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Bert
Gallery at Corliss Landing
540 South Water Street
PAINTER GORDON PEERS (1909 - 1988)
Transformation During the War Years
April 4 - June 27
Gallery Nights: April 17, June 19, Closed May Gallery Night
Bert Gallery, located along the Providence waterfront at
Corliss Landing, 540 South Water Street, continues the Cultural
Awakenings 2008 Exhibition Series with the show Gordon
Peers (1909 - 1988): Transformation During the War Years.
Gallery Hours are Tuesday - Friday from 11 - 5pm, Saturdays 12
- 4pm or by appointment. Exhibits are free and open to the
public.
WWII touched all facets of American life and challenged the careers
of many Rhode Island artists. The structured and precise painting
style of Gordon Peers (1909 - 1988) pre-war evolved to meet the
new realities of a post war art world. The artist did not
paint war themes but looked to the emerging art movements of Geometric
Abstraction and Surrealism by the American vanguard artists to better
understand his choices as a painter. Bert Gallery's current
exhibit looks at the evolution of painter Gordon Peers, nurtured
in a war free art world transformed by the altered American culture
of the 1950's.
There are over twenty paintings on view dating from 1938 to 1984.
Early works in the 30's and 40's show Peers as a strong realist
painter who was interested in tightly rendered images, exacting
composition and homage to nature. An independent and disciplined
painter, Gordon Peers acquired technical and theoretical art sophistication
early in his career. He graduated from RISD under the tutelage of
John Frazier and went on to study at the Beaux Arts Academy in New
York eventually working for a time with American realist Thomas
Hart Benton.
On December 7, 1941 every American life changed with the attack
on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War
II. Gordon was a member of the faculty at Rhode Island School of
Design and obtained a leave of absence to become an officer in an
army camouflage unit. Like many Americans, Peers adjusted
to the disruption in his career, but the war had irrevocably transformed
the art world. He faced an art profession that was convulsing
with new ideas and approaches to painting. The Bert Gallery exhibit
juxtaposes the artwork by Peers from the 30's and 40's with later
paintings from the 50's to 80's. The transformation in color, composition
and surface paint are significant. Peers will not be confused with
the more radical and modern painters to emerge post war in the United
States. Rather, Peers' paintings evolved slowly paying particular
homage to the work of Cezanne and never relinquishing a respect
for sound draftsmanship and the refined craft of painting.
His subject matter ranges from still life, flowers and Cape Cod
landscapes of Highland Beach and Truro, Massachusetts actively avoiding
war theme art while still exhibiting in Rhode Island servicemen
exhibits at the Providence Art Club in 1946 his imaginative paintings
of objects and landscape.
Gordon Peers achieved wide recognition in Rhode Island as a painter
and instructor. He was the Chairman of the Painting Department
at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Head of the European
Honors Program. A member of the Providence Art Club and Newport
Art Association, he had several one man and group exhibitions to
include such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,
Corcoran Art Gallery, Carnegie Institute and the National Academy
of Design.
Providence, RI. Bert Gallery is located along the Providence waterfront
at Corliss Landing, 540 South Water Street.In 2008 Bert Gallery
takes a look at the "cultural awakenings" throughout the
decades that established Rhode Island as a destination for visual
artists. Among the wharfs and warehouses of this small industrial
state a cultural identity was born and nurtured.
» hours + more info
Gail
Cahalan Gallery
200 Allens Avenue
Gallery Hours: Weds-Fri 1-5pm, Sat 12-5pm and by appointment
Opening reception for MET School Art Exhibit
Saturday, May 3 from 4-7pm
Exhibit runs from May 3 – May 10
Please join us in celebrating the student artwork from the MET school
in Providence. These high school students are talented aspiring
artists working in a variety of styles. A portion of the sales will
benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Help us support these students
and a very important charity.
Opening Reception for Photography by Alexandra Broches
Saturday, May 17 from 4-7pm
Exhibit runs from May 14 – June 7
Join us in welcoming the arrival of fine art photography
by Alexandra Broches. Her masterful black and white photography
captures elements of the natural world composed in wonderful design
inspired visions.
Collections of eggs, bones and feathers artfully arranged and edited
provoke a sense of wonder and curiosity from the viewer. These easily
overlooked artifacts of nature become interesting displays of natural
patterns through Broches’s lenses.
Paintings by Paula Martiesian
April 26 - May 23
Gallery talk with Paula Martiesian : May 22, 2008 at 6:30
pm
Join us for an informal gallery talk with Paula Martiesian.
This longtime established Providence artist, will talk about her
work on display at the gallery. Martiesian's work has been
described as "visually stunning." This "painter's
painter" states that she is a person "seduced by color,"
which clearly is evident in her work. The evening will be a great
opportunity to hear some possible insights behind these bold and brilliantly colorful
images, ask questions and interact with this active artist.
Explore a world of rich, lush and vivid color in Paula Martiesian’s
landscape paintings. Her natural world speaks of stunning color
and are beautiful expressive visions to behold.
Swatches, drips and lines of color play back and forth, and in
and out, of the surface of Martiesian’s paintings. Full of
intense power and concentration, Martiesian communicates a
language of expressive color, reflecting her vision of the
world. The established Providence based artist comments, “I
try to recreate the very atmosphere I see, a total impression based
in the colors I experience in my garden, on the road and in my travels.
For it isn't just color I love, but color in nature, a sophisticated,
wild and untrammeled nature that has no straight lines, a world
that has no neat and tidy solutions."
Full of energy, these large-scale oil paintings hold your attention
and leave one in admiration for both the colorful palette and the
interpretation of the landscape.
The Gail Cahalan Gallery is devoted to showing exciting artwork
across a wide spectrum of disciplines in a variety of media. Focusing
mainly on contemporary work, the gallery's mission is to incorporate
the incredible regional talent with a diverse audience. In an effort
to stimulate and inspire the community visually, the gallery exhibits
art which can run from the provocative, to historically significant
to elegant and sophisticated.
» hours + more info
Gallery
Belleau
424 Wickenden Street
"For those who seek the Unique"
Gallery Belleau is a showcase for over 50 local and nationally known
American artists and craftsmen. Visitors will find creations in
glass, clay, wood, metal, jewelry, paint and more.
» hours + more info
The
Peaceable Kingdom
116 Ives Street
May 15 5-9pm
Musical Instruments from Around the World
djembe
talking drum
shekere
rainstick
thumb piano
didjeridoo
call us for information on music workshops
Since 1980, the Ritchie family has been collecting, traveling and
sharing folk art from around the world. The Peaceable Kingdom is
a place where stories come alive and where art created within cultural
traditions transports the viewer to exotic lands.
» hours + more info
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.
Wickenden Street
• Our Lady of the Rosary Church Parking Lot
Behind Adlers Hardware on Wickenden Street
(The lot has basketball hoops and is next to 195)
Our Lady of the Rosary Church - Serving the Portuguese-American
Community since 1886!
All are welcome.
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