A vibrant, metallic mural by artist Jessica Wilson adorns the outside of a two-story brick building at 5 Stowe Street in Waterbury. “Phoenix Rising” was dedicated in 2021 as a tribute to that community’s resilience following Tropical Storm Irene. But after three years of COVID-19, the phoenix symbolism applies equally well to the new art gallery and performing arts space that is now housed inside.
“As we were thinking about names, the bird kept speaking to me,” said Joseph Pensak, head curator and cofounder of the Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall (known simply as the Phoenix), a 1,700-square-foot community space that opened last week in the historic downtown village. “The arts were wiped out during the pandemic. This whole building is the phoenix rising from the ashes.”
Pensak, 46, knows it all too well. The former head curator of New City Galerie in Burlington was working as executive director of River Arts in Morrisville when the pandemic hit and the gallery’s entire full-time staff was laid off. After spending more than two years driving a FedEx truck, Pensak opened Waterbury Studios on the second floor of the Stowe Street building with his wife, attorney Anna Black, who is also an artist and musician.
Then their downstairs neighbor, Whitney Aldrich, owner of Axel’s Frame Shop & Gallery, relocated her business across the street. The couple’s landlords — the Squier family, owners of the neighboring WDEV radio station — asked Pensak and Black if they had any ideas for using the newly vacant storefront.
“Well, yeah!” Pensak recalled. “We had a lot of ideas.”
Pensak, who’s also a songwriter and recording artist, partnered with Anne Decker, a Waterbury-based musician, composer and founder of the nonprofit TURNmusic. For nearly a decade, Decker has been curating “Music in the Alley,” a diverse monthly concert series she cofounded with Aldrich. Now she has made the Phoenix the new headquarters of TURNmusic, with the ultimate goal of providing Waterbury with “a really hip performing arts space,” in her words, that community members can rent for their own events.
“I live in Waterbury,” she added, “so this is a marriage of all the amazing things I’ve been working towards.”
The Phoenix’s business model includes serving maple lemonade and Rookie’s Root Beer on tap for DIY root beer floats, with a candy counter along one wall. Pensak explained that the idea of the soda fountain and candy shop originated from his historical research on the century-old building.
In the early-to-mid-20th century, the storefront was home to Al’s Concord Candy, founded by Greek immigrant Vasily K. Ducas and his wife. The couple shared the space with A.E. Gilman’s Jeweler, and some Waterbury old-timers have fond memories of the candy store, colloquially known as “Gilman’s.” A 1963 black-and-white photo of it now hangs inside.
According to Pensak, the art space, which he called “phase one” of the project, has already booked four artists’ exhibitions for the coming year. “Phase two” will consist of further improvements to the musical performance space, including adding a sound system, lights and a stage. Currently, all the indoor performances, which can accommodate 50 to 70 people, are acoustic in nature.
Last Friday’s show featured Freeway Clyde, a project by musician Michael Chorney of Hadestown fame. According to Decker, July will bring performances by the indie chamber-folk group Cricket Blue and neo-soul-Americana singer-songwriter Reid Parsons.
The Phoenix’s third business partner is Stowe-based artist and furniture maker TR Risk, whose home décor and renovations are sought after by clients nationwide. According to Pensak, Risk’s work is exhibited in the Phoenix’s display window and in its green room for performers.
The original print version of this article was headlined “New Art Gallery, Music Hall Opens in Waterbury”
This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2023.
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