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BankRI Gallery
One Turks Head Place
November  5 through December 2, 2009
“Paintings and Prints by Delia Kovac”
Reception Thursday November 19, 2009 from 5 to 8:30 pm
with live music by guitarist Mark Armstrong and refreshments. 
 
MEET THE ARTIST – DELIA KOVAC
“When you grow up in the Midwest, says Wisconsin-born artist Delia Kovac, “you grow up with the illusion that life is happening elsewhere.”  The young Kovac made the journey from Wisconsin to Providence, planning her escape to the east coast via the Rhode Island School of Design.  Her flight east is part of a well-traveled family tradition – Kovac’s great grandparents answered the call of the unknown, emigrating from Holland to Canada.  The wanderlust DNA was passed down to her grandmother who traveled over the border into Wisconsin.
 
Her mother, defying family tradition, stayed in Wisconsin, and built a second career as an artist and arts educator.  Kovac’s mother had a great deal of influence on her daughter.  “She was my mom, so we hung out a lot,” Kovac explains.  “I got to see her go to art school. I got to see the good and the bad, the harrowing parts of being an artist.”  Kovac did not choose her career lightly.  She attended a public high school for the arts and studied acting, drawing, drums and theater.  “Art was always part of my life, but I didn’t know I was going to do it as a profession until I was an adult.”
 
Kovac majored in print-making at RISD and involved herself in the greater arts community. She graduated from RISD in 2002 and then attended Rutgers in the graduate arts program at the Mason Gross School of the Arts.  “I came back to Providence as the economic downturn happened,” Kovac recounts.  “It was a little bit of a rough landing, but I am glad to be back. I like Providence. Providence is a pretty special place to be an artist.”
 
A multi-disciplinary artist, Kovac experiments with all sorts of mediums and subject matter. “I usually combine things that I am interested in.  I don’t usually stick to one subject, Kovac explains.  “I browse.”  
 
A series of images printed on wood depict the houses where Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an early feminist thinker, once lived.  Kovac works at the Rhode Island Historical Society in her day job as a collections assistant.  During her time in the stacks researching, she found that Gilman lived in Providence in the late 1800s and early 1900s and that many of the buildings she once lived in were still standing.  That chance encounter became the basis for her series of prints.  “Not a day goes by that I don’t see something I’ve never seen before,” she says.  “It’s very interesting.”  
 
“In my heart, I am strictly a formalist.  I want to discover how images are made and what makes them interesting,” Kovac continues.  “I have slow conversations with myself, but hopefully I can push things out into the world that strike some kind of universal chord.”  
 
 The BankRI Galleries are curated by Paula Martiesian.  Paula Martiesian is a Providence-based artist and arts advocate.

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Chapel Gallery & Labyrinth
Mathewson Street United Methodist Church
134 Mathewson Street
November 1 – December 31, 2009:
“The Challenges of Underwater Photography: Gregg Carter“  

You can meet Gregg Carter and discuss his work on Gallery Night— Thursday, November 19th, when the Chapel Gallery will be open from 5:00–9:00 p.m. At that time, the church’s fourth-floor labyrinth will be available for meditative walking; there will also be two half-hour concerts by acclaimed organist David Clyle Morse.  

For the months of November and December of 2009, Gregg Carter will present an exhibit at Mathewson Street United Methodist Church’s Chapel Gallery of more than 50 of his underwater photos. He will display samples from wrecks and reefs off the shores of North Carolina, South Carolina, the Keys, Pompano Beach, and the U.S. Virgin Islands— as well as from the freshwater caverns and rivers of central Florida.

As an amateur photographer, Gregg Carter has found the undersea environment particularly demanding. Taking good pictures on dry land can be challenging, but such challenges often pale in comparison to taking good pictures under water. Among the greater difficulties that this environment bringsforth are the lack of light; floating particle matter—which can both block out subjects and create “backscatter” (the reflection of light off the particles back to the camera, creating glare and distortion); loss of color as light penetrates the surface; the common need to wear gloves (to protect from cold or wreck debris), increasing the difficulty of camera operation; sometimes powerful currents, making it hard to stabilize the camera; the constant movement of fish and other marine life; and the need to be close to the subject matter—as the lack of light and the distortions created by particle matter within the water column, as well as the water column itself, can severely compromise photos beyond a range of 6 or 7 feet.

Gregg uses a relatively inexpensive point-and-shoot, digital system, with most of his underwater camera work involving setting camera and strobe angles, strobe intensity, and striving toward elegance in composition. He has had multiple exhibits in Rhode Island, and he has granted permission for his photographs to be used in a variety of public venues, including college textbooks, children’s books, and local chambers of commerce in both South and North Carolina.

