There is a new addition to The Mattatuck Community Collection at NVCC, a partnership forged last year between the Mattatuck Museum and Naugatuck Valley Community College. Noah’s Ark by sculptor Howard Lerner has been added to the assortment of paintings and photographs on a 99-year loan from the Museum to the College.

“We are so very pleased to add this iconic and powerful sculpture to The Mattatuck Community Collection at NVCC,” said NVCC President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D. “Art moves humanity forward in so many enriching ways and our growing collection here at the College is a magnificent opportunity for our students to get close to the arts and to engage the mind and the heart in understanding the human experience. I thank Director Robert Burns and the Mattatuck Museum for being so generous with their treasures.”

Working with found materials and drawing on a variety of spiritual traditions, Lerner gives new life to ancient icons in Noah’s Ark. His stated goal is to recreate the Biblical stories of God and man from both image and word. Using the discarded remnants of our civilization for sculptural material, he weaves Holy Scripture into the individual works. This act of re-creation connects the artist (and perhaps the viewer) with the Divinity, and allows the ancient stories to come alive in the present day.

“In my sculpture, I’ve created a series of found object constructions whose themes originate from the Old Testament, Yoga and the Amusement Park,” said Lerner. “Inspired by Rube Goldberg and the work of numerous outsider artists, spirituality and humor are aspects of these assemblages. Using discarded finds from our world, I weave and integrate Biblical verse from an ancient time to connect us with the Divinity in those legends.”

The work isn't bound to a specific religious context, but instead seeks to depict stories that mingle between traditions. A large standing figure, Kunda-Shekina-Aherah brings into one form several traditional representations of the Divine Feminine Principle. Known in Judaism as the Shekinah, in Yoga as the Kundalini Shakti and in the Ancient Near and Middle Eastern religions as the Asherah, the goddess here rises from the artist's vision of The Ark of the Covenant.

Breathing a more whimsical air into these mystical wonderings is a series of small, playful constructions inspired by folk art and antique toys. Planes and fish figure prominently, providing a more light-hearted glimpse into the Lerner's visual exploration of mysterious worlds.

In addition to Noah’s Ark, which is displayed in the fifth-floor library gallery, The Mattatuck Community Collection at NVCC features a series of photographs from 1843 to present from the Mattatuck Museum and private collectors depicting the history of manufacturing and a collection of paintings from the Museum.

Four of the paintings are by Edward Giobbi, a Waterbury native known for his geometric paintings which have a strong architectural influence.  There are works by landscape painters Jonathan Scoville, Roger Barnes, George Chaplin and Jamie Ferrer as well. The collection also includes a mural created in 1951, commissioned by the Savings Bank of Waterbury, to commemorate the bank’s 100th anniversary and relocation to 60 North Main Street in the Brass City.

The photographs are displayed on the walls of the entrance to the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center. The paintings are exhibited on the atrium bridge of Technology Hall, the fourth floor Leever Atrium, fifth floor library gallery, and in the President’s Office.