Schelfhaudt Gallery

A staged reading about the war in Ukraine as told through the powerful voices of actual American, Russian and Ukrainian citizens.

Words from the Front is a unique presentation that began to take shape at the very beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022. The play brings to life a collection of actual text messages, Facebook posts, and emails that were exchanged in real time between one of the authors and her daughter, and their friends and family in Russia and Ukraine. In Words from the Front, Russians give voice to their fears and their hopes, and a Ukrainian soldier, defending his country, conveys an irrepressible optimism in spite of the tragedies unfolding day by day.

The reading will be presented on October 18, 2026 at Littlefield Recital Hall followed by a wine pouring of Ukrainian wine at Schelfhaudt Gallery, where Mother/Land, an art exhibit by Yulia Lanina about the invasion of Ukraine, is being held.

Littlefield Recital Hall, Schelfhaudt Gallery, University of Bridgeport, 505 University Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604

Contact pschel@bridgeport.edu.

Reception: September 19, 2026, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

You are invited into the world of Yuliya Lanina, a world populated by hybrid beings, strange creatures, fragmented bodies, watchful eyes, and figures that seem to emerge from fairy tales, dreams, and memory. At first glance, they can appear playful, quirky, even humorous. Look longer, and something darker begins to surface.

Drawing upon autobiography, mythology, fairy tales, memory, and imagination, Lanina creates works that move between innocence and experience, humor and unease, vulnerability and resilience. Her paintings, works on paper, animation, sculpture, and mechanical objects explore what we carry within us and what can be visible yet unseen.

The exhibition features Mother/Land, created in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Through paintings, animation, and recurring one-eyed flowers, the work reflects on war, loss, witnessing, and the people living through a reality that can become distant or abstract to those observing it from elsewhere.

Also included is Un/Broken, a body of work in which human, animal, and plant forms merge into psychologically charged hybrid figures. Alongside it are works on paper, mechanical sculptures, animations and music boxes inspired by fairy tales and the darker stories that lie beneath their familiar surfaces. Across the exhibition, painted faces, altered bodies, and fantastical characters become ways of giving physical form to inner experience.

Born in Moscow to a Ukrainian father and Russian mother, Lanina came to the United States as a political refugee, was educated in New York, and now lives and works in Texas. Experiences of migration, displacement, inherited trauma, and cultural memory run throughout her practice.

Yuliya Lanina is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, animation, sculpture, performance, and public art. A Fulbright U.S. Scholar, she has been awarded fellowships and residencies at Yaddo, Artpace San Antonio, Franconia Sculpture Park, and Venezia Contemporanea, and has received support and recognition from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the City of Austin, and Artists’ Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited and performed nationally and internationally at venues including the Blanton Museum of Art, Seoul Art Museum, SIGGRAPH Asia, 798 Beijing Biennial, Vienna MuseumsQuartier, the State Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art in London, and Xposed Gallery on New York City’s High Line. Her permanent public artwork Blossom Gazes was commissioned through the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places program, and her work has been the subject of scholarly writing, including Rebecca Rossen’s essay on her practice published in Feminist Studies. Lanina is Associate Professor of Practice in Arts and Entertainment Technologies at The University of Texas at Austin.

Curator(s): Peter Schelfhaudt, Su-Min Yang

Reception: June 11, 2026, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

“Between Universes,” the new art exhibit at Schelfhaudt Gallery, opens on June 11, 2026.

To gaze at the cosmos is to encounter a paradox. It may evoke a profound sense of insufficiency and isolation, while equally offering a realm of boundless possibilities.

“Between Universes” is an international curatorial collaboration curated by Taiwan-based curator Su-Min Yang, U.S.-based curator Peter Schelfhaudt, and U.S.-based Taiwanese artist Eric Chiang, featuring the artwork of Taiwanese artists Chuang Chih-Hui and Eric Chiang.

Taiwanese philosophical and artistic heritage attends to the relationship between mind, body, and environment as central to how we perceive and experience the world. The exhibit’s primary goal, according to curator Peter Schelfhaudt, is to present artwork deeply rooted in this heritage; but the deeper objective is to explore the interplay between inner experience and outer reality — and how each continuously shapes the other.

