Guided Art Tour: MoCA CT’s ‘ON FIRE’ Exhibit

Get inspired on this guided tour of MoCA CT’s with Ive Covaci, one of the exhibit's curators. Explore stunning and thought-provoking works from the Westport Public Art Collections and enjoy a leisurely, educational experience with fellow art lovers.

Registration fee covers the cost of admission.

Participants will need to provide their own transportation to Westport’s Museum of Contemporary Art Connecticut. Please meet the instructor on-site.

ON FIRE: Energy, Climate, Infrastructure, Westport Public Art Collections’ 2025 exhibition at MoCA CT, includes over 75 artworks in a variety of media, and asks how artists from the 1930s to today have envisioned and responded to the interrelationship of energy, infrastructure, and the environment. This fourth annual exhibition by the Westport Public Art Collections at MoCA allows the community to experience works of art, usually on display in school and municipal buildings, in a beautiful museum setting.

On this Verso University guided tour, consider the following:

• What future did artists imagine when works like the Evolution of Heat were created at the forefront of the New Deal in the 1930s?
• How have our ideals, perspectives and practices changed since these works’ creation?
• How do contemporary artworks, created since the 1970s rise of modern environmentalism, engage with the natural and built environment?

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About Ive Covaci

Ive Covaci is an art historian, curator, and specialist in Japanese art. She has been teaching Asian art and global introductory art history courses at Fairfield University since 2010, and received the 2023 Excellence in Teaching Award for Undergraduate Adjunct Faculty. She holds a PhD in art history from Yale University, and an MA in East Asian studies and BA in art history from Stanford University. She is passionate about teaching and learning with original works of art.

Ive has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions, including Kamakura: Realism and Spirituality in the Sculpture of Japan (Asia Society Museum, New York, 2016), Gifts of Gold: Japanese Lacquer Boxes (Fairfield University Art Museum, 2020), and Ink/Stone (Fairfield University Art Museum, 2022). A resident of Westport for 14 years, Ive is currently co-chair of the Westport Public Art Collections Committee, with whom she has organized the two most recent annual WestPAC exhibitions at MoCA CT: Sixties MOD (2024) and ON FIRE: Energy, Climate, Infrastructure (2025).

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About Verso University

Verso University is the Library’s lifelong learning and education initiative, serving up year-round offerings of classes, workshops, and lectures designed to further education and learning. Offerings run the gamut of educational opportunities, ranging from one-time lectures to ongoing courses to classes that meet weekly or perhaps monthly.

Important Information About Verso University Classes:

• Classes are structured as a consecutive series.
• Class size is limited.
• Registration is mandatory.
• Verso University programs are made possible by the generous support of the Nancy J. Beard Lifelong Learning and Education Fund.

Host or Publisher The Westport Library