Alexander Calder Installation At Mattatuck Museum

WATERBURY — The Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center will open a multimedia installation about the life and art of Alexander Calder (1898–1976). The exhibit will look at Calder’s artistic achievement and his long-term associations with artists, collectors and friends in his community of Roxbury, as well as the ironworkers of Waterbury.

Alexander Calder’s career spanned much of the 20th Century. He was famous for his mobile sculptures, elements of which balanced and moved in light and air. He also created a number of larger outdoor sculptures of bolted sheet metal.

Included in the exhibit will be a computer kiosk displaying photographs of Calder at home and at work, including many by Inge Morath, interviews of Waterbury ironworkers conducted by students at Waterbury’s Arts Magnet School (WAMS), and a mobile, a stabile, several drawings, a gouache from 1957, and a pull toy.

WAMS students studied Calder’s life, work and his contemporaries in an eight-month collaborative with the museum called “Calder Across the Curriculum.” The students conducted research, interviewed workers who made Calder pieces, and created artwork inspired by Calder. A temporary exhibit of their art will be on display for an opening reception on Thursday, February 23, at 5:30 pm.

The opening reception is free and open to the public. Call 203-753-0381, extension 10, for more information.

The Mattatuck is at 144 West Main Street, with parking available just behind the museum on Park Place.