The exhibit begins on June 11, with an opening-night reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and will extend through August 31, 2026. The opening-night reception will feature the world premiere of Eric Chiang’s musical composition, “Between Universes.” An art talk by the exhibiting artists will be held on June 18 at 6 p.m.

Come hear the great Taiwanese artists from the “Between Universes” exhibit at Schelfhaudt Gallery speak about their work and inspirations. The artists Chuang Chih-Hui and Eric C. Chang will be joined by moderators Miggs Burroughs and Anne Carpenter Boberski.

“Between Universes” is a dual exhibition by Taiwan-based artist Chih-Hui Chuang and U.S.-based Taiwanese artist Eric C. Chiang. The exhibit focuses on the shifting conditions of perception and the fragmentation of connection in contemporary society, where knowledge continuously expands human understanding while also shaping and limiting the boundaries of imagination. Through the integration of sculpture, painting, music, and the frequencies of singing bowls, the exhibition constructs an immersive perceptual field shaped by spatial experience.

Curator: Peter Schelfhaudt

Reception: April 2, 2026, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Immigrant Song, the upcoming exhibit at University of Bridgeport’s Schelfhaudt Gallery, is a hymn to the immigrants in our country.

Leaving one’s homeland and giving up one’s cultural and family ties to become a stranger in a strange land is daunting and not for the weak-hearted. Per curator Peter Schelfhaudt, “This exhibition seeks to depict the immigrant experience here in the US and to celebrate our brothers, sisters, and neighbors who made this country their home. As Olivia Dean reminded us recently ‘We’re nothing without each other.’”

According to participating artist Pamela Araya, “As a first-generation immigrant from Costa Rica, this theme deeply resonates with both my personal experience and my artwork. It means a great deal to see spaces created where these stories and experiences can be shared.”

Curator: Peter Schelfhaudt

Reception: January 29, 2026, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

For some, the phrase “Winter in America” conjures up sipping hot chocolate by a warm crackling fireplace on a snowy winter’s eve. For others, winter could imply a harsher reality of food scarcity and biting cold, or a metaphorical period of frozen dreams, frozen ideas, and frozen inspiration, cultural decline, political malaise, or chilling of free speech?

For Peter Schelfhaudt, curator of the exhibit, winter is a time for reflection, assessment, recalibration, preparation, and transition. “We’ve had an overwhelming response from artists expressing a wide variety of perspectives from whimsical to worried, but it’s not all Norman Rockwell.” Sheryl Renee Dobson, one of the artists in the show, adds, “I am honored to exhibit works in the groundbreaking ‘Winter in America’ exhibition at University of Bridgeport’s prestigious Schelfhaudt Gallery. I believe that art can be transformative, and it is my hope that my works encourage connection, reflection, and critical thought.”

Other featured artists include a variety of local, national, and international artists, including Sandra Cavanagh, Carin Kulb Dangot, Laura Heijn, Monica Tiulescu, and Rick Shaefer.

Curator: Suzanne Kachmar

Reception: Saturday, November 8, 5:30-8 p.m.

As part of the annual Bridgeport Art Trail, this large group exhibition titled Connections celebrates the diversity and reach of the local art community. Featuring fiber art, sculpture, drawings, paintings, photography, and interactive installations, the show includes works by artists such as Carlos Biernnay, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, Rick Shaefer, and many more. The Artists Collective of Westport also presents a multimedia showcase in the adjoining gallery space.

Curator: Peter Schelfhaudt

The gallery’s reopening exhibition, AI: Co-Create, explored the dynamic collaboration between human creativity and artificial intelligence. Featuring sculpture, photography, digital art, and multimedia installations, this show challenged traditional boundaries and invited viewers to consider how technology can enhance artistic expression. Paintings, sculptures, poems, and videos by artists like Yuliya Lanina, Horst Weber, Alison Pasquini, and Claudia Conroy were complemented by the illumination of the famous dome on the exterior of the building, featuring the artwork of Bridgeport resident Phillip Baldwin.