Founded in 2010 and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 2024, the Fairfield University Art Museum is one museum, comprised of two spaces. In the Bellarmine Hall Galleries, the Museum displays its permanent collection alongside rotating special exhibitions.
About
Bellarmine Hall Galleries
Located in the lower level of the University’s signature building, Bellarmine Hall, the former residence of the Walter B. Lashar family. Designed in 1921 in the English manorial style, this handsome structure was purchased by the Jesuits from the town of Fairfield in 1942 to serve as the foundational building for the newly established Fairfield University.
Walsh Gallery
This large “white cube” gallery for special exhibitions is housed in the Quick Center for the Arts. The Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery opened its doors in April 1990 under Founding Director and Professor of Art History, Dr. Philip Eliasoph. Its inaugural exhibition was, “Defining Modernism: Art of the 20th Century.” In a review by the New York Times, Vivien Raynor wrote: “With this exhibition, the Walsh assumes a missionary role that is not inappropriate for a Jesuit campus, even though the word brought is not of God.”
Meet the Staff
Frank and Clara Meditz Executive Director
Carey Mack Weber is the Executive Director of the Fairfield University Art Museum. She was integral to the creation of the Museum in 2010 and was named the Frank and Clara Meditz Executive Director in 2019.
Carey also currently serves as the President of the Connecticut Art Trail, is the CT State Representative for the Association of Academic Art Museums and Galleries, sits on the Advisory Board of the Maguire Museum at St. Joseph’s University, and serves as a board member of the Connecticut League of Museums.
Curator of Education and Academic Engagement
Dr. Michelle DiMarzo is an alumna of Fairfield University, graduating with a B.A. in Art History and English. She went on to pursue graduate degrees in Art History, specializing in Italian Renaissance visual art, and received her PhD from Temple University. Before returning to Fairfield, she held the Phyllis G. Gordan/Samuel H. Kress Foundation Two-Year Pre-doctoral Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome.
She is also Assistant Professor in Art History & Visual Culture in the Department of Visual & Performing Arts, where she teaches courses in Renaissance art and the museum exhibition seminar. Dr. DiMarzo has curated several exhibitions at the museum, most recently Out of the Kress Vaults: Women in Sacred Renaissance Painting (2022) and Ink and Time: European Prints from the Wetmore Collection (2024).
Curator, Historic Plaster Cast Collection
Dr. Marice Rose graduated from Fairfield University with a B.A. in Art History and French, and holds a PhD in Art History from Rutgers University. She is currently chair of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts.
Her most recent research focuses on classical reception and gender, and ancient hairstyling. With colleague Dr. Katherine Schwab she co-curated the exhibition Hair in the Classical World at the Fairfield University Art Museum (2015). She teaches courses on ancient Roman art, ancient Celtic and Irish art, and medieval art in Europe and Byzantium.
Registrar
Megan Paqua has been the full time Registrar since 2022, prior to that she was the part-time registrar from 2019-2022. She is responsible for registration and collections management, and supports the museum’s in-house and traveling exhibitions as well as other museums exhibition programs.
She oversees all exhibition installations and deinstallations. She received her B.A. in Archaeology from Dickinson College in 2011 and went on to complete an M.A. in Egyptology from the American University in Cairo in 2015 and an M.S. in Museums & Digital Culture from the Pratt Institute School of Information. While living in Egypt, she participated in archaeological fieldwork at the site of Tell el-Amarna with the Amarna Project. After returning to the US, she was the Permanent Collection Documentation Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2018-2019) and the project registrar for the Westport Public Art Collection (2019-2021).
She is also an adjunct in the Art History & Visual Culture in the Department of Visual & Performing Arts, teaching ancient Egyptian archaeology & art history. She is currently the Chair for the Membership Engagement Committee for the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists (ARCS).
Museum Educator
Elizabeth Vienneau is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. A former Special Education teacher in Beverly Hills California, she holds a M.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Connecticut State University and a B.A. in Art History from Loyola Marymount University.
Elizabeth's photographs have been featured in a one-woman show at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, as well as in books, magazines, and television shows. She has interned at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and The Getty Villa, both in California.
Museum Assistant
Heather Coleman has been the Museum Assistant since December 2023. Before Fairfield she worked in the non-for-profit space assisting clients with essential living needs. Heather graduated from Le Moyne College with a degree in Business Administration in 1992.
Her responsibilities as a Museum Assistant include all aspects of visitor services, managing the Museum’s events on external platforms, supervising the student workers, and working collaboratively with the University’s Marketing department.
1073 North Benson Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
(203) 254-4046
Plan Your Visit
Enjoy free admission every day—no reservations required.
Before you arrive, be sure to check current hours for the Bellarmine Hall and Walsh Galleries to make the most of your visit.
