More than five decades of paintings capturing Bristol's streets, faces and everyday moments are coming back to the community that inspired them. The Carousel Museum opens a special exhibition honoring artist Glo Sessions on Saturday, with free admission for the opening weekend before the show settles in through the end of the year.
The exhibition and sale, titled “Glo Sessions Returns to Bristol,” opens Nov. 14 and runs through Dec. 31 at The Carousel Museum in Bristol, according to The Bristol Edition. The museum describes the show as a collaboration with the Sessions family meant to celebrate her life and work, according to The Carousel Museum.
Admission is free to the public on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and again on Sunday, Nov. 15, from noon to 5 p.m., per the same Bristol Edition report. After the opening weekend, the exhibition continues at the museum through the end of December.
A Painter Embedded in Bristol Life
Sessions spent more than five decades painting the people, places and everyday rhythms of Bristol, according to the museum. Her connection to the institution runs deeper than this single show — she contributed to the Carousel Museum's early revitalization and served on its board of directors, the museum notes.
Her artwork found a long record of this adopted Connecticut hometown and its residents over more than 50 years, as described by CT Examiner. Before the collection made its way to the museum, it was kept in the family's hands: her son Don Sessions served as steward of her artwork along with her daughter Ruth Sessions, her daughter Tulis wrote in the Bristol Edition piece.
Art for Sale to Support the Museum
A selection of the artworks on display will be available for purchase during the exhibition, with proceeds going toward the Carousel Museum's mission as a community-focused nonprofit, the museum says. The arrangement ties the tribute directly back into the institution Sessions once helped steer as a board member.
The Bristol Edition also reported that local studio Creative Jam Art Co. planned a tie-in glow-in-the-dark splatter painting weekend timed to the exhibition's opening, though the specifics of that promotion, including any discount or pre-registration details tied to the Sessions tribute, were not independently verified. Creative Jam Art Co.'s own service listing describes its standard glow-in-the-dark splatter painting sessions as lasting approximately 30 minutes, according to Creative Jam Art Co.. The studio's listed pricing includes a $32 per-person entry fee charged on arrival, with a separate $27 reservation fee that holds a party's chosen time slot and is deducted from the total paid in studio, per the same listing.
For Bristol residents who remember seeing Sessions' work around town for years, the free opening weekend offers a chance to revisit that body of work in one place, with the museum itself benefiting from whatever pieces find new homes.
