EAST SIDE   downtown | east side | west side | wickenden st | associates

The Chazan Gallery at Wheeler
228 Angell Street
February 19 to March 18
On Nature : Adrianne Evans, Brooke Hammerlee, Mara Metcalf, Roberta Shapiro and Todd Moore

Adrianne Evans uses the study of geology, astronomy, and botany to find out how the universe works and her studio work explores similar possibilities presented by these fields of study. Creating something out of what seems to be nothing, “I pretend I am ‘Mother Nature’ and the universe follows my rules.” Evans’ medium is predominantly glass, because it has the ability to be “opaque, translucent or transparent, rough or smooth, colored or clear; even all within the same piece.” In this exhibition, Evans works closely with organic materials such as tree leaves, ‘which offer a continually growing range of possibilities and discovery.’ Evans received her MFA in Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design, and her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including Chazan Gallery, Newport Art Museum, The Bristol Museum and the Providence Art Club. She is currently on the Glass Department faculty at RISD.

Brooke Hammerlee is a self-described ‘painter, working in the medium of photography’. Paying close attention to light, and the translation of light into color, Hammerlee explores the visual world between nature and abstraction. With her formal background in painting, she pays close attention to formal elements that she can capture through the lens, focusing on “the isolating and organizing of form and color space.” “I am drawn to relationships which describe a consciousness of the unity of elements not things.” Hammerlee received her BFA in Photography from the University Without Walls. She is currently the photographer to the Brown University Art History and Visual Art Department as well as the Bell Gallery, and has worked closely with the RISD Design Museum in the photography of their collections. Hammerlee’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout New England.

Mara Metcalf is currently working on a series on paper that explores the theme of landscape and memory. The images she depicts refer to existing sites such as the waterfalls and mountains along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, but these images are not translated literally onto paper. Using old maps as her ‘canvas’, Metcalf is able to use ink on paper to rework patterns in nature, calling attention to the way that we think and interact with the natural world. “While I am interested in depicting a sense of place, I also hope to get at what is essentially invisible.” Metcalf received her BFA from RISD, and her MFA from Tufts University School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her work has been shown at many galleries in Providence and Boston and is part of several permanent collections including the RISD Museum. She is on the faculty of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Roberta Shapiro uses embroidery as a visual language that enables her to see and interpret her surroundings. Using thread and cotton, she depicts common, often overlooked, images such as small trees, or lone standing houses. In creating these images, “I recognize them and in the process, myself.” Through the layers of textures and description, “I hone the images as I stitch.” Through her work, Shapiro hopes to “articulate a moment of interior revelation found in images that might otherwise be forgotten. Shapiro is a jewelry designer, and this is her first gallery show of her embroidery work. She graduated from Skidmore College with a Bachelor of Science and she has taught in Industrial Design at RISD. Currently she is Director of Retail Sales at Cookson America.

Todd Moore is showing paintings and ink drawings that ‘represent a compression of all elements down to fundamentals, in a literal, metaphorical and painting sense.” Using simple materials, such as India ink on paper or paint on canvas, he captures the eroded and exposed stone and glacial debris found on the New England coast. Moore explains that “The intersection of perception, representational documentation and autobiographical expression have always provided the conceptual basis for his work, as well as the struggle between the traditional romance of painting and the distance of modern irony.” Moore has an MFA from RISD and a BA from Evergreen State College. His work has been exhibited widely throughout the US and is included in several corporate collections. He is a member of the faculty of the Division of Foundation Studies at RISD.

The Chazan Gallery at Wheeler, a nonprofit artists' space, presents a wide range of contemporary work in exhibitions by artists living or working in the greater Providence area. Artists are selected through an open juried process. Located on the East Side of Providence near Brown University and RISD, the gallery is on the campus of Wheeler School.

» hours + more info

David Winton Bell Gallery
at Brown University List Art Center
64 College Street
Closed for March Gallery Night

Among the best venues for contemporary art in New England, the David Winton Bell Gallery presents four exhibitions a year focusing on internationally recognized artists and contemporary trends. In addition, the Gallery mounts an annual student show, a triennial faculty exhibition, and an annual exhibition of New England artists.

