Levy’s Big Baby Continues Exhibition Schedule At Aldrich

RIDGEFIELD — The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art may have closed to visitors on August 31 as the museum moved into the next stage of its current renovation and expansion project, but that hasn’t stopped the museum from presenting artwork.

The machinery, massive piles of dirt and steel beams erupting from what was once the sculpture garden at 258 Main Street in Ridgefield are clear indications that the museum’s project is moving forward. A giant baby sculpture sitting outside the museum’s building – a full seven feet tall – is yet another.

The sculpture by Nina Levy, appropriately titled “Big Baby,” will remain in front of The Aldrich until May 2004, throughout the period the museum is closed for renovation.

The museum selected sculptor Nina Levy as the inaugural artist in a series of site-specific installations titled “Main Street Sculpture Project.” Ms Levy, who is a new mother with an eight-month-old son, has sculpted a large brooding newborn baby. Both looming and portentous, “Big Baby” represents the constant attention and demands of a newborn, full of the importance that a new life embodies.

Ms Levy’s timely subject also signals the birth of this exhibition series, as well as the rebirth of the museum in the spring. Without gallery space to welcome visitors until spring, the museum is encouraging onlookers to greet the hefty newborn as he sits on a bench aiming to captivate the family-friendly town of Ridgefield and passersby along the town’s highly trafficked Main Street.

Aldrich exhibitions and performances continue off-site while the museum is closed to the public to complete the exciting renovation and expansion project. Museum galleries are scheduled to reopen in spring 2004, with the entire project scheduled for completion in fall 2004.

Response to the museum’s $9 million capital campaign to support the construction has been positive. To date, almost 60 percent of the capital campaign goal has been raised, highlighted by a recent $1 million gift from a Ridgefield resident.

The museum celebrated its 40th anniversary of exhibitions, education, and art-making inside its walls this year. The renovation and expansion will restore the “Old Hundred” – the museum’s historic and original building, built in 1783 – for administrative purposes and also construct a new building, doubling the museum’s existing size, which will feature flexible climate-controlled galleries with full handicapped accessibility.

Visit www.AldrichArt.org or call 203-438-4519 for more information on The Aldrich’s construction plans and events planned for when the museum is closed to the public.