Trinity Faculty Member’s Public Art Guide Wins Award from Connecticut League of Museums

The digital humanities website www.PublicArtCT.org—sponsored in part by Trinity College and created by a faculty member—is a recipient of a 2025 Award of Merit from the Connecticut League of Museums. The award recognizes excellence in museum work by individuals and organizations in Connecticut.

Founded and edited by Alden R. Gordon, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts, Emeritus, PublicArtCT is a free guide to art in public spaces throughout Connecticut. Visitors to the site can discover public art by town, artist or architect name, monument title, theme, and keyword as they explore the works virtually or on location. Users also can discover public art near them using geo-location mapping.

Gordon created PublicArtCT with the intention that it would integrate Connecticut’s visual cultural assets to make it as easy as possible for a visitor or a resident to discover the art that is all around them, regardless of who owns it.

“PublicArtCT takes a broad view,” Gordon said, “and helps the user to discover the connections between what was created and the people and eras in which they were made. The goal is to see the sweeping panorama that is Connecticut culture as embodied in our buildings, farms, public squares, monuments, and places of work and play.”

Sonia Cardenas, Trinity’s dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs, said, “We’re proud of the work that Professor Gordon has done to connect his expertise with a vision of public art in Connecticut, designing an impactful digital project with an educational mission at its core.”

PublicArtCT offers a growing collection of thematic tours, including “Modern Art Styles, Hartford Downtown Walking Tour,” “Colonial Places: America250,” “Women Artists,” “Science & Invention,” and “Good for Kids.” The site features tours of the Connecticut State Capitol, the Trinity College Long Walk Historic District, and many other destinations in industrialized cities like New Britain, New Haven, and Bridgeport, but also in small towns such as Wethersfield, Windsor, Granby, Farmington, and beyond.

Vanessa Sigalas, chief curator of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, wrote a critical evaluation of the application and concluded, “PublicArtCT is not simply a website—it is a museum-caliber project that expands public access to Connecticut’s art, architecture, and cultural history. As both a digital humanities platform and an ever-growing research archive, it embodies the rigor, accessibility, and public mission that define the best museum work.”

Sigalas added, “The project began as a teaching tool within Trinity’s Public Art curriculum, but it has grown into a dynamic, statewide resource. Like an exhibition or permanent collection, the site is carefully researched, curated, and presented for the public. Each entry is built on original scholarship, photography, and interpretation, ensuring both intellectual rigor and accessibility. Unlike a static catalogue, PublicArtCT functions as a living record: it continues to expand as new works of art and architecture are documented, preserving knowledge for future generations.”

Jackie Gorsky Mandyck, executive director of the iQuilt Partnership in Hartford, said that PublicArtCT—like iQuilt—is rooted in the belief that the public realm is one of Connecticut’s greatest cultural assets. “The project’s digital catalog and mapping platform make the state’s extraordinary art, architecture, and cultural landscape broadly accessible, allowing residents and visitors alike to see our streets, parks, and public spaces as living museums. This work closely mirrors iQuilt’s own mission of weaving together the threads of art, history, and placemaking to enliven Connecticut’s civic life,” Gorsky Mandyck said. “PublicArtCT is a model of how technology and humanities can combine to make culture visible, equitable, and enduring. Its statewide scope and collaborative ethos promise lasting impact for generations of residents, students, and visitors.”

Amrys Williams, the executive director of the Connecticut League of Museums, added that PublicArtCT is an excellent example of a digital project that serves many constituencies and can be used in many different ways. “Not only does it invite curiosity from the public about the public art that surrounds them, and provide a means to learn more, it also serves as a research tool for public and cultural historians interested in what our state has sought to memorialize and how, and for state and municipal leaders looking to understand public memory in the past and present,” Williams said.

The award will be presented at a ceremony at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury on Tuesday, October 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Awards of Merit Ceremony and Reception is a ticketed event that is open to the public. Registration and more information are available here.

About the Connecticut League of Museums

The Connecticut League of Museums unifies and strengthens the state’s museums and cultural resources to expand their capacity and community impact. Since 1950, the League has supported its member museums, historical societies, libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions across the state through professional development, networking and community, workshops and training, and an annual conference and awards program. The League also runs Connecticut Collections, an open-source collections management system and online portal that makes Connecticut’s museum and archival collections accessible to researchers worldwide. The League’s Awards of Merit have honored the best work happening at Connecticut’s museums, historical societies, and libraries since 1959.