» hours + more info

The Krause Gallery at Moses Brown
250 Lloyd Avenue
March 2nd -11th
MB Student Portfolio Show
March 15th -28th
RIAEA Annual Exhibit

Located in Moses Brown School on Providence's East Side, The Krause Gallery is dedicated to exhibiting a broad spectrum of contemporary artists' work.

» hours + more info

Providence Art Club
11 Thomas Street
Mon-Fri 12-4 • Sat & Sun 2-4
February 28-March 19
Receptions
Sunday, February 28, 2-4pm
Maxwell Mays Gallery
12th Annual Fidelity Investments Extreme Scale Juried Exhibition
Dodge House Gallery
Lenny Rumpler and Stanley Summer: Photographs

» hours + more info

The RISD Museum of Art
224 Benefit Street enter through the Chace Center at 20 N. Main Street
401 454-6500         
www.risdmuseum.org

March Gallery Night Programs
Join a conversation with curators and artists. Take gallery exploration into your own hands. Enjoy live music with wine at our cash bar. Exercise your artistic potential with optional coaching.

6-8pm Drop-in Art Lesson: Receive one-on-one instruction from a professional artist/educator. Materials are provided; no experience is necessary.

7:30pm Sitings 2010: Museum as Action
Celebrate the winning entries by Lee Johnson and Benjamin Peterson (both MFA 2011) and Celeste Wilson (BFA 2010) for the annual Sitings competition, juried by Spencer Finch (MFA 1989). Students were invited to respond to, celebrate, and exploit the Museum’s architectural idiosyncrasies and collections, and the habits of its visitation.

6:30-8pm Main Gallery: Steve DeConti, jazz guitarist

Ongoing Exhibitions
Pat Steir: Drawing Out of Line
Through Sunday, July 3, 2010
Pat Steir has been a major figure in American art since the 1970s and she has created some of the most ambitious and challenging drawings of the late 20th century. Organized by Jan Howard, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs with independent curator, Susan Harris, Pat Steir: Drawing Out of Line will present 40 years of Steir’s work in a survey that focuses on the artist’s exploration of the vocabulary of drawing. The exhibition will be introduced with a recreation of her wall drawing Self-Portrait: An Installation first created for the New Museum in New York, 1987.  In the 4,000 square-foot gallery of the Museum, drawings on paper, dramatically varied in scale, will be presented and set in relationship to her paintings and prints. Untitled, (Long Wave Drawing), 1985, 5 x 15’, (borrowed from the Museum of Modern Art) is a primary example of how Steir challenged the notion of drawing, in scale and ambition. Support has been provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, Cheim & Read, New York, Paula and Leonard Granoff, and an anonymous donor. The Providence Tourism Council is supporting a free community day featuring "The Big Draw."

The Primacy of Paper: Recent works from the collection
Linda and Vincent Buonanno Works on Paper Gallery; Through Sunday, June 20, 2010
Contemporary drawings and prints can function as key components of an artist’s practice, and in recent years, works on paper have come to challenge the primacy of painting and sculpture. This selection, intended to complement the exhibition Pat Steir: Drawing Out of Line, features recent works by Shahzia Sikander, Julie Mehretu (MFA 1997), Kiki Smith, Sol LeWitt, and others for whom the act and process of drawing plays a key role in the creation or rejection of meaning.

Presence through Process
Bill and Nancy Tsiaras Gallery in Honor of Aaron Siskind; Through Sunday, June 20, 2010
The desire to depict the perceptual and physical experience of the human body, rather than merely its appearance, can serve as a catalyst for photographic experimentation. This exhibition presents works by Emmet Gowin, Vik Muniz, Frederick Sommer, Lesley Dill, and other artists exploring the poetics and politics of the human figure. Featured is a cross-section of photographic processes from the latter half of the 20th century, from camera manipulation to more direct registers of presence.

The Figure: Contemporary Works from the Collection
Upper Farago; Through February 2011
The human figure, one of the oldest motifs in the history of art, seems to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for contemporary artists. The theme is presented here in a range of mediums and approaches, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, video, and needlework. Some artists represented in the exhibition use themselves as subject matter while others work with live models, photographs, or personal memory as a starting point. The selection of objects includes a number of recent acquisitions that are being exhibited at the Museum for the first time, including works by Tom Friedman, Tracey Emin, Keith Coventry, Judy Glantzman, Tyan Trecartin/Lizzie Fitch, Allison Newsome, and Grayson Perry, among others.

