KENT—Kent has long been an artsy town. An art colony and subsequent art association formed here early in the 20th century, only the second to take root in Connecticut.
In the century since, the town has become a community of galleries, featuring the works of the emerging and the eminent in the art world.
Now, Kent is home to a gallery deserving of an urban setting, the 6,000-square-foot Morrison Gallery, built over the past four years by art entrepreneur William “Billy” Morrison.
“People are freaking out,” said Morrison, who initiated a soft opening of his gallery this spring. “People feel like they are somewhere else. They keep trying to donate, like I’m a museum. It’s really special to watch people’s reaction to what is an amazing space. It’s great for the community, artists and everyone.”
Visitors enter Morrison Gallery through massive glass doors, specially designed to open accordion-style to allow large art works to be brought through them. The doors flood the main gallery with natural light, illuminating a space that features 100-foot-long walls with a soaring 22-foot-high ceiling.
The gallery’s post-modernist exterior only hints at the space inside. The new gallery was intentionally designed to exhibit large modern and contemporary art, along with monumental sculpture.
“I’m keeping a lot of space and air for the art,” Morrison said.
Morrison is still finding his way in his “bespoke” minimalist and architecturally distinctive gallery, designed by architect John Allee of Alee Architecture and Design and constructed by Kent’s T&S Builders and Borghesi Building in Torrington.
“I decided to build the state-of-the-art art storage building first,” he said, “and planned for a gallery in front of it.”
“The art storage building was up and running in 2019 and we were just at the point of breaking ground for the gallery in 2020 when Covid struck,” he explained. “We had to make a decision whether to stop or keep going. But our motto is, ‘Just keep going,’ so we kept on.”
He finally got his certificate of occupancy a year ago but decided to wait until spring for a soft opening. He is currently open weekends or by appointment and plans to resume longer hours and exhibitions in the spring.
“With the current show, I am kind of introducing the gallery,” he said. “It’s a mix and flow of modern masters and new contemporary artists.”
“I split up it up with the modern masters in the larger space, flowing into the new contemporary works,” he said. “I plan to rotate the works by these artists and few others until spring, and then start with exhibits.”
Among the artists currently on view are Alexander Liberman, Philip Taaffe, George Sugarman, Tim Prentice and contemporary artists, Canal Cheong Jagerroos, Adam Handler, Peter Anton, Taher Jaoui and others.
“I have artists from London to Dubai to New Zealand,” he said. “During Covid, I was just on a mission to find artists who were overseas to give them a venue here. It’s been by word of mouth—them finding me; me finding them. It’s worked out well.”
The current exhibition introduces many of the new artists mixed with works from the estates of established artists of renown. He confesses to a passion for contemporary art, but says, “I don’t want to limit myself.”
The works featured include both paintings and sculpture.
“That’s a major thing with this gallery,” Morrison said. “I have enough property for outdoor sculpture installations.”
In recent months, a lovely white horse by sculptor Peter Busby has graced the gallery lawn, but its days there may be numbered. “I had an Arabian polo player in recently who is interested in it,” he reported.
The gallery is capable of shipping even a 1,500-pound, life-size sculpture of a horse anywhere in the world. “There’s a slogan for you,” he quipped. “We can get anything anywhere.”
Behind the gallery proper is the Morrison Art Storage Facility (MASF). Morrison explained that the large, two-story structure includes art storage rooms for individuals seeking a secure place to put their collections, as well as for museums. This is augmented by a large open space on the ground floor and, at one end, a viewing room that mirrors the appearance of the gallery proper.
“Some people buy art as an investment,” he explained. “They ship it to me, and it goes into their own storage room. They know it is safe, and, if in a couple of years, they want it for their house, we ship it there. There are constantly trucks coming and going.”
The viewing room can also be used if these patrons want to exhibit their works for others, or if a customer is interested in a work by a particular artist.
“If they see a piece they are interested in, we make an appointment with them and bring them to the viewing room where they can see other works by that artist,” he said.
While Morrison’s gallery is the most commanding of the art venues in town, it is far from the only one.
Kent Barns alone is home to four galleries, Kenise Barnes Fine Art and Consulting, Craven Contemporary, FotoDiary, and Carol Corey Fine Art, all part of a growing group of galleries drawing collectors from around the state and New York.
Nearby are The Good Gallery and the venerable Kent Art Association, which celebrated its centennial last year.
Kenise Barnes, who opened her gallery in 2019 after decades as a gallerist in Larchmont, N.Y., remarked on the synergy between the shops and galleries in town,
“There’s a real sense of community here that produces an authentic creative atmosphere,” she said.
So, who is this Billy Morrison, art world entrepreneur?
First, he is not an artist. A former musician, he started playing the guitar professionally at age 16, but he does have a passion for artists and their work.
“I got started loving art and art history in high school,” he reported. “At 18, I worked at a frame shop and it just kind of kept going. I worked at a gallery in Danbury and opened Morrison Gallery in 1999 or 2000.”
Raised in Danbury, he moved his family to Kent in 1999 when he bought a small art framing shop and gallery. Originally known as Nutmeg Framing, he soon expanded and renamed it.
The gallery has occupied various locations over the years, most notably the expansive space now occupied by RT Facts Designs and Antiques in Kent Barns, where he showed works by renowned artists such as the late Wolf Kahn, Ugo Rondinone and Michael Steiner, as well as the late Cleve Gray, who lived in Warren.
He said that renowned abstract expressionist artist Cleve Gray (1918–2004) had a profound impact on his evolution as a gallery owner.
“Meeting Cleve was a game-changer for me,” he said. “It was a very special thing with Cleve, it’s hard to put in words. He was a big inspiration and just so professional. He taught me a lot about the relationship of the artist and the gallery owner.”
After the artist’s death, his widow, noted writer Francine Duplessis Gray, used Morrison’s gallery for major installations of her husband’s work.
Morrison sees the acquisition of works from major artists’ estates as one of his future goals. He recently bought 400 works from the estate of Alexander Liberman, a Russian-American artist known for his signature red steel sculptures and geometric paintings.
He is interested in adding works from other important deceased artists such as sculptor and photographer Kenneth Snelson, Clement Meadmore, one of the most highly respected artists of his generation, Edward Dugmore, an abstract expressionist who died in 1996, Christopher Armstrong, a brilliant painter of seascapes, and George Sugarman, whose sculptures, drawings and paintings defied a definitive style.
“I’m hoping to do major installations with these artists and to develop an outdoor sculpture walk,” Morrison said of the future.
Until further notice, visitors can view the works in the gallery at 60 North Main St., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.
For more information, call 860-927-4501 or email info@morrisongallery.com.
