State Arts Council Announces Winter Shows at T.F. Green and Block Island Airport Galleries

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.

For images from the T.F. Green Airport GREEN SPACE show, go to
https://www.flickr.com/photos/risca-photos/sets/72157679570126325. For images from
the Block Island Airport show, go to

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.