Spark | Arts & Culture in and around Connecticut contributed by Julie Durkin Marty

There’s something refreshing about walking into a bar for a drink and finding yourself standing in front of a painting that stops you cold. That’s happening more in Connecticut, where gallery space is rarer and rarer. The state has lost several galleries recently, including Parkville Art Gallery.

Each closure means fewer walls, fewer opportunities for artists to show. That loss is real — not just for artists but for all of us. Art is how a community understands itself, marks time, and stays human. But artists find other ways to be seen and heard, like at restaurants, bars, the occasional library or coffee shop, turning them into unofficial gallery spaces. Here are a few shows you can see in non-gallery settings.

La Zingara is one. The beloved Bethel restaurant and bar has allowed The Bethel Arts Association to make it their home, and the BAA is using it well: Right now they are showing Daisy Gesualdi’s solo show. 

The anchor piece, “Contained” (oil on panel, 11″ x 24″), hangs against exposed brick with a quiet confidence. A pale fish floats within a dark oval against a vivid orange-red ground. It seems neither trapped nor free — just suspended, mid-thought. You find yourself looking longer than you expected.

“Wreath” is gentler — botanical shapes arc upward as if caught mid-spin and frozen – and “Gather” pushes into stranger territory: small human figures arranged around a sphere above a golden mountain, suggesting ritual. It’s the most intriguing piece in the show.

What holds it all together is that Gesualdi keeps returning to the same shapes — the mountain, botanical forms, the circle and line, scattered plants and stems —images that show up again and again in her work like recurring dreams, and each time they feel a little more like her own. That’s the mark of an artist in command of her talents.

In Redding, The Georgetown Owl hosts John Runa Lansden Hartman’s charcoal and mixed media works. 

The image that lingers most is a large unblinking eye at the center of the page, flanked by two wing-like pink shapes, with small flowers and strawberries scattered below, as if  an offering watched carefully by two smaller at the edges. It’s strange in the best way: the kind of image that doesn’t explain itself and doesn’t need to. Hartman uses his materials to build up layers that give the work a raw, searching quality. This is someone following a vision without apology.

Kathy Coe’s works at the Ridgefield Library will also leave a lasting impression. 

The artist paints portraits, still lifes, and figures that capture more than a likeness: The mood of a room, not just the objects in it. Working from life in natural light, she lets each painting find its own pace rather than forcing it somewhere.

Her teacup paintings are a good place to start if you’re new to her work. Small, painted on linen, each one is just a cup with light falling across it. Nothing is happening and everything is. That’s what Coe does consistently — she finds the quiet moment just before or just after the story and stays there. You end up staying there, too.

Coe is also showing a completely different body of work at one of the state’s few galleries right now – my own, G-Town Arts, But, yes, galleries do still exist, including my own: G-Town Arts and Culture, where you can enjoy her show, In Bloom. & Seen. 

• Daisy Gesualdi: Painting & Drawings | La Zingara, Bethel CT | April 26th – June 21st, 2026 

• Kathy Coe: | Ridgefield Library, Lower Level | April 24 – May 23, 2026 

• John Runa Lansden Hartman: | The Georgetown Owl, Georgetown CT | Through May 2026

• Kathy Coe: In Bloom & Seen | 5 Main Street, Redding, CT | May 15 – June 13, 2026