The Newport Art Museum welcomes four new exhibitions to its galleries this fall, including Thomas Russell’s 50 Years: Selected Paintings, James Watkins: Reminiscence, 2015 NetWorks 2016, and the Photographers’ Guild Members’ Exhibition. The official Opening Reception for all four shows will be Friday, September 30, 5-7pm. Members free, non-members $10 suggested donation, cash bar. The Newport Art Museum is located at 76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI. Visit NewportArtMuseum.org or call 401-848-8200 for details.
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Thomas Russell
50 Years: Selected Paintings
September 3, 2016 – January 1, 2017Thomas Russell held his first solo exhibition at the Art Association of Newport (now the Newport Art Museum) in 1971. Since that time the artist has been exploring ideas and abstraction in his work, presented in series that he has divided into stylistic and iconographic modes. Russell writes, “My work, inspired by poetic things and ideas, seeks to express the radiant effect of their union. Sometimes a thing is first to appear and I search for the idea hiding within its form. Sometimes the idea is first to be known and I look for the form to embody it. Sometimes the thing and the idea emerge together and the painting produces itself.”
Thomas Russell received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. His paintings have been exhibited in Rhode Island, New York and North Carolina. From 1979 through 2011 Russell was a professor of art history and visual art at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College, Bryant University and Roger Williams University.
Russell and his artist wife, Teresa, live on Prudence Island.
A Gallery Talk with Thomas Russell will take place on October 16, 2016 at 2pm at the Museum, 76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport. The event is free with admission.
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James Watkins: Reminiscence
September 10, 2016 – January 8, 2017James Watkins makes sculpture and vessels from glass. He grew up in coastal Louisiana, and throughout his life, forms from nature, flora and fauna, have been his constant inspiration. He writes, “The curvaceous volume found in a seedpod, a bird’s wing or a boat’s hull, have all become part of my artistic vocabulary. The fluid melding of forms such as the spout of a pitcher with a ducks head seems a natural metamorphosis. Transformation and unlikely combinations reveal affinities in disparate objects.”
Watkins came north and attained a BA in art history from Eisenhower College, in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1977, and an MFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, in 1981. He has taught at RISD and Pilchuk Glass School, and is represented in the collections of the RISD Museum and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, among others. Watkins and his wife, artist Elizabeth Pannell, own and operate the Peàn Doubulyu Glass studio in Providence. |
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2015 NetWorks 2016
October 1, 2016 – January 16, 2017Produced by Joseph A. Chazan, M.D., NetWorks has been an ongoing project showcasing and recording the work, achievements, methods and profiles of Rhode Island artists each year since 2008. NetWorks 2015-2016 concludes the project, once more celebrating the creative energy of the state, with video profiles of 24 artists by Richard Goulis, portraits of the artists by Scott Lapham and an exhibition in the Museum’s Cushing Gallery. A catalogue designed by Malcolm Grear Designers accompanies the exhibition. Visit NewportArtMuseum.org for a full list of participating artists.
The World Premiere of 2016 NetWorks videos by Richard Goulis will show October 2, 2016 at 1:30 pm at the Museum, 76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport. The event is free with admission. |
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Photographers’ Guild Members’ Exhibition
October 1, 2016 – January 15, 2017This annual exhibition showcases photography by members of the Photographs’ Guild of the Newport Art Museum. Letting visitors experience people, places and things through a variety of lenses. Visit NewportPhotoGuild.org for more information. |
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AT-A-GLANCE
FALL 2016 EXHIBITIONS
Thomas Russell
50 Years: Selected Paintings
September 3, 2016 – January 1, 2017
Gallery Talk: October 16, 2016 2PM
James Watkins: Reminiscence
September 10, 2016 – January 8, 2017
2015 NetWorks 2016
October 1, 2016 – January 16, 2017
World Premiere of 2016 NetWorks videos: October 2, 2016 1:30pm
Photographers’ Guild Members’ Exhibition
October 1, 2016 – January 15, 2017
Opening Reception: September 30, 2016, 5 – 7pm
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