Stairwell Student Gallery Open

At Black Rock Art Center

BRIDGEPORT — Black Rock Art Center recently unveiled its newest art space, The Stairwell Student Gallery. The first offering in the new exhibition area is “Positive Results: Camera Obscura Self-Portraits,” an exhibition made up of self-portraits by area students.

The gallery is located between the first and second floor of the Black Rock Art Center, 2838 Fairfield Avenue, on the Brewster Street side of the building. This particular stairwell feels larger and more impressive than others because it has a high ceiling, checkerboard tiled floor, and a lot of sunlight during the day, said Melissa A Bernstein, general manager of the art center.

Ms Bernstein also explained that the organization “always wanted to have a place to show off the incredible creativity and talent that we see in Fairfield County’s students. Until now, there really hasn’t been a place in southwestern Connecticut where primary and secondary school students could display their work to the public.”

The Art Center plans to change out the exhibits three to four times per year with work from ongoing children’s art programs.

Thomas Mezzanotte, a Connecticut Commission of the Arts Master Teaching Artist, is a Bridgeport photographer who specializes in the camera obscura method of photography. He has worked with fourth and fifth grade students from both St Ann’s School and Black Rock School on a photography workshop this spring. He taught them about the science and history of camera obscura, helped them build their own pinhole cameras out of shoeboxes, and assisted them in taking and developing self-portraits. It is these images that are on display in Stairwell Student Gallery.

“Positive Results” will be open through June 7, Monday to Friday, from 1 to 5 pm. Free parking is available behind the building on Brewster Street. For more information, call 203-367-7917 or visit www.BlackRockArtCenter.org.