Standard Space's Final Main Street Show, "Fields of Snakes"

In 2017, Standard Space opened along the Sharon, Connecticut town green after founder Theo Coulombe, a landscape photographer, decided to use his storefront as a contemporary art gallery. In the subsequent years, Standard Space began to spotlight local Litchfield County talent and artists of international acclaim. Frequently, these classifications overlapped. Highlights have included Colleen McGuire (whose oil paintings of picturesque scenes from the region were among the gallery’s most beloved), John-Paul Philippe, Dannielle Tegeder, Joshua Frankel, and Lizzie Gill, as well as the wondrous works of Louise Sheldon and ephemeral gelatin art by Kristin Worrall. To further support the community, Standard Space has also hosted the annual Sharon Center School K Through 8 exhibition—spotlighting works from the town’s students. 

With “Fields of Snakes,” which will run through December 21, Coulombe presents the final show in his gallery space. Appropriately, it’s a collaborative exhibition that pairs his own photographic works with vessels, mirrors, and jewelry by fine artist and Wassaic Project co-executive director Eve Biddle, another illuminating figure in a region consistently recognized for the strength of its artistic community. Though Standard Space will no longer be a full-time community fixture, Coulombe will continue his curatorial practice through pop-up exhibitions in the area. “We’ll still be featuring the same awesome artists—a mix of local and international folks—with a goal of about four events a year,” he tells Surface.

This conclusive exhibition is encircled by six large-scale landscape photographs that Coulombe took throughout 2025. “I focus on liminal spaces—those in-between spots—which I see, shoot, and capture with just one exposure,” he says. “I feel totally free—an amazing, deep freedom—when I’m in these places. I usually wrap up shooting by 8:00 a.m., having started around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m.” Over the last eight years, fog has been a frequent element in his imagery; Coulombe is drawn to the natural occurrence for the way it alters perception of the areas he haunts with his camera.

For the photographer, one location stands out: the Housatonic Valley, seen from Housatonic River Road, near Falls Village, Connecticut. “While I was setting up for that shot, a guy walking by with a backpack stopped and asked what I was doing. I told him I was photographing the landscape. He asked about my gear, and I confirmed it was the camera I had. I asked him what he was doing, and he explained he was a combat veteran in a program that trains vets to hike solo on trails as a way to find inner peace. While little chats like this happen sometimes, I’m mostly alone during these early morning trips.”

The collaboration with Biddle occurred naturally. “[Standard Space has] been set up here for eight years, and in the first year, we brought on Camille Roccanova as an associate director. She was the one who suggested I should connect with the Wassaic Project,” he says. “My original goal for the gallery was to get involved in the community and have genuine artistic conversations with other artists.” Though he was aware of the town’s big names—like Jasper Johns—Coulombe did not know the extent of the artistic activity in the enclave. Getting involved with the various residency programs in the area changed the direction of his work.

“I first met Theo almost 10 years ago at a mutual friend’s house and I was immediately intrigued and charmed,” Biddle says. “Lots of artists come to us at the Wassaic Project for guidance and talk to us about starting spaces and have dreams of giving back to their communities—but not very many really do it. Over the years there have been beautiful intersections of our programs and Theo has always been so open and celebratory of Wassaic Project and the overlap that our programs have.”

Biddle was drawn to Coulombe’s conceptual generosity and the way he hangs his shows with “a very light but formative touch.” For her contributions to “Fields of Snakes,” Biddle and Coulombe discussed what would be most resonant with his images. “Our work is literally in conversation in the mashup landscapes that include the double exposures of my vessels, but his landscapes and my sculptures are also in dialogue conceptually. We both really look at and feel deeply the landscape that we’re in. That comes through very differently in the aesthetics of our work, but the underpinning of connection to place and land, and the natural world is very simpatico.”

Serpentine symbolism defines Biddle’s pieces in the exhibition. Indeed, it has for 25 years. “But the snakes became much more representational in 2020 when I moved full-time to Wassaic with my family and we were all in quarantine,” she explains. “There was something about the ability to shed your skin and be the same person that was really resonant. I also loved that the antidote to a snake bite often includes the venom of the same snake. It’s almost as though in order to move past something challenging one has to internalize the threat rather than push it away.” The shedding of skin acts as a metaphor for Standard Space, as well.

A 15-minute drive from Standard Space, Wassaic Project—a nonprofit gallery, artist residency, and education center—has its winter exhibition, “This Must Be The Place,” opening on December 5. “Wassaic Project is a place of beginnings,” Biddle says. “We have been part of the story of beginning for over 1,000 artists over the past 17 years. We will all see the beginnings and middles and ends and futures of the stories that began here in Wassaic over the course of the rest of our lives—all over the world.”

“Wassaic Project is a radical collaboration for me and for our staff and for our artists and for our extended community. It doesn’t exist without all of that collaboration,” Biddle concludes. “And that collaboration has been mutually nurturing for Wassaic Project and Standard Space over the past 58 shows. We are always supportive of more art happening in our local area and I hope that this is just the start of a new chapter.” Buoyed by Coulombe’s generosity and creativity, the next iteration of Standard Space will certainly be something to cherish.