PORTRAIT OF AMERICA initiates monumental, interactive public art exhibitions to engage communities in a constructive dialog that triggers positive change. The exhibitions hold a mirror up to a community to reveal what's already there---the inherent dignity and promise of its people. POA partners with established community organizations to ensure a broad community outreach, meet the needs of the city, and establish relationships and programs with a lasting presence and impact.

In 2004, artist and director Joe Standart began Portrait of America in New London. By mounting an exhibition of monumental portraits of the city's residents throughout the city's pubic spaces in the downtown area, Mr. Standart turned the entire downtown into an outside gallery in which fine art was accessible to all. The exhibition had quite an impact on the city, was seen by over 700,000 people, and drew extensive positive press helping to establish the reputation of New London as an up and coming center for the arts.

The exhibition also generated significant revenue for the city's merchants and government by boosting tourism. Due to its tremendous success, The Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism requested that Mr. Standart produce a similar exhibition in Hartford.

Portrait of America's The Hartford Project (April 29 -August 1, 2010) is a celebration of the dignity and diversity of Connecticut's capital city. The exhibition has invigorated the city's downtown district, transforming it into a vibrant interactive photo exhibition, which comes to life in the streets, cultural institutions, local businesses and other public spaces. The Project uses the power of the arts to facilitate civic engagement, with the goal of animating democracy- bringing diverse people into dialog, promoting compassion and understanding.

Joe Standart has national ambitions for the Portrait of America series. He intends to initiate projects in cities throughout the North, South, East and West. Exhibition themes will include home, work, play, and the land.

About Us

Joe Standart
Artist/Director

Joe Standart is an award-winning photographer and internationally known artist, whose successful campaigns for many of the world leading organizations have won him awards from the Andys, The One Show and many others.

His passion for photography and for social issues lead to his monumental public art exhibition/event: Portrait of a City, The New London Project. The exhibition has been featured in the The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Associated Press, Photo District News, ABC News, NPR Radio, Public Television and other national media.

It charted new territory by so directly and honestly engaging his audience. His mission is to honor and challenge the citizens of a city to view themselves and their neighbors in a new light.

He began his career capturing the habitat of Alaska for the National Park Service in 1974. That groundbreaking work appeared in a nationally traveling exhibition and has been featured in numerous books and magazines.

Joe was a founding director of Photographers and Friends United Against Aids, the first group to mobilize the countries leading photo-artists to support Aids research and raised over $2 million. He has served on the board of the Florence Griswold Museum, one of the country’s leading art colony museums, which is dedicated to the Lyme Impressionists.

Joe worked with The Nature Conservancy, for two years documenting the fragile beauty of the lower Connecticut River, one of the Conservancy’s “Last Great Places” for a series of exhibitions designed to inform, inspire and educate. Joe’s fine art photographs have been exhibited in group and one-man shows across the country and are in the collections of many private collectors and museums.

Joe lives with his wife and two children in New York City and Lyme, Connecticut.

William Hereford
Past Project Coordinator/Producer (2008)

William has been working in the film and photo industry since graduating from Bates College in the Spring of 2007 with a degree in historical theory. He has a professional background in photography, cinematography,and video editing. He acts as a general overseer on all things technical for Portrait of America and orchestrates the day to day upkeep of the project. As well, he edits short video segments concerning the project's progress for fund raising purposes. He is an avid writer, reader, and windsurfer.

Kristen Smoragiewicz
Project Coordinator/Producer

Kristen has been active in the art and film industries since graduating from Saint Michael's College in 2007 with a degree in fine arts. She joined the Portrait of America team in 2008 as a video editor for the Hartford and Litchfield Projects, and quickly expanded her role, aiding in the design and production of the exhibitions. She loves painting, dancing, flea markets, and collaborating with friends on creative projects.

Portrait of America is a monumental interactive public arts series. Its purpose and goal is to utilize the power of the arts, in this case photographic portraiture, to break down barriers and bring people and communities together.

The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism has provided a generous grant to get our Connecticut-based projects started. Our first 2 projects have been tremendously successful, and therefore we have ambitions to expand the project, bringing Portrait of America to other cities around the state, region and country. That's where we need your help. For the project to realize its full potential as a national public arts series, we must raise significant additional money.

We know this can be easily accomplished if a lot of people give what ever they can to help support this project, which is designed to build better communities.

NOTE: Please enter "Portrait of America" as the project title and "Joe Standart" as the artist name on the donation page.

Make a Donation

If you have any questions or comments we would love to hear from you. Simply send an email to:
info@portraitofamerica.org

Or call us at:
(877) 298-7666

Portrait of America's Connecticut projects were initiated through a generous grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

We greatly appreciate support from all of our sponsors.

To learn more about becoming a sponsor please contact: info@portraitofamerica.org

• WFSB News Channel 3 Video Coverage
• WFSB's Better Connecticut Special Feature
• WNPR's Where We Live
• WTNH News Channel 8 Video Coverage
• The New York Times - 10/2/2005
• The Hartford Courant - 05/20/2010

We greatly appreciate your interest in making a contribution to this project. As of right now we are selling high quality t-shirts at $20.00, plus shipping. Call (212) 288-7666 to place you order. We have adult sizes - small, medium, and large. Get your POA T-shirt today!

Please contact us for purchasing information.

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