Coast to Coast

Upson Gallery

In 2021, the Mattatuck Museum was one of ten institutions from across the United States chosen to participate in an exciting new partnership. The Collection Loan Partnership (CLP) is an initiative created by Art Bridges, a foundation that aims to make American art more accessible. The CLP creates the opportunity for large museums to bring their artwork out of storage and into the galleries of smaller, regional museums where local audiences benefit from access to new artworks and artists.

More about this exhibition

After a voting process in which Mattatuck Museum staff discussed potential loans with respect to institutional priorities, the Museum received a long-term loan of 20 artworks from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). This rich collection features works of art by people of color, especially members of the Chicano/a/x community, as well as LGBTQIA+ and women artists. Since many of these artists are based on the West Coast, they are largely unfamiliar to Connecticut audiences and provide an opportunity for the Mattatuck Museum to introduce new perspectives to its visitors.

Many of the 20 artworks from LACMA have been displayed throughout the Museum for the past year, in both permanent gallery spaces and rotating exhibitions. The selection of work displayed here provides a final opportunity to appreciate the array of significant and lesser-known artists whose work travelled from California to Connecticut for this initiative. Consider the ways in which the LACMA artwork coexists and contrasts with the surrounding works from the Mattatuck Museum’s own collection displayed throughout this gallery.

The artworks in this installation were generously lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as part of Art Bridges’ Collection Loan Partnership initiative