The old maritime port of New London has been transforming over the past decade to embrace the creative talent it is blessed with. With more than a dozen galleries and studios, the energy is building — from community art to various professional niches. One of those, Marquee Gallery, has already hosted more than 40 international artists, as well as numerous regional and local artists, in its brief three-year existence.

Marquee’s director, Clint Slowik, said he looks for emerging and mid- career artists who “have the talent but they also have the sincerity and the passion of an artist who I can see developing, who really dives into what their artistic vision is.” That mission will be manifested on November 17, when a new fine art

photographic exhibit of equine pro- files and portraits entitled “Wind Spirit Speaks” opens.

The show will feature a collection of individual and collaborative photographs by Nina Chung and Pat Schoenfelder. Both accomplished photographers in their own right, Chung, from New York, and Schoenfelder, from Nebraska, have developed a close relationship after admiring each other’s work on Instagram. Upon discovering their common love of horses, they soon traveled to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota and became enthralled with wild mustangs. Mingling closely among them and gaining their trust proved to be an exhilarating and life-alter- ing experience. The result is a series of equine close-ups, profiles, and combined images that are striking in their artistic creativity and personality.

Opening night of “Wind Spirit Speaks” will also feature a live mini pony from Horses Healing Humans, a horse therapy farm in Stonington, Conn., that works with people with physical or learning disabilities or who have suffered abuse. There will also be some auctions of fine art photographic prints to benefit the farm. The show will run through December 16.

The Marquee Gallery is home to the New London Art Students League and has a large studio for workshops and classes. Slowik feels as if the city is on the cusp of becoming an arts destination, and hopes to work with the city’s governing and community organizations to spear- head an arts alliance that would pull all genres and venues under one promotional umbrella.

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