Newport Art Museum Hosts Reception and Exhibition

By: Ann O’Sullivan
Posted In: Entertainment

The scene, midday on January 26, was organized chaos, even the most muscular sculptors struggled to drag their weighty works through the heavy glass doors of the Newport Art Museum, where the noise level raised, mixed media artists wrestled to classify their works and everyone was making sure that their pieces were going to be watched after with care. With such a diverse grouping of art it seemed like it would never fit together. However, behind the scene of chaos, there are people that get the seemingly impossible job of making it all come together to work and flow as one solid show.

Nancy Whipple Grinnel is one of the busy magic makers who gets the art ready for the judges’ eyes. With an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in art history, a degree in library science, and an in progress master’s degree in American civilization and museum studies from Brown University, in addition to several years of experience in the museum, Grinnel knows how to make the annual juried exhibition at the museum work.

The opening reception for the show is on February 6 from 5:30 until 7:30 in the evening and the show will run until Wednesday, March 24. Historically, the artists who have submitted art to the show have been from southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Each artist can submit one work that has been done in the last year and has not been shown previously at the museum. Strong contemporary statements is what the museum is looking for expressed Grinnel. Last year the highest award was given to an abstract painting and the previous year an abstract photographic construction won.

There will be two judges with different areas of expertise judging this year. Rachel Lafo, from Boston’s DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park will be judging any paintings and photographs that come in. She has been a co-curator for “ Painting in Boston and Photography in Boston in addition to several other shows. All sculptures will be judged by Jay Coogan, who is presently Associate Provost of Academic Affairs, former Dean of Fine Arts, and the former head of the Sculpture department at the Rhode Island School of Design.

As the glass museum doors close, the din shushes and the chaos inside continues as it will until 7:30 p.m. on February 6 when Grinnel can finally take a well deserved breath for another year.

For further information about the Newport Art Museum or the exhibition call the museum at (401) 848-8200.