Summer 2026 Exhibitions in Hartford Public Library’s 3rd Floor Cultural Corridor
Summer 2026 marks a joyful return: the reopening of Hartford Public Library’s Downtown Library and the first public access to the newly renovated Hartford History Center. To celebrate, we are proud to present four exhibitions that honor Hartford’s creativity, resilience, and deep community roots, past and present. Together, these exhibits invite visitors to reconnect with the city’s stories, its neighborhoods, and its enduring spirit as the country also commemorates the 250th anniversary of its founding.
Hartford in Focus - Images of a City and Its People
Exhibit 1
Hartford History Center 3rd Floor Digital Gallery, June 1 – September 1, 2026
This expansive exhibition of 250 images, presented through both digital displays and large‑format prints, highlights the remarkable depth and breadth of the Hartford History Center’s image collections. Hartford in Focus features Brad Clift’s My Hartford, My Neighborhood collection, selections from the Hartford Times Collection, and works by local contemporary photographers, including Andy Hart, Carla Ten Eyck, and Marc Yves Regis, alongside rarely seen images from our historical holdings. Together, these images reveal the many facets of Hartford. From moments of connection across neighborhoods to peaceful scenes in beloved parks, the prints capture the energy, diversity, and everyday joy that define the city.
As the nation enters the celebration of America’s 250th year, this exhibition honors the local stories that continue to enrich both Hartford and the country’s ever‑evolving tapestry.
Woven Hartford: The Craft of Community - A Collaboration with the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center
Exhibit 2
Cultural Corridor, 3rd Floor, June 1 – September 1, 2026
This vibrant exhibition brings together the artistry of the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center and the visual history preserved in the Hartford History Center’s Graphic Arts Collection. Skilled weavers create textiles inspired by the shapes, colors, and rhythms of 20th‑century posters and broadsides - vibrant pieces that once invited Hartford residents to gather, celebrate, and participate in civic life.
Displayed alongside the original broadsides, these contemporary textiles imagine Hartford’s graphic heritage through fiber, color, and texture. The result is a cross‑generational conversation about craft, community, and the ways art invites us to come together. Honored with inclusion in Craft in America’s national directory for Summer 2026, the exhibit joins a national platform created by the acclaimed nonprofit that champions original handcrafted work across the country.
After Independence - Hartford’s 18th‑Century Voices
Exhibit 3
Hartford History Center 3rd Floor, Glass Display Cases, June 1 – September 1, 2026\
In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, this exhibition presents early Hartford documents, pamphlets, and locally printed works that illuminate how the city responded to and helped shape the era following the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Drawn from the Hartford History Center’s rare materials, these selections reveal what 18th‑century Hartford residents believed, debated, built, and aspired to as the new nation took form. This intimate display offers just a glimpse of the Hartford History Center’s extensive holdings and the rich historical narratives preserved within them. Visitors interested in exploring further are invited to visit the new Hartford History Center Research Room, where you can delve more deeply into period documents, local imprints, and other collections that bring Hartford’s early civic life into fuller view.
…And My Heart Beats For You - New Work by Traé Brooks
Exhibit 4
ArtWalk, 3rd Floor, June 1 – September 1, 2026
Friday, June 5 (free and open to the public), ArtWalk Opening Reception, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
…And My Heart Beats For You presents new work by Connecticut-born artist Traé Brooks, whose multidisciplinary practice explores identity, memory, spirituality, and the ways we carry personal and collective grief. Through paintings, sculptural objects, writings, and video installations, Brooks reflects on how loss transforms us, reshaping the stories we hold, the bonds we form, and the ways we move through the world. What began as a tribute to his grandmother has grown into an expansive meditation on all the lives that leave an imprint - family, friends, brief encounters, and ancestors alike. In this exhibition, Brooks considers both intimate mourning and the larger currents of collective grief shaped by violence, injustice, and global upheaval. His works become vessels for remembrance, resilience, and the ongoing act of rebuilding the self. Visitors are invited to experience the gallery as a ritual space, with opportunities to contribute writings, names, or small offerings to a living, evolving memorial.
This show is funded by the Roberts Foundation of the Arts and Suzanne Hopgood in memory of Frank Lord.