Looking for History

MoCA\CT presents Looking for History, featuring three artists, Rick Shaefer, Ellen Harvey, and Michael Borders—each presented in their own dedicated gallery space at varying intervals over the course of the exhibition from June 25 to November 15, 2026. In recognition of the United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026, the Museum invites visitors into distinct yet interconnected conversations about our nation’s past, present, and potential future.

Rick Shaefer | Colossi
On view June 25 – November 15, 2026

With consummate draftsmanship, Rick Shaefer’s Colossi presents a series of monumental landscape drawings, each dominated by an imposing wall that eventually encircles the globe. Past, present, and futuristic machinery coexist, conveying infinite ambition and posing the timeless question: Are we walling in or walling out? The installation includes Shaefer’s poignant drawing Water Crossing from the Refugee Trilogy, and the evocative series Liberty Dismantled. Diagrams and videos explore Shaefer’s art historical inspirations and engage viewers in a meditation on the boundaries that define our world. Shaefer has had solo exhibitions at the Fairfield University Art Museum, the National Academy of Design, and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

Michael Borders | Connecticut Industry
On view August 13 – November 15, 2026 | Reception: September 10

Michael Borders’s panoramic Connecticut Industry—a 10-foot by 40-foot mural with eight panels representing each of the state’s counties.—immerses visitors in our state’s industrial evolution. Through 25 years of research, Borders documents the interplay of the landscape, machinery, products, and the people that built Connecticut spanning more than 350 years. Today, as the industrial landscape is undergoing a technological transformation, Borders’s vision makes us wonder what automation and artificial intelligence will bring to future generations. Borders has exhibited his work at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the New Britain Museum of American Art.