Eco-Artist Constance Old

In an age where art appears to be churned through AI and media is set by algorithms, it’s refreshing to visit Constance Old in her New Canaan studio. Adjacent to the main house, where she lives with her husband Jon, her artistic retreat is a standing expression of her work. It’s a private exhibition featuring a colorful freeform of pieces in progress to finished works of art. On the sunny winter’s day of my visit, light bounces about from the many windows, which naturally illuminates the studio. The dominating colors are reminiscent of a tween’s nail polish collection from its emphasis on neon shades and black as the recurring neutral. I home in on a stack of cages, imprisoned inside are colorful wires that ascend to a display of whimsical mobiles. On a work table there’s a tangle of cords aside one of her prints on paper — a scribble scrabble of letters and lines that beautifully come together like a Beatles song after a jam session. Constance picks up the cords, they dangle playfully from her hands, and she looks at them with a knowing smile. “These were salvaged from my husband’s office after a colleague’s departure. I call them ‘Phil’s Brain.’” Immediately I am drawn to Constance for her wit and signature style.

Salvaged materials

Constance is an eco-artist. She collects such life detritus as receipts and packaging, which she transforms into purposeful beauty. In no time we found that our past lives intersected in the publishing industry. Constance was an art director and graphic designer  for Martha Stewart Living in its nascent stages. This was when MSL redefined the media landscape by stressing imagery. Editors were given lush photos with the directive to create a story around them.

After receiving an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale, Constance worked at Martha Stewart Living Magazine as an associate art director. While there, she helped design the first Weddings issue. She described how dialed in Martha was with her readers, recalling how photos of aspirational wedding cakes made with tiers of colorful fondant looked too pretty and technical to eat. Constance recalls Martha’s challenging reaction. How the cakes were not feasible for the average baker to make. Martha came into the test kitchen literally two days later and worked with the culinary team to  create  a more realistic wedding cake adorned  with flowers. Aspirational albeit in a more user-friendly form.

A little background

Since leaving Martha Stewart Living, Constance has worked as a freelance graphic designer for a variety of publishers, schools and cultural institutions, including Clarkson Potter Publishing, Princeton University Council on Science and Technology, Central Park Conservancy (New York), Horizons Student Enrichment Program, New Canaan Country School Auction, Family Centers (Greenwich), Stone Point Capital (Greenwich CT), BoxoPROJECTS (Joshua Tree CA).

Over the past 20 years, Constance  shifted her focus to a career in art. When she started working from a home office while raising her daughter, Emily who is now 30, she would make collages in the kitchen. “They were made from materials that came into our house, like magazines, catalogues, stickers on food and food packaging,” she says. In 2000 she made a 2’ x 4’ collage using only barcodes with the typeset words “i own this” in the center. 

Years later, she learned to rug hook and created a 2’ x 4’ wall piece from sales receipts. The phrase “i own this” was hooked into the piece with the thin, ultra white plastic used to package electronics. “I see rug hooking with consumer detritus as a way to make contemporary work using a traditional craft technique,” she says.

Mixed media

Constance realized that the phrases that occupied her mind could be used in making art. The issue was that there were too many to make using rug hooking. She then began writing down the phrases on 4” x 5” pieces of paper and posted them on a wall in her studio. Starting in 2013, many of these became part of an ongoing series called phrases in my head. The pieces in the series are made on “claybord” panels and combine journal entries with repurposed materials — specifically self-adhesive stickers first used in the downtown J. Crew store window display. 

Her process was to choose a phrase, write a journal entry about it on the panel, then use the writing as an armature for a painting. She then wrote the phrase over the painting in all caps and built the letterforms of the phrase out of the stickers after the J. Crew store display came down. “One of the first pieces I made was inspired by my experience asking the store manager if I might have the stickers after the store was finished with them. The manager said, ‘I would love to give them to you, but… I have to ask corporate.’” Eventually the manager gave the long strips of brightly colored round  stickers to Constance. Some of the blue ones  were promptly repurposed into a piece with the phrase, I have to ask corporate. 

Deserved recognition

Most recently Pamela Hovland, the Director of Design at Museum of Contemporary Art \ CT and Senior Critic in Design Yale University, who is also a friend of Constance’s from their grad school days, commissioned her for a 27’ x 8’ mural. The assignment was an amalgam of works from Constance’s phrases in my head series, which was produced for the entrance to the museum’s 2025-2026 winter exhibition titled Enough Already: Women Artists from the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection.

Pamela selected Constance since the museum wanted to highlight the work of a local and emerging woman artist. “We were quite interested in finding an artist whose work deals with language just as many of the works in the exhibition Enough Already also do… We looked for an artist with text-based work who speaks to the myriad issues women grapple with, like identity, work, friendship, motherhood, relationships, social outreach etc. Constance’s work checked all the boxes.”

Another noteworthy exhibition for Constance was at The New Canaan Museum and Historical Society in 2019. In collaboration with Executive Director Nancy Geary, they assembled an exhibition titled Constance Old: the Art of Consumer Detritus. Inspired by a cigar quilt in the museum’s collection, the exhibit featured many of her rug hooked pieces.

As an artist schooled in modernist thinking, Constance is simpatico with living in a town rich in modern architecture. “We have the Glass House and Gores Pavilion in Irwin Park, among other iconic buildings around town,” she says. She’s also a member of Silvermine Guild of Artists.

During the years Emily was at home, Constance taught children’s art classes and a summer art camp at Carriage Barn Arts Center and served on the board. Another cultural gem where she served on the board is the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk. And, a relatively new favorite, is The Norwalk Art Space that opened in 2021. “It provides art education for under-served students and spotlights local and regional artists in its beautiful gallery,” she says. Also nearby, Constance enjoys the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield. “It is inspiring and a privilege to have access to world-renowned cultural institutions and exhibitions in, and only minutes from, New Canaan.”

Evolution

In 1970, when Constance was eight years old, she experienced the first Earth Day. This childhood highlight impacted much of her work and life today. “Ecology and the environment have  been lifelong interests. As a result, I work largely with up-cycled paper and plastic. This means I reuse the materials in a way that is different from their original purpose, without changing their chemistry,” she says. Constance is in her element among motley materials destined for trash. Under her artistry they become museum pieces, which underlines their relevance in today’s consumptive times. Through her work, she hopes to raise awareness about the excesses and waste produced in a consumer economy. “Whenever I can, I use language and humor to pull people in because if you can make someone smile, you might just inspire them too.”

For more information on Constance Old, please visit www.constanceold.com.