The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) announced today that two new art exhibitions are opening at the state's airports. The Block Island Airport Gallery will present works by Aleksandar Baba-Vulic from January 22 through May 28, 2015, while GREEN SPACE at T.F. Green Airport will present Offbeat Iconic from January 14 through April 30, 2015. Both gallery locations present the work of contemporary Rhode Island artists.
A photographer living and working on Block Island, Aleksandar Baba-Vulic presents images of the island's ever-changing beauty throughout the seasons. Born in Serbia, he studied Biology and Natural Sciences at the University of Novi Sad. He first came to Block Island while travelling in the US during a school break. He fell in love with the island and has made it his home base in subsequent years, exploring its landscape through his artwork.
Exhibitors for the Block Island Airport Gallery were selected by a panel of artists and community members. Panelists were Robert Newhouse, Neil Lang, Ana Flores and Grace Luddy.
At GREEN SPACE, Offbeat Iconic presents works by Cate Brown, Kathy Hodge and Alexander Nesbitt. Employing various techniques of photography, collage and painting, these three artists capture quintessential Rhode Island subjects in surprising and unexpected ways. Subject matter includes our state's landmarks, manufacturing history and maritime heritage. Views presented, however, are of the overlooked, bygone or rarely accessible aspects of these subjects.
A native of Rhode Island, photographer Cate Brown specializes in nautical photography. Her subjects range from coastal landscapes to classic yacht regattas. In the selected images, she leans towards abstraction, distilling her subjects down to their essential elements. Returning to Rhode Island after earning her photography degree, Cate currently works out of her studio in North Kingston.
Kathy Hodge was born in Providence, RI, and like her parents she attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Painting for over 25 years, Kathy has completed twelve National Parks artist residencies. In a departure from her well-known residency works, she shows here selections from her series Saint Hugh's Bones, which depicts the cast-iron shoe making machinery still in use in a small shop in Warren, RI. Her current studio is in East Providence.
Revisiting his body of black and white collage work, photographer Alexander Nesbitt shows here two Rhode Island scenes; Juliett 484, a portrait of the now-defunct Russian Submarine Museum, and Abandonment, a piece picturing a little-known redoubt at Fort Adams, Newport. These large-scale works were photographed in overlapping frames, then mounted on panels to create a fragmented, three-dimensional whole. Included in this exhibit is his first piece from this series, Thyssen Steel Mill, Germany, which serves as an introduction to this body of work. In addition to his fine art, Alexander specializes in travel photography as featured at his Newport gallery, Blink.
These artists were selected for exhibition by an accomplished panel: Lynn Harlow, a sculptor and former GREEN SPACE Gallery Director, Touba Ghadessi, an art historian and professor at Wheaton College, and Erik Gould, an exhibiting photographer and staff member at the RISD Museum.
The Airport Galleries, a partnership between the Rhode Island Council on the Arts and the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, promote outstanding work by artists living and working in Rhode Island. The galleries present art to an ever-changing audience of local, national and international travelers.
About RISCA: The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts is a state agency supported by appropriations from the Rhode Island General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. RISCA provides grants, technical assistance and staff support to arts organizations and artists, schools, community centers, social service organizations and local governments to bring the arts into the lives of Rhode Islanders.
About RIAC: The Rhode Island Airport Corporation operates T.F. Green Airport and the five general aviation airports in Rhode Island. A long-time supporter of public art in Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation has worked with the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts on a number of public art commissions for T. F. Green and Block Island airports.