The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) announced today that two new art exhibitions are on display in Rhode Island's airports. At TF Green's GREEN SPACE Gallery, an exhibit entitled SPECIFICITY is on display from January 12 through May 1, 2017 while the Block Island Airport Gallery is hosting works by island resident Robin Bell in a one-person exhibit January 19 through May 30, 2017.
At GREEN SPACE Gallery, SPECIFICITY exhibits works by Lisa Barsumian, Ellie Brown and Libby Gilpatric. Defined as "belonging or relating uniquely to a subject", the word specificity in this exhibit explores ways of defining people, places and things. Photographer Ellie Brown makes compound portraits by presenting the person alongside the contents of their bag; Lisa Barsumian whittles her subjects down to their intrinsic, minimalist essence in her monotypes; and painter Libby Gilpatric offers landscapes that are definitively and unmistakably inspired by Aquidneck Island.
Lisa Barsumian's subject matter has a large range, from landscapes to still lifes and studies of people, to intimate observations of everyday objects. She seeks to simplify her images and in so doing brings forth a quiet sense of being. Here she exhibits monotypes, a print process in which only one print is made. Barsumian studied painting and printmaking at the Art Institute of Boston and at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has been showing her oil paintings and monotypes in solo and group exhibitions since 1984 in the US, Canada, France, Greece, and India. After 27 years of living and working mostly abroad, Lisa and her family now call Jamestown, Rhode Island their permanent home.
A native of Boston, Ellie Brown received her B.F.A. in Media Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and her M.F.A. in Pictorial Arts from San Jose State University. She has exhibited and taught both nationally and internationally, receiving numerous awards including a prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and funding from RISCA and the city of Woonsocket for her recent project, Faces of Woonsocket. A multi-disciplinary artist working in photography, digital arts, fine arts, playwriting and curatorial projects, Brown currently makes her home in Providence.
Libby Gilpatric studied at Wilson College and University of Pennsylvania before settling in New York. She has studied additionally at the Brooklyn Art Museum, Art Student's League, School of Visual Arts, Newport Art Museum and Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. Moving to Rhode Island upon retirement, Gilpatric draws inspiration and energy from the weather and landscape of Aquidneck Island. She is a juried member of the Art League of Rhode Island and the Connecticut Association of Fine Artists.
At the Block Island Airport Gallery, photographer Robin Bell exhibits her personal vision of the island, focusing on specific areas within walking distance of her home on Corn Neck. The Neck is a narrow strip of land that is surrounded on three sides by water, and so the weather and the light change constantly. Using her very close understanding of the area, she revisits water and houses as they change into different images, sometimes within minutes. Her process includes merging and digitally over-painting her photographs, which she self-prints on cotton archival paper. Bell is a physician who splits her time between New York City and Block Island. She attends the International Center of Photography and has studied at the School of Visual Arts, both in New York.
Artists for GREEN SPACE were selected for exhibition by an panel consisting of Dennis Hlynsky, Professor and Department Head of the Film/Animation/video Department at the Rhode Island School of Design; Andrea Raynor, Interim Chair & Professor of Photography at Northeastern University; and Jiyoung Chung, artist, writer and curator. Artists for the Block Island Airport Gallery were selected by juror Catherine Little Bert, art historian, owner and curator of Bert Gallery, Providence.
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.