The Chapel Gallery is an intimate gallery space of 20' x 30' where a new show is open each month as well as special music events. The church also hosts an 11-circuit labyrinth patterned after the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France, open on Gallery Nights from 5 pm to 8:45 pm. Organ Concerts are presented in the sanctuary on the 2nd floor at 7 pm and 7:45 pm each Gallery Night.  

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Copacetic Rudely Elegant Jewelry
17 Peck Street * New Location

Ongoing: Copacetic Rudely Elegant Jewelry opened in 1985 and carries jewelry and clocks from over 120 artists, including 30 of which are local. Copacetic also carries a variety of unique gadgets and repairs are done not only on
fine jewelry, but also on sterling silver, antique, and costume jewelry.

Copacetic Rudely Elegant Jewelry Inc. after residing in the Arcade since 1985, is now located just 100 steps away, across Weybosset St. next to the Providence Cookie Co. at 17 Peck St.

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OOP!
220 Westminster Street
November 2009 - STICKS 
Sticks was started by Sarah Grant in 1992. OOP has carried Sticks ever since.  Sticks has received national acclaim for its distinctive line of furniture, accessories and object art. The company began by designing smaller items such as ornaments and candlesticks, and has evolved to feature larger items such as dining sets, beds and armoires. Each piece is handcrafted within Sticks’ award-winning studio in Des Moines, Iowa.

All pieces are finely crafted from birch, poplar and driftwood. The pieces are further designed with hand drawn imagery, etched contouring and vibrantly blended paint. Pieces can be embellished with 3-D wood components, metal, leather and fabric. The line is constantly evolving due to the imagination of the design team and the many talented craft artisans that Sarah employs. Every piece that Sticks produces can be personalized to feature themes, imagery or colors that you or your customers desire.

OOP! is a Contemporary American Craft Gallery.  Founded in 1990 by husband and wife team, Jennifer Neuguth and David Riordan.  OOP!  showcases young and established Amercian craft artisans work in jewelry, furniture, ceramics, glass, toys and more along side contemporary giftware and funstuff from here there and everywhere. Please visit all our OOP! locations: Downcity Providence at 220 Westminster Street and Wakefield RI at South County Commons.

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Picture This Gallery and Framing Center : Downtown
45 Weybosset Street
Monday - Friday 9-6
Opening Gallery Night November 19

Ongoing: The photography of Richard Benjamin, an artful showing of framed antique maps of Rhode Island and around the world along with framed antique bird and fish prints, watercolor landscapes by Elsie Kalan, oil landscapes by Burl Dawson and works by other local artists.

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URI Feinstein Providence Campus Gallery
(1st and 2nd floor lobby) 80 Washington Street 
Nov 9 – Dec 24
URI Feinstein Providence Campus & Providence VA Hospital
present
VETERANS GATHER
Gallery Night Reception + Open House Nov 19, 5– 9pm
Featuring music, story sharing, poetry and displays with representatives from  
the University of Rhode Island and Providence Veteran Affairs providing  
information about services available to military and family members.

The exhibit includes artwork in all media and creative writing from Veterans and their family members celebrating their military and creative contributions. The work deals literally and figuratively with the impact of war and military service on Veterans and their families, and the need for our community and our nation to support the military family regardless of political and personal beliefs with regard to war and global conflict.  The exhibit will feature work by more than 60 professional artists, community  artists and artist from various Veteran Expressive Arts programs in the New  England region including works by Ibraham Abdus-Sabur, Tom Anderson, Steve  Beckwith, Nathan Blaney, Peter J. Buotte, Rev. Bill Comeau, J. Joseph Comeau, Travis Crewdson, Thomas Francis Dolan, Raymond Dutra,  Lance Gershenoff, Monty  Gomez, Charles Gordon Jones, Dante Laurenzo, Nick McKnight, David Allen Arnold  Melendez, Thomas Francis Morgan Tom Morrissey, Mike Pichette, Don Primiano, Kelly Reid, Ed Lyman Rondeau, Lyman Rondeau, Joseph Sorel, Mark Vaughn, and Dawn Valentim.

For information call Steven Pennell 401-277-5206 or visit www.uri.edu/prov

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PARKING LOTS
Parking is free from 5 to 9 pm on Gallery Night only.
Free parking lots will be designated with Gallery Night signs.
Visitors do not need to show a voucher or ticket when parking.
Gallery Night Providence and lot owners are not responsible for damage, theft or injury.
Downtown
Closest Parking Lot:
One Regency Place off of Greene Street (near the Providence Public Library)