PULPARAZZI: painting with paper

The Jamestown Arts Center (JAC) is pleased to announce their summer exhibition, PULPARAZZI: painting with paper opening Friday, July 12 at their 9th Annual Summer Soirée. Champagne preview with curator talk at 6pm with most exhibiting artists in attendance. Curated by Jamestown artist, Joan Hall, PULPARAZZI demonstrates the many uses of handmade paper pulp used by the group of eight internationally recognized artists that call themselves Pulparazzi. The artists met in 2009 at a conference and have subsequently exhibited and conducted workshops and presentations together as a group across the United States. Following the opening, entry is free and open to the public during gallery hours Wednesday–Saturday, 10am–2pm, or by appointment through August 17.

Exhibiting artists
John Babcock, Soquel, CA / Shannon Brock, Brooklyn, NY / Joan Hall, Jamestown, RI / Anne Q McKeown, Secaucus, NJ / Michelle Samour, Acton, MA / Peter Sowiski, Buffalo, NY / Lynn Sures, Colesville, MD / Beck Whitehead, San Antonio, TX

Curator
Joan Hall is a leading contemporary mixed media artist using primarily handmade paper, glass, steel and printed marks to create her work that looks to raise awareness about climate change; including the deterioration of the world’s seas. Hall is an artist and critic who has spent time working in both the U.S. and Europe. Her art has been exhibited internationally with exhibitions at venues including the Newport Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of  Art, the Meadows Museum and the Silkeborg Art Center, Denmark. Her installation The Invasion of Hull Cove is in the exhibition Personal Structures-Identities in Venice, Italy at Palazzo Mora, an exhibition during the Venice Biennale on view until November 24.  

Soirée
The JAC’s Annual Summer Soirée makes it possible for the JAC to provide extraordinary programming at an affordable cost to all and features the opening of the JAC’s summer exhibition. Attendees at the champagne pre-party hear a special curator talk at 6pm. The main event runs 7–10pm with cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres and raw bar. The theme color for this year’s Soirée is PINK and guests are encouraged to “think pink” when dressing for the event. The evening includes a live auction with a painting by internationally renowned artist Edwin Schlossberg, dinner party for eight at Newport’s Stoneacre Brasserie, dress by Isoude, necklace by Jamestown artist Didi Suydam, and a day sail in Narragansett Bay aboard a 46 foot sloop with luncheon provided by Newport Wines + Gourmet. The event concludes with live music and dancing. Tickets available at www.jacsummersoiree.org/tickets.

About the JAC
The Jamestown Arts Center is a multi-disciplinary visual and performing arts space that hosts art exhibits, theatre and dance performances, film screenings, talks and concerts, and provides art and design educational programs for people of all ages. The JAC was awarded Best Gallery in Newport County in the Best of Rhode Island 2017 & 2018 readers’ polls. The JAC is funded be generous individual donors, and through grants from foundations including the NEA, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the RI State Council on the Arts, and the RI Foundation. Programming partners include: Heifetz International Music Institute, FirstWorks, FabNewport, 10 Thousand Small Businesses, RISD, Manhattan Short Film Festival, SENE Film Festival, Providence Art and Design Film Festival, Island Moving Company, DesignxRI, Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting & Directing Program and many individual artists and other local organizations. The Jamestown Arts Center is a leading arts and cultural hub for Rhode Island and beyond, where creativity, ideas and innovation flourish. The mission of the Jamestown Arts Center is to engage, enrich and inspire our community through extraordinary arts and educational experiences.

*Images above: (1) Beck Whitehead, Air Land Water, 2016. Handmade paper, 16 x 12 x 3 inches each. (2) John Babcock, Dreams May Appear in Places (detail), 2016. Cotton and abaca fiber, pigmented in the pulp, 47 x 47 inches. (3) Joan Hall, The New Normal, 2019. HMP, acrylic, mylar, hand cutting and printing, 50 x 50 x 12 inches. (4) Michelle Samour in her studio. (5) Lynn Sures, Ileret Footprints-l, 2018. Pigmented flax, embossed pulp painting, 16 x 24 inches. (6) Shannon Brock at Carriage House Paper, NY. (7) Anne McKeown, Party Lines (detail), 2008. Acrylic on handmade paper, 27 x 26 x 2 inches. (8) Peter Sowinski, Ordinance, 2017. 3 x 4 feet.