Jennifer Terzian’s sanctuary for contemporary art

The gallery is really meant to create a very intimate relationship with the artist and the story behind their work.
—Jennifer Terzian

On a recent crisp, fall afternoon in Litchfield, Jennifer Terzian welcomed a steady stream of collectors, artists, and art-world insiders into her jewel box of an art space on South Street, just off the town’s manicured historic Green.

The occasion was an opening for Jenny Kemp, an artist noted for balancing fluidity and structure in her abstractions through repetition, variation, and gradual shifts in hue. Hers is exactly the kind of tactile, process-driven work Terzian champions at a subterranean space that feels less like a commercial art gallery and more like stumbling into an impeccably edited sanctuary of contemporary thought.

“I don’t really consider myself a traditional gallerist,” explained Terzian, a Southern California native who moved to Connecticut in 2008. “I see myself more as an artist advocate.”

Established in 2021 as a platform to promote the work of emerging and mid-career artists, Terzian’s gallery has grown into one of Litchfield County’s most compelling launching pads for contemporary art. Focusing on drawing, works on paper and paintings in ambitiously varied visual vocabularies, the gallery has built a reputation for its devotion to the artists’ methods, tools, materials and critical thinking. Terzian has also cultivated a niche rooted in an ethos that favors intense tactile engagement over sheer wall acreage.

“The gallery is really meant to create a very intimate relationship with the artist and the story behind their work,” said Terzian, who has spent two decades organizing exhibitions in galleries and museums and taught art history and museum studies at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington for six years. “It’s always very much about the process and I think the artists and the visitors to the gallery really recognize and appreciate that focus.”

That commitment to creative rigor is raising Terzian’s profile among art institutions. The gallery’s acceptance into the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) earlier this year marked a significant milestone, cementing its place within an international network of contemporary galleries and arts professionals dedicated to supporting vanguard talent.

“Her innate enthusiasm allows artists to test out new bodies of work on the walls in a supportive environment, creating space for both joy and growth,” explained Rebecca McNamara, chief curator at the Mattatuck Museum.

Jenny Kemp, whose solo exhibition “Reverbs” runs through Dec. 12, echoes that sentiment: “She encourages artists to lead in shaping their exhibitions and the installation, giving them the freedom to respond to the space and bring their own vision to it.”

While Litchfield County has long attracted creative minds, Terzian’s arrival in 2021 coincided with a period of cultural momentum, allowing her to tap into an expanding cadre of local talent. The gallery’s roster bridges mid-career artists such as Fritz Horstman, Kristin Lamb and Richard Pasquarelli, who have exhibited their work in museums, galleries and art fairs throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Yet her programming also crosses geographic boundaries seamlessly, bringing work by painters and paper-makers from Brooklyn, Providence, Berlin as well as artists working in established studios across Connecticut.

Jennifer Terzian’s gallery showcases emerging and mid-career artists, with a focus on drawing, works on paper and painting.Provided

Recent exhibitions highlight Terzian’s curatorial leanings toward precision and patience over hyper-commerciality. Jessica Smolinski’s mixed-media works probed memory and time through photography and textiles, while Aliza Morell employed holographic streamers against flat fields of color transferred to canvas via a layered material process. China-born artist Jenny Wu, who studied studio art at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and American University, poured and layered liquid paint until it took on dense, sculptural forms.

“The space feels like you are leaving the day’s responsibilities behind and entering a world of serenity,” said Wu, whose paintings explore composition, color and materiality. “Stand there, look at the works, feel them, and let them consume you for once.”

Terzian advocates for a more intimate scale to help amplify impact and says the diversity of aesthetics allows her to build a space tailored to creative rhythms of the artist. “It fosters a better dialogue between artist, curator and collector.”

The gallery’s momentum coincides with a broader revival across Litchfield. The recent arrival of three boutique hotels — The Abner, Belden House and Lost Fox Inn — has brought a steady influx of younger, design-conscious travelers to Connecticut’s northwest corner, energizing the town’s cultural landscape.

“I love for people who are new to Litchfield to walk down those stairs to my gallery and just come inside and just be educated about the artists and their work,” Terzian reflected. “Whether or not they walk away with purchasing something, I just think the experience of coming into a space and not feeling intimidated is valuable.”

For more information, visit jenniferterziangallery.com.

Troy McMullen is a former Wall Street Journal reporter in Berlin and New York and currently an executive editor at ABC News. His arts and culture reporting appears in several New England publications, including Litchfield Magazine, New England Home and Connecticut Magazine. He splits his time between Manhattan and a weekend home in Litchfield, adjacent to the Hauser Nature Preserve.