Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch, Contributing Photographer

On a balmy Sunday afternoon, just a few blocks from Old Campus, New Haven’s Ely Center of Contemporary Art held an opening reception for its three new exhibitions, all of which opened Sept. 1. 

The largest, titled “Forest Bathing,” is a group show and includes work from 26 artists. A separate gallery, “Flatfile: Stump In Situ,” features prints made from tree stumps, while upstairs, another gallery is devoted to Mesoma Onyeagba’s first solo show.

“I loved the first impression when you walk through the door,” said Clara Nartey, an artist and a member of the Ely Center’s board, while describing an installation by Nadine Nelson. “You get immersed into the whole experience. It’s not just looking at objects, it’s an experience.”

“Forest Bathing” was organized by the New York-based writer, editor and guest curator Alex Santana. As a part of the Ely Center’s Open Call, she received hundreds of submissions and narrowed them down with thematic groupings in mind. The exhibition’s title refers to a physiological and psychological exercise in which humans spend long periods of time in forest ecosystems. 

According to Santana’s exhibition text, “Forest Bathing” features artists whose work “considers this boundless, actualizing meditation.”

The show is intentionally broad in concept, said Santana. It includes a mix of Connecticut-based artists and those from farther afield; one of its goals, she added, is to inspire dialogue that can extend beyond the specificity of one place.

Kishwar Rizvi, who is the Robert Lehman Professor in the History of Art, Islamic Art and Architecture at Yale and a member of the Ely Center’s board, observed that much of the artwork in “Forest Bathing” touches on themes of preservation, climate emergency and indigenous identities. 

These are particularly contemporary concerns for artists, according to Rizvi. 

Overall, the show is “fabulously exciting, and timely,” she said. 

Marissa Del Toro —  the assistant director of exhibitions and programs at New Haven arts center NXTHVN — observed “less figuration” and a departure from literal depictions in the show. “The body’s still represented, but in a very fantastical way.” Speaking more broadly about contemporary art, she added that “we’re kind of moving towards a more abstract movement right now.” 

In Aura Wang’s “Highway,” for instance, four chains, resembling vertebrae, descend from a warped face, all of it emerging from an inky indigo background. Wang told the News that she often uses these “anatomic images” — basic elements of the body — to evoke a sense of shared humanity.

More specific themes shape the show. One room, for instance, is dedicated to artists who are focused on keeping cultural memory alive through different media — Austin Bryant with photography, Melissa Dadourian with knitted thread, and Donté K. Hayes with ceramic. 

“It’s interesting to see how artists like me are dealing with preserving the legacy of communities,” said Bryant. 

Some visitors praised specific works. John O’Donnell, a professor of printmaking at the University of Connecticut, highlighted Ying Ye’s sculpture made from tofu skins and a soy sauce bucket.

O’Donnell said that the work was a “clever manipulation of physics” and added that it gave him goosebumps. 

O’Donnell also lauded the woodblock prints of Jacoub Reyes, who uses pigments he makes from local invasive species, as well as Kristen Heritage’s car-shaped soft sculpture. The piece, he felt, refers both to safety and the “provisional constructions that we witness.”  

“[It] just blew my mind,” said O’Donnell. “The image of a car, pillow, embroidery — and also, this is deceptively complex. It appears to be more simple and playful at first, and then you realize, like, oh my gosh, this is some serious, some serious stitching.”

Maria Markham, a New Haven-based artist and frequent Ely Center visitor, was similarly impressed by Heritage’s sculpture.

She pondered its meaning aloud while slowly circling the piece.

“It’s fabulous. I’m not sure what she’s saying, but we can — it could be anything, it could be death on wheels, it could be a criticism.” 

Sebastián Cole Galván, Aura Wang and Sebastián Meltz-Collazo, all featured in “Forest Bathing,” each expressed the delight they felt seeing their work in the group context. 

“It’s my first group show,” said Galván, who graduated from Yale College in 2020, “and it’s really exciting to be a part of all this art.”

Meanwhile, Onyeagba’s solo show seemed especially popular at the reception. The artist, who hails from Nigeria and recently received a Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago, said that she draws her inspiration from her background and from random items she observes in the world. 

Her work blends painting with different kinds of textile practices to form both portraits and abstract, swirling canvasses. 

“As you’re going into the room, you’re going into my world, my space,” Onyeagba said, “The bold colors, the shapes, the way they move, everything represents who I am as a person.” At the reception, she added that “I’m really grateful that [the Ely Center] believed in me to have a solo show in their space.”

While the Ely Center is a relatively new institution — it was founded in 2016 — its home, a Victorian mansion on Trumbull Street, has been hosting art exhibitions since 1961. 

Still, according to several community members at Sunday’s reception, the Ely Center tends to fly under the radar. Even Gallery Director Aimée Burg, who attended Yale School of Art, didn’t know it existed until after she graduated. 

“I’m hoping that more people from Yale will know about it,” said Rizvi. “It’s literally our neighbor. I just wish more people would come here, because it’s really a New Haven gem.” 

“Forest Bathing,” “Flatfile: Stump in Situ” and “Mesoma Onyeagba” will close Oct. 27.