Hartford Art Galleries, Museums, Supplies & More

Best art galleries Hartford museums supplies classes your area

Over the next few minutes we will be breaking down everything we know about art in Hartford in full detail and our first section will fully cover the best art galleries and museums near you.

After that we will get into a variety of other topics like art supply stores, events, festivals, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, local sculptures and statues, art classes, studios for rent, and the top frame shops in your area.

You can jump straight to any section that interests you most by using the table of contents on the left and we are also including a Hartford art map with all of the spots we mention throughout the post pinned on it.

The Northeast is an area that we have covered often on our site.

Best Art Galleries & Museums In Hartford

If you want to check out the best art galleries and museums in Hartford you can head to:

Daniel Wadsworth was one of the first significant American art patrons and he established the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art which is open from noon to 5pm Thursday through Sunday all the way back in 1842. Its collections of nearly 50,000 works of art span 5,000 years and feature drawings, paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts.

The Amistad Center is housed within the Wadsworth Atheneum Building and includes a large collection of art, artifacts, and popular culture objects that document the experience, expressions, and history of persons of African American heritage.

With approximately 2,100 pieces of art, rotating exhibitions, a print study room, and a variety of events for students and the general public the Art Museum at USJ provides a wealth of opportunities for art study and enjoyment.

For the past 90 years The Bushnell has been a focal point of life in your area serving as a one-of-a-kind meeting space for arts, education, and community events. The Bushnell presents, develops, inspires, and shares the finest in the performing arts as a vibrant 21st Century performing arts center.

Real Art Ways began in the fall of 1975 when a group of visual artists and musicians took over a rambling upstairs space on Asylum Street and turned it into a bare bones salon where they lived, worked, and displayed the work of others. Today it is widely considered as one of the country’s premier contemporary art locations including films, concerts, plays, readings, exhibitions, and a gathering place before and after events.

Open Studio Weekend was founded in 1989 by a small group of artists, the majority of whom relied solely on the sale of their work who banded together to promote their works and help one another. By the fifth year the participation had risen to 50 local artists thanks to this small group, the burgeoning live-in artist community establishing in the Colt Building, and additional studios on Arbor Street.

Members of Hartford Fine Art & Framing are all creative individuals with extensive experience in art buying and commissioning, picture framing, and design. There’s a lot to see in their lovely gallery and frame store where oils, photographs, pastels, watercolors, sculptures, and fine crafts are available.

The Davison Art Center is open from noon to 4pm every day but Monday when they are closed housing Wesleyan’s art collection which is mostly comprised of graphic art and photography. In its study room they assist teaching, learning, and research and in its gallery they give public exhibitions.

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts began in the autumn of 1973 located in an eleven-building complex designed by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo who are Architects. Crowell Concert Hall, World Music Hall, CFA Hall, CFA Theater, Davison Art Center, and the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery are among the performance and exhibition locations.

The Great Hartford Arts Council does some great work for the whole community and while we don’t really know which section to put them in they definitely deserve a shout out so we are just going to throw them in here.

Materials & Supplies Near You

These art stores in your area should have all of the materials and supplies you desire:

Jerry’s Artarama has been proudly serving artists with only the finest art materials and supplies since 1968.

We doubt we need to tell you what the chain store Michaels is all about.

Dollar Tree sells a variety of craft products, including paint materials, wood crafts, and flower crafts. Ribbon, raffia, crafting essentials, decorations, gems and beads, craft containers, and other cheap art supplies are available.

Shows & Events

These local art shows and events are a can’t miss:

Unique and original art abounds at the Connecticut Convention Center for the second annual Hartford Artisan Showcase from paintings to ceramics and metal arts to jewelry. This unique and fascinating exhibit is a juried event and will exhibit unique art and high-quality crafts throughout the weekend.

Open Studio Hartford is a free city-wide event held throughout the month of November starting with a popular kick-off reception, group show, and performance art weekend followed by two open studio weekends. It is a collaboration designed to promote the local arts community with an enjoyable, educational and inspiring event.

Art Dealers & Appraisers

When you want to find some new unique pieces to add to your collection or figure out the true value of something visit art dealers and appraisers like:

Sandy Welch Art has a colorful daring palette that exudes vitality and a fresh dynamic feminine vision.

Ellen Smith Fagan has been selling excellent art and writings on the internet since 2000.

Walking Tours

Framing art supply stores Hartford lessons near you studios

Art walking tours near you can be a lot of fun when the weather is nice:

The Hartford Art & Monuments Walk is a walking tour on the sidewalks that highlights some of the city’s important sculpture and monuments like those at the Butler-McCook House, City Hall, the Wadsworth Athenaeum, the State Capitol, and Bushnell Park.

