The Housatonic Museum of Art will host a special project launch and brainstorming session for artist Rachel Owens’ project, “Life On the Other Side of a Cracked Glass Ceiling – Bridgeport.”

Owens’ artwork will center on the Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses, the oldest standing examples of Bridgeport’s seaside village known as Little Liberia. A series of scaffolded casts of the front porch of Mary’s house will be activated for discussions and performances pertinent to Bridgeport’s diverse population.

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Rendition of artist Rachel Owens’ upcoming project: “Life On the Other Side of a Cracked Glass Ceiling – Bridgeport.” A free brainstorming session for public engagement will be held at the Housatonic Museum of Art on Oct. 16.

Part of the ‘For Freedoms’ platform, the project will seek to create greater participation in the arts and civil society. For Freedoms, inspired by American artist Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (1941)—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear, produces content to advocate for inclusive civic participation.

During the brainstorming session, which will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the museum, students and community members will gather to develop innovative ways in which the project and forthcoming sculptures can be programmed and engaged by the community.

“The project will examine hierarchies within our society and creates a space for voices that counter those that in the majority. We invite anyone who has been frustrated by the current political climate to come participate in this session.”

The Freeman homes were owned and built by people of color in the state, as well as unmarried women at a time when women could not own property. The houses are all that remain of the radical multi-ethnic, Little Liberia in Bridgeport’s south end. The community was a model of equity; this project seeks to revive the model.

The Housatonic Museum of Art is located on the Housatonic Community College campus, located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in Bridgeport. It is home to one of the premier college art collections in the United States.

The museum’s collection offers the opportunity to view works that span the history of art from the ancient to the contemporary, and is on continuous display throughout the 300,000 square foot facility. Visit www.HousatonicMuseum.org to learn more.

Rendition of artist Rachel Owens’ upcoming project: “Life On the Other Side of a Cracked Glass Ceiling – Bridgeport.” A free brainstorming session for public engagement will be held at the Housatonic Museum of Art on Oct. 16.