Meet Our Artists
Anchisaurus, Glacier
Kate Ten Eyck
Artistic Director & Lead Artist
Kate Ten Eyck is an artist, educator, and technician based in Middletown, CT. Her diverse range of work has included sculpture, performance art, drawing, printmaking, musical composition and performance, stop motion animation, and, most recently, tile mosaic. Kate completed her BFA in Sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design and holds an MFA in Printmaking from The Hartford Art School. She has served as Wesleyan University’s Art Studio Technician since 2000 and as a member of the Studio Art faculty since 2006, where she has taught classes primarily in drawing, but also printmaking and community based public art.
Ten Eyck is passionate about connecting and building communities through the arts. Her project, TunnelVision, feeds her desire to transform a public space while bringing people together through a common goal. She is excited to illuminate the rich history and geology of the region she calls home.
Wendy Black-Nasta
Lead Artist
Native American Honor Wall
Wendy Black-Nasta is a jewelry designer and metal sculptor whose work can be seen in museums and private collections around the world. She has designed sacred objects in metal for churches & monasteries in the U.S. and Asia, and spent 20 years designing collections of jewelry for Saks Fifth Ave., Macy’s and other department stores and museum shops across the country. In 2003 she created her best-known piece, “The International Peace Belt” which catalyzed the formation of her non-profit organization, Artists for World Peace.
Gary Red Oak O’Neil
Native American Honor Wall
Contributor
Wangunk elder Gary Red Oak O’Neil has been creating pottery for over 60 years. As an educator, artist, genealogist, and historian, he has been a crucial voice in drawing attention to Native American arts and culture in Connecticut, with a special emphasis on the Wangunk people of Central Connecticut. Gary provided crucial assistance in firing work for the Honor Wall, as well as providing his own pots to be embedded into the mosaic.
Native American Honor Wall
April Chateauneuf
Lead Artist Assistant
The Honor Wall was created in collaboration with Assistant Artist April Chateauneuf. A Yale-educated and accomplished set painter at Goodspeed Opera House and many other theatres, April brought her big picture thinking to the Honor Wall.
Pierre Sylvain
Beman Family Legacy & Italian Immigration Story
Lead Artist
Pierre is an award-winning, self-taught multimedia artist represented throughout the country in both solo and group shows. He works in mediums including paintings, tile, stained glass, textile, and found objects.
Pierre serves as Gallery Director and Curator for the Charter Oak Cultural Center, serving the mission of fostering healing through the arts and providing the broader community with wide and inclusive access to high-quality work. His own work is celebrated for its emotional impact and the way it brings communities together, as demonstrated by his being honored by a 2017 Middletown Art Advocacy Award.
Kat Owens
What Lives in Soil
Lead Artist
Dr. Kat Owens is a plastic pollution researcher, artist, and activist. She is a National Geographic Explorer, a Fulbright Nehru fellow, and a Professor at the University of Hartford. Through the Entangled and Ingested project, Dr. Owens creates life-sized portraits of animals harmed by pollution. She has partnered with the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Wesleyan University, Middletown Commission on the Arts, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, the Virgin corporation, Lindblad Expeditions, and the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. Her pieces can be seen at The Connecticut Science Center, the Middletown Parks and Recreation complex, Five Points Art Center, and the University of Hartford.
Mi Nawabutsitthirat
Extinct Mammals
Lead Artist
Mi Nawabutsitthirat was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in Psychology and Studio Art in 2022 and an MA in psychology in 2023. Fascinated by the natural history of North America, her research into mammals that lived during the Pleistocene epoch informed the selection and creation of her ceramic animal sculptures.
Sandra Christie
Shad
Lead Artist
Sandra Christie’s creative journey continues to expand, encompassing graphic design, metalsmithing, glasswork, teaching, and mosaics. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Sandra began her career as an Art Director, specializing in technology and computer interface design. Ultimately, her curiosity and passion for traditional crafts led her to explore metalsmithing, glasswork, and, ultimately, the enduring art of mosaics.
Sandra’s work has been featured in local, national, and international exhibitions, and she is honored to contribute to the Mosaics on Main project.
For more information on Sandra’s project click here.
Ilana Harris-Babou
How Will We Be Remembered
Lead Artist
Ilana Harris-Babou's work is interdisciplinary; spanning sculpture and installation, and grounded in video. She speaks the aspirational language of consumer culture, using humor as a means to digest painful realities. Her work confronts the contradictions of the American Dream: the ever unreliable notion that hard work will lead to upward mobility and economic freedom.