cARTie Fall Festival
Westville
Oct. 17, 2026
“I’ve needed to see this everyday,” Clare Murray said as she pointed to a pencil drawing titled, “Proud in 2nd Place,” by Maya, a 10th grader from Westport.
Maya’s drawing is included in the newest exhibit for cARTie, an art-museum-bus nonprofit co-founded by mother-daughter duo Clare and Tish Murray. As listed on its website, cARTie brings “high-quality art and museum-based learning directly to young students with [their] art museum bus.”
While exhibits are usually reserved for school visits, its newest one, “Becoming confident and brave with art,” was open to the general public during cARTie’s first Fall Festival this past Saturday in Westville at 650 Central Ave.
“We’re new to Westville, and we wanted to present opportunities for artists to share their own art,” Tish Murray said.
The festival included a community mural, artist-led booths, and space to play, create, and silently bid on art and other goodies inside cARTie’s new headquarters in Lotta Studio at 903 Whalley Ave.
The bus itself is a sight to behold, with one side dressed in stitched-together murals completed by students from school visits. Inside, on view until June 2027, middle-school and high-school-aged artists explored what confidence and bravery mean to each of them.
The exhibit was co-curated by families with young children like Vivi, who was one of the many children I learned from that day.
Vivi approached the topic as a problem to solve, by asking me, “What would make you feel confident and brave?” before presenting an equation. I had experience, encouragement, and persistence, but not much joy.
The art is mounted at the height of my torso or lower (I’m a solid 5’5″). This is most obvious on the wall of self-portraits, which also have mirrors. One of them reflects my pant leg. Tish Murray told me that this was all intentional, because in a brick-and-mortar museum, children usually can’t see the artwork. For adults stepping aboard the bus, we had to kneel to see our faces in the mirrors.
I could hear my synapses firing when looking at “Learning to Fly” by Jaslynn, a 10th grader from Westport. The longer I sat with it, the more I could commend the little boy’s bravery. As versatile as pencil is, its limited spectrum of greys naturally redirected my attention to the subject matter, which offered more story: the boy focusing on his paper airplane, the crumbled balls next to the diving board, a real airplane soaring overhead. The piece would reward any child and adult alike.
Clare Murray’s words, “Find the piece you need to see today,” rang in my head as a personal mission as I walked around some more, stopping to kneel down again.
Children are no strangers to subtlety, especially in their younger years. Their words sometimes elicit a laugh amongst adults, but as a former art teacher myself, I enjoy taking them seriously. Besides, being direct is a skill that I’ve had to re-learn from my childhood, so Skylar’s marker drawing gave me pause.
“To be Independent is to be confident,” wrote Skylar of Waterbury, in the piece “Independence, bright future.” A bold statement, but is there truth? I didn’t know just yet. The girl in the marker drawing had a straight line for a smile. She hid behind a butterfly, and radiated a rainbow. I could believe she and I considered ourselves independent, but confidence seemed more optional. I believed I deserved to chase my ambitions, but I was still stumbling and tripping over in the pursuit.
I wished I could ask the artist to elaborate on these words, especially after a recent call with a mentor who told me I was suffering because I’m “too hard on myself.” I bet Skylar’s perspective could give me some further direction.
