Days Gone By
Works By Nancy Doherty
Butler-McCook House & Garden
Hartford
Aug. 13, 2026
As soon as I entered the historic Butler-McCook House & Garden's Aetna gallery, I was confronted with it: A shape, something with a long, narrow stem that flares out slightly, into a larger body at the bottom. The shape was in every collage, rendered in lovely pastel pinks and reds, surrounded by green leaves and exuberant backdrops. What could it be?
Fortunately, Nancy Doherty, the artist on display, was present and ready to answer questions about her work. I’m always going on about trying to decipher meaning in visual artwork, and here was the artist herself, able to unlock all the mysteries of her collages for me.
But where’s the fun in that?
Instead, I told her that I would try to guess what the shape meant, using the context of the colors and designs she used, and whatever hints she helpfully dropped during our conversation.
She did tell me that the central image of the collages was related to the history of the Butler-McCook House and the garden space that it's set in. Noted.
Our conversation quickly moved beyond me hunting for clues and into the nature of creativity. It was refreshing talking to Doherty.
“Art is what grounds me. It’s what I am, and how I relate to things. It’s just what I do,” she said.
So much of the art talk I hear is about representing a perspective, a people, a history, etc. Those are worthy causes and valid expressions of artistic intent. But I have no such grand ambitions when I create: I write because I like to write, and even if no one ever reads a word of it, I would still keep doing it.
Doherty is a kindred spirit to me in that regard. When I asked her what she hopes people take away from her work, she stopped to think as if she’d never considered the question before.
“I do it for myself, so I guess I would want them to see how every little detail, every little part, relates to each other,” she said. “Everything that’s in the artwork is here because I want it to be. It’s a journey within itself.”
There’s so much courage in those words, because we creatives often feel the need to justify our existence. We’re enriching society, or we’re making profound statements about [insert cause du jour here] – always something for the benefit of others. Doherty is proudly saying, “Because I want to, for myself.” Putting yourself first is one of the hardest things to do, whether it's art or anything.
However, I digress. What is the shape in the collages? After careful examination, sleeping on it and pondering all morning, I have come to my conclusion: it’s a bottle.* There’s a neck and a body, and in various collages it’s turned upside-down, as if to enter its contents. That’s my best guess, as anti-climactic as it is.
But even if I guess the central image wrong, I still know what the collages are – a doorway into the mind of Nancy Doherty. And that’s all they really have to be.
NEXT
Jamil goes to check out the Dragon Boat Festival at the riverfront.
*SPOILER!!!!!! After finishing this article, I read the description for the gallery. Turns out my bottle is actually a hand mirror!