Sculptures & Statues

You might also want to take some photos of these statues and sculptures in your area:

  • Nathan Hale at 669-615 Main St
  • Calder Stegosaurus at 10 S Prospect St
  • Monolith at 613 Main St
  • Andersonville Boy Civil War Prisoners Memorial at 210 Capitol Ave
  • Abraham Lincoln Statue at 235 E River Dr
  • Christopher Columbus Statue at 80 Harbor Dr, Middletown

Ella Burr McManus’ original twenty-four-inch model of Calder’s Stegosaurus was exhibited on May 31, 1972 and the bright orange-red steel structure, constructed from the sculptor’s plans, rises fifty feet in height and spreads thirty-two feet.

Andersonville Boy is a bronze sculpture on a pink granite foundation that was designed by R.C. Sturgis in 1907.

Sixteen abstract and traditional sculptures related to Abraham Lincoln’s life and times have been put along the Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk. Bruno Lucchesi’s sculpture depicts President Lincoln and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe meeting in Washington DC in 1862.

The Christopher Columbus Statue was constructed in 1996 by people and groups to commemorate the victory of the human spirit over hardship and it was designed by Jerry T. Williams.

Hartford Art Classes

You might be interested in private lessons or group classes for kids, teens, or adults but either way the best art schools in Hartford would be:

The CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts is a magnet arts high school that serves students from this town and the surrounding communities that was started by Dr. Janet Brown in 1985. Dance, musical theater, music, theater, visual arts, and theatrical design and production are among the majors available to students.

The Joseloff Gallery, the Donald and Linda Silpe Gallery, the Kaman Print Study Center, and Art on Campus are all part of the Hartford Art School Galleries as these exhibition spaces excite the community all year and engage students on a regular basis via unique visual experiences. They offer eight studio majors leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts, one BA program in Art History, and three MFA degrees.

The Weaving Center has been supported by a small staff and great volunteers since 2009 while teaching the traditional skill of weaving as a way to boost the self-esteem and sense of achievement of the artisans.

Group or individual teaching to children and young people through carefully organized after-school fine art programs as well as private fine art education to home schools is available from Middletown Art Academy who also provides a fun summer fine art camp in your area that includes outdoor drawing and painting.

Wesleyan Potters is a non-profit school and cooperative guild that was created in 1948 to promote the learning and development of craft skills while teaching in three different media: weaving, metalsmithing, and ceramics. Youth pottery, jewelry, weaving, and sewing lessons are also available for children from elementary school through high school.

Painting with a Twist has produced 13 million paintings in 41 states through fun-filled workshops as the instructors Cathy Deano and Renee Maloney provide a space for people to unwind, relax, and be creative. Invite your friends, sip your favorite beverage, and learn step-by-step from our great local artists but it should be noted that this would definitely be a more casual class setting than the others.

Studios For Rent Near You

At some point you may want to rent your own art studio space:

ArtSpace Hartford is a residential development located downtown offering 46 one, two, and three bedroom apartments. Situated in a renovated historic building, the community has spacious apartments with fully-appliance kitchens, carpeted bedrooms and central air with individual thermostats.

Art Connection Studio provides arts-based programming in your area for people with disabilities in a professional studio environment.

Framing

When you need art framing in Hartford head to:

EBK Picture Frame & Gallery provides a wide range of beautiful, imaginative, and museum-quality custom framing, artwork, and mirrors to complement your ideas.

Katz is a full-service custom picture framing company near you based in a private studio in the South End after originally starting on Farmington Avenue in the West End in 1984 that provides complete lines of wood and aluminum moldings and exclusively utilizes conservation acid-free mat boards and can frequently accommodate rush picture framing requests without additional rush costs.

Throughout the year Hartford Fine Art & Framing proudly displays unique work by local and regional artists plus oils, photos, pastels, watercolors, sculpture, and fine crafts are all available.

Custom frames, photo restoration, big format printing, and picture enlargement are all services offered by Middletown Framing who now has their own art gallery and over 2,000 frame samples to choose from.

Ursel’s Web Gallery specializes in excellent paintings, bespoke framing, specialized gifts, and bespoke framing of unique artwork.

In the past we have also discussed:

Have Fun Enjoying The Hartford Art Scene

At the moment that is all we have to share about the full art scene near you. We listed the best galleries, museums, events, shows, supply stores, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, sculptures, classes, studios, and framers that you may want to check out.

If you made it this far you might just know quite a bit about the local art scene yourself. Feel free to share your own tips, or to let us know if we may have gotten anything wrong in the comments.

We hope you enjoy your time at the best Hartford art galleries, museums, supply stores, or doing whatever else you plan to do with the info.

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This post and all of the posts on our site are edited by Dan Soloman who has been a huge fan of art since he was a little kid. His mother was a good local artist, and she taught him the trade from a very early age. He studied art and its history in both high school and college, has worked at multiple galleries, and recently has begun creating and editing online content for this site and some other online media platforms.

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