City by the Sea Art Fair call for entries

City by the Sea Art Fair
89 Ellsworth St., Black Rock 06605, (203) 362-5544
1st Annual City by the Sea Art Fair
May 14—15, 2011.
Call for entries

Press release

The first annual City by the Sea Art Fair (CSAF) is scheduled for May 14–15, 2011. A weekend-long regional juried art exhibition celebrating the vitality and creativity of our waterfront metropolis, the fair will include live musical performances, samplings of some of our best local fare and other special events.

All artists working in New England with work focused on urban and maritime or coastal subject matter may apply. The show’s theme is light, water and industry. The call for artists and entry form are available for download at CityArtFair.com. The Art Fair’s jurors are Robbin Zella and Terri C. Smith, respectively, Director and Curator of Bridgeport’s Housatonic Museum of Art — which was founded in 1967 and has one of the largest permanent collections of any two-year college in New England.

Artists and art enthusiasts are encouraged to join the fair’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/CityArtFair and follow fair news on twitter at @CityArtFair. Detailed updates on entertainment and other exciting news will be announced as the date gets closer.


The City by the Sea Art Fair was born when Black Rock NRZ liaison Kathryn vanRenesse and chair Wendy Nylen, owner of Picture This/Nylen Gallery in Westport and Black Rock resident, had researched a revival of the Black Rock Arts Walk. After interviewing local businesses, artists and residents they concluded the art walk had not fulfilled the needs of the community and a new project with a fresh approach in a different venue was the optimal solution. When vanRenesse and Nylen suggested their idea, fellow committee member Bruce Williams, an artist and owner of Captain’s Cove Seaport in Black Rock Harbor, immediately volunteered to donate space for the fair. Other community members running local art galleries followed suit in volunteering their efforts, including Eileen Walsh of The Gallery at Black Rock (and, now 305K Gallery on Knowlton Street), and Maureen Buckley of Framemakers Gallery and Frame Shop.

Bridgeport is Connecticut’s largest city and home to a growing community of multidisciplinary artists. Its increasingly vibrant art scene has been gaining momentum in recent years, including offering many new outlets for local artists to live, work and exhibit their art.

“Bridgeport's creative capital is currently on display via the Arts Trail; individual artists' work represents tremendous and relatively untapped assets for this city in the midst of a strong transformation. Celebrating these assets and sharing artwork with residents and visitors must be an ever increasing phenomenon, and making common cause with Bridgeport's world of performing arts in designing future events should be a priority for organizers, including the Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council now based at the city's historic Arcade,” said Kenneth Kahn, executive director, Bridgeport Arts and Cultural Council.

City by the Sea Art Fair is presented by the Black Rock Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (BRNRZ), Black Rock Community Council (BRCC) and Captain’s Cove Seaport.