Avish Khebrehzadeh: Backyard and other stories
Spalter New Media Gallery; Through March 28, 2010
Avish Khebrehzadeh’s (Iranian, b. 1969) hand- drawn animations and large-scale drawings are praised for their poetic sensibility and dreamy, timeless atmosphere achieved through the most economical means. Their usual motifs—human figures performing simple activities, iconic animals, and excerpts of nature against neutral backgrounds—are made of elemental shapes which are softly drawn with just a pencil, olive oil, and resin. The artist’s inspiration stems from childhood memories, everyday life, literature, and art history. The contemplative and somewhat mysterious nature of Khebrehzadeh’s work allows for a variety of readings and invites the viewer’s participation though his/ her own imagination. Along with the selection of Khebrehzadeh’s single channel videos, the exhibition will include her work Backyard (2005/2006), large-scale video projection on a three panel drawing from the Museum collection.

Carey Young: Uncertain Contracts
Lower Farago Gallery; Through April 18, 2010
Carey Young (British- American, b. 1970) explores current political, social and ethical issues by focusing on increased commercialization in both personal and public domains. Inspired by historical conceptual art movements and institutional critique strategies, this London- based artist investigates legal and corporate cultures, and appropriates their language in order to reveal their influence on our daily lives, as well as the art world. Commonly made through consultation and participation with various legal, sociological and corporate experts, Young’s multidisciplinary works—videos, photography and installations— often depict the artist herself, and/or require the viewer’s interaction. This exhibition features a selection of the artist’s videos and works in other mediums, as well as her vinyl wall installation Declared Void (2005), recently acquired by the Museum.

Queen of the Insects: The Art of the Butterfly
Through Sunday, May 9, 2010
Transformative, ephemeral, and otherworldly, the iridescent and fragile beauty of the butterfly has enchanted cultures for hundreds of years. Always fashionable, the butterfly motif has adorned a wide variety of design objects, from porcelain and prints to jewelry and textiles. Objects from the Costume and Textiles collections--including a luminous 19th century Chinese hand painted summer robe, a ca. 1905 embroidered silk gown from the famed Japanese retailer Iida Takashimaya, and a gossamer 1970s printed chiffon dress designed by Hanae Mori--serve to illustrate the universal impulse to capture the fleeting art of the butterfly. Juxtaposed with its usage in western design, the traditional symbolism of the butterfly in Asian art will be explored and decoded as a design inspiration and as a material in itself. The human desire to preserve this resplendent and potent image of metamorphosis and rebirth has made it a cross-cultural design icon.

Mountains and Rivers: Scenic Views of Japan
Through Saturday, July 31, 2010
Beginning in the early 19th century, landscape evolved into a popular theme in Japanese printmaking. This subject matter, drawn from older painting traditions, was transferred to the medium of woodblock printing, where richer, more innovative thematic content appeared. This exhibition will highlight depictions of famous places (meisho), including selections from the Museum’s complete set of Hiroshige’s Tÿkaidÿ (Eastern Sea Route) prints and Hokusai’s series of the “Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji.”
 
Rapid Gestures: Waterfalls in British Romantic Art
Through June 6, 2010
According to John Ruskin, no one could paint waterfalls as skillfully as J. M. W. Turner, who captured “the majesty of motion” of these sublimely tumbling streams.  Rapid Gestures: Waterfalls in British Romantic Art showcases the variety of materials, colors, lines, and brushstrokes used to portray these boisterous and turbulent features of the natural world.  Drawn from the Museum’s rich collection of 18th- and 19th-century British watercolors and sketches, this intimate exhibition offers the rare opportunity to compare works by Turner, including his magnificent Dazio Grande (1843), with depictions of waterfalls by contemporaries like Ruskin, John Constable, Edward Lear, and John Robert Cozens.  Visitors will experience a picturesque journey through some of the most popular tourist destinations of the Romantic era, following Turner and his colleagues to powerful sites of artistic and poetic inspiration in Britain, Switzerland, and beyond.

» hours + more info