Thinking of you
Imago Foundation for the Arts (IFA) will feature artwork by IFA artist Rina Naik and guest artists Elena Obelenus and Pamela Seymour Smith Sharp as part of a group exhibit August 29 through October 6 at IMAGO Gallery, 36 Market Street, Warren.
The public is invited to a free reception on Friday, August 30, from 6–8 pm.
Rina Naik will present recent abstract landscape paintings that are “rooted in memories” of the New England scenery. Responding to a recent loss, these atmospheric paintings capture fleeting memories. As an artist with a deep interest in design, Naik is interested in “both the observed and the experiential.” Naik has an MFA in Interior Design and a certificate in drawing and painting from RISD Continuing Education (RISD|CE); she teaches at RISD|CE and Endicott College. Her artwork has appeared in numerous group shows, juried exhibitions, and an invitational. She was awarded the best emerging artist at the Art Providence Holiday show recently.
Elena Obelenus “finds infinite inspiration in the endless motifs in nature.” Her artwork explores the relationships “between form, line and surface.” Years working in the textile and surface design industry influences her ceramics and printmaking. She employs deep knowledge and love of pattern in her artwork. Obelenus graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and studied ceramics at the Center of Visual Arts in Summit, NJ. Dedicated to lifelong learning and her artistic development, Obelenus attends ceramic workshops and printmaking classes besides teaching intaglio printmaking at the Providence Art Club. She is an artist member of the Providence Art Club and Art League Rhode Island. Her ceramics and prints have been exhibited in numerous Rhode Island museums and galleries.
Pamela Seymour Smith Sharp employs the “Roman Capitals alphabet to render letterform-based abstract imagery.” Using a variety of mediums with different water solubilities and drying times, Sharp writes with acrylic paint markers, graphite sticks, or pen and ink. She then scrapes the work with hard tools and/or wipes the surface with damp towels, allowing the “resulting transparencies and obscurities” to coalesce into a composition “in which whole letterforms, or their parts, may be recognized or suggested.” Sharp studied calligraphy and stonecutting at Colorado College with Edward M. Catich and intaglio printmaking with painter and printmaker Guido Strazza. Her work has been exhibited in Rhode Island, New York, and Berlin, Germany; she has produced art and photography books for museums and art book publishers.
Other IMAGO artists who will participate in the exhibit include Eileen Siobhan Collins, Mary Dondero, Carl Keitner, Pascale Lord, Yolanda Mazzoni, Linda Megathlin, Mercedes Nuñez, Anne Marie Rossi, Howard Rotblat-Walker, Lenny Rumpler, Harley Silva, Michael Somers, Amy Sutherland, Juji Watrous, and Howard Windham.
