Inspired Assemblages
Works by Terese Newman
Clare Gallery
St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church
Hartford
Feb. 5, 2026
I broke my glasses the day before I went to see the latest exhibit at the Clare Gallery in downtown Hartford. Of course I did.
My somewhat severe myopia was a blessing in disguise. I had to get close to examine Terese Newman’s collection of cigar box collages and digital paintings that explore space and spirituality. Under such close examination, the layers of Ms. Newman’s work began to reveal themselves.
Newman, who grew up Catholic and now calls herself spiritual, creates collages packed full of ideas, with levels and materials that pull the imagination in multiple ways. Her work The Raven Speaks features the titular bird adorned with a real piece of jewelry as a crown, and a pearl-like object for its eye. Curiously, the words of the crow appear behind it and upside down, in a yellow streak that looks like a tear in the background, exposing hidden truths. Or, more accurately, partial truths, as the tear shows tantalizing details about multimedia groups, “cultural diversity and ethical values”, and a commitment to further education, of what the viewer is not sure.
Or perhaps the raven’s speech can be found radiating out from the black and white face of a man whose head has been superimposed on a figure in a Victorian dress. These messages, while brief, are more straightforward, conveying messages of love and affection. Or maybe the bird’s speech is the newspaper that lines the cigar box, its tinged yellow paper giving collage an air of long-gone authority, history recorded on fading material from a fading profession.
Engaging with the raven ignores all the other imagery present, from the toy soldier in the foreground to the seagull who has brought the beach with him in the form of shells. The interplay between the objects and the words in Newman’s collages is an expression of the artist herself. In describing her work, she states that “my superpower is that I am a creator, and all that I have created is mine, and it’s endless.” There is endless space between a seashell and a raven, and she invites the viewer to fill it in with imagination.
Newman is also an accomplished digital artist, as evidenced by her striking piece Desert Full of Life. Newman reimagines the harsh, stark landscape that we typically associate with deserts as a pink/red shock of color that highlights the abundance of life found in a place often thought of as desolate.
By switching the color palette of the desert, she recontextualizes what we consider to be living, breathing space. It’s not just shrubs and cacti, but the desert air and land itself vibrate with energy. One can almost see the spirits of nature moving through the splashes of yellow. Newman grew up in southern California, so it makes sense that she would see in the desert what others cannot.
The Clare Gallery has dedicated this year, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, to voices that “were left out” back then. Terese Newman takes this one step further, opening our eyes to what we might otherwise miss in art and in open spaces, even if we have to squint.
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Jamil is taking the weekend off to try and enjoy another Patriots-Seahwaks Super Bowl. See you next week!
