Wickford Art Association Celebrates Its Best - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Wickford Art Association Celebrates Its Best - Inside Art with Michael Rose

 

Small, local art associations are important spaces for emerging artists and art enthusiasts to hone their craft and share their work. The Wickford Art Association, a longtime fixture in the state, is an example of the value such organizations bring to artists and their communities. The Association is currently hosting a show which asked its members to share their best work. The show, which wraps up on February 4, features a range of work and highlights the breadth of talents that make up Wickford’s membership and highlights the vibrancy of the group.

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Founded in 1962 as an outgrowth of the popular Wickford Art Festival, which it still administers, the Wickford Art Association has been located in its current gallery at 36 Beach Street in North Kingstown for over thirty years. In addition to exhibitions, it hosts classes, workshops, demonstrations, and lectures, bringing art to the local community in the process.

 

 

Wickford's current exhibition, “Give Us Your Best”, features a collection of primarily two-dimensional works hung throughout the organization’s bright gallery space situated at the edge of North Kingstown’s Town Beach. Watercolors, oils, photographs, and drawings are all among the offerings in this exhibition and highlight the talents of established and aspirant artists involved with the Association.

 

One of the most active constituencies within the organization are its photographers and they are well represented in this show, with dozens of photo-based works on view. Among them are works like Timothy Murphy’s “Down East”, which has an antique quality reminiscent of nineteenth-century photography, and Jack Heller’s “Alone”, which hints at the starkness of humanity’s relationship to the sea. Other photographers like Elizabeth O’Connor and Paw Newell found inspiration in architectural subjects with fine results that elicit depth and texture.

 

There are also plenty of paintings on view in Wickford’s current show. Some of these are quite traditional, like Vincent DelBuono’s “Wickford Village, 1940”, which pays tribute to the quaint and charming quality of the place that gives the Association its name. In his painting, the main street of the town is lined with vintage automobiles and colorful shopfronts, reminiscent of simpler times. Charles Barbour’s still life of white peonies is the epitome of classical realism and uses skillful treatment of light and shadow to push its subject into the viewer’s space.

 

 

Other artists in the show use the genre of painting to explore novel aesthetics. Adele Karbowski employs encaustic wax to create a more abstract view in her vibrant work titled “Understory Revisited.” Carolyn Hansen’s acrylic “Searching for the Light” is a vibrant mashup of forms and Ruth Hauzinger’s “Friendship” is a gritty and textural non-objective image. Jeneane Lunn’s “Old Boat Yard” pairs a traditional subject with an unexpected and inventive composition.

 

The show has a few examples of three-dimensional work, including a glossy and attractive ceramic by Laura White Carpenter. Nearby, a relief assemblage by Alana Almonte titled “Patience” is made up of a mosaic of seashells. The title of the piece hints at the fortitude an artist must have to assemble such a complicated and time-consuming artwork.

 

 

Wickford’s “Give Us Your Best” is a celebration of the community of artist members who make up this impactful organization. A People's Choice Award with prize money of $400 is slated to be announced at the end of the exhibition on February 4. With such a variety of works on view, it will be interesting to see which work garners the recognition.

 

After the close of this show, Wickford has a busy docket of exhibitions lined up for the spring, with its next show, “Color and Light,” opening on February 9 and running through March 10. An open juried exhibition that invited both members of the organization and non-members to apply, “Color and Light,” was juried by Jonathan McPhillips and will see over $400 in prizes awarded. The group’s Wickford Art Festival is scheduled to take place July 13 and 14 of 2024 and is open for artist applications through April 15. The Festival typically hosts over 200 artists and has become one of the state’s most storied art events, earning praise as one of the top ten art festivals in the nation.

 

 

As a relatively small, member-supported organization, Wickford Art Association continues to be a force for community participation in the visual arts. In its current show, viewers will get a glimpse of what makes it such a special place.

 

The Wickford Art Association is located at 36 Beach Street in North Kingstown. The gallery is open to the public Wednesdays through Saturdays from noon to 4 pm each day and Sundays from noon to 3 pm. Learn more at www.wickfordart.org.