift and inspire us all."
Oren Cohen Photo.
The mural, on which artists began work in August, has been months in the making. Earlier this year, Ben-Haim connected with CAW Director Trina Mace Learned, who hosted a partner exhibition in the Audubon Street space in June and July. As they dreamed up a mural, they looped in high school students, community partners, and artists Mitchell Rembert, Carlos Perez and Irisol Gonzalez-Vega (artist Lauren Flaaen was also an early collaborator). Gonzalez-Vega, who grew up in Costa Rica and North Carolina, is currently an MFA candidate at the Yale School of Art.
They also connected with the library, which has supported arts initiatives in Fair Haven for years. As the mural went up, Branch Manager Kirk Morrison helped Learned install an accompanying CITYarts exhibition that will run through the fall and features work from young people in over 120 countries. At the ribbon cutting last week, he encouraged attendees to take a moment inside the library to look at and reflect on the pieces, which envision peace even as violence erupts across the globe.
As they worked, artists integrated designs from 10 students at ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), including doves, flowers, vegetables grown in the library's small garden, and silhouettes of buildings. During that time, Cruz and representatives of SustinableCT also launched a fundraising campaign to raise $4,300 for the mural. It closed earlier this fall, after over 40 donors helped the mural's champions reach their goal.
Professor Kymberly Pinder, who both teaches in and is the dean of the Yale School of Art, called it part of her hope to collaborate more intentionally—and more often—with the community. In September, ECA students joined artists for two days as they worked on the mural. Young people from Fair Haven, including some who live just around the corner and use the library, have also had a hand in completing the piece.
"The power of public art is that it and its messages are accessible to everyone," she said. "The thousands and thousands of people who eventually get a glimpse of this bit of joy."