The gallery at the Block Island Airport, a partnership between the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC), announced the opening of its summer exhibit featuring works by RI artist Allison Bianco, born and raised in Smithfield.
Bianco's works use a combination of printmaking processes, namely intaglio and screen print, to depict panoramic landscapes of massive oceans and foreboding skies. Included in the exhibit is a new work featuring the Block Island Ferry.
As we emerge from these difficult times, Randall Rosenbaum, Executive Director of RISCA, said: "We are excited for Allison's solo show in such a beautiful space. Travelers to and from Block Island are in for a treat," Rosenbaum said. "Art show openings are a sign of our state's incredible creativity, but we are reminded that the arts and culture community was particularly hard hit by the pandemic. The community's return as a key economic driver continues to be slow."
Allison Bianco received her MFA in Printmaking (2010) from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, and her BA in Studio Art (2001) from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Bianco has recently been awarded a public art commission for New York City public school 671K in Brooklyn for a new, permanent site-specific artwork. Bianco is the recipient of a Visual Arts Sea Grant from the University of Rhode Island and her work was selected for a solo exhibition at The Print Center in Philadelphia as part of their 88th International Competition. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art; The New York Public Library; RISD Museum; Yale University Art Gallery, Conn.; the University of San Diego; and the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts; among others.
The 2021 exhibitors for the Block Island Gallery were chosen by panelists Kathy Hodge, East Providence, Viera Levitt, Wakefield, and Frank Poor, Wakefield.