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June 12 to July 11, 2004
Bell Gallery to present work of local artists in The Fabric of Light
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition titled The Fabric of Light, featuring the work of local artists Nina Cinelli, Cristin Searles, Esther Solondz and Cynthia Treen, opening June 12 and continuing through July 11, 2004. An opening event Friday, June 11, at 5:30 p.m. will feature a performance of Cinelli’s the dance. Both the performance and the exhibition are free and open to the public. PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Four Providence-area artists – Nina Cinelli, Cristin Searles, Esther Solondz and Cynthia Treen – will explore the dynamics of fabric and light in a new group exhibition, The Fabric of Light, to be presented at the David Winton Bell Gallery from June 12 through July 11, 2004. 
The Fabric of Light In an opening event Friday, June 11, at 5:30 p.m. at the gallery, Christine Enos and Tucker Houlihan will perform the dance, a piece conceived and choreographed by Nina Cinelli to music by the Lesser Birds of Paradise. The opening and the exhibition are free and open to the public. In this exhibit, each of the artists uses fabric and light as sculptural materials to dramatize their interrelationship. Cinelli will present coming home, an installation of silk, cotton and denim. As displayed on the floor, it consists of a pair of shoes and an eight-foot, elongated shadow of a human figure constructed from a patchwork of blue, gray, lavender and purple fabrics. “I am interested in blurring the lines between costume, sculpture and everyday clothing – in exploring the points of intersection between these concepts,” says Cinelli, who holds a B.F.A. from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. from University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth. She is a recipient of the 2003 RISCA New Gene Fellowship and has recently shown her work in group exhibitions in New York, Massachusetts, Chicago and Providence. Searles creates works of organza and glass beads. In some, layers of sheer fabrics of various colors are transformed into three-dimensional, painterly compositions. In others, the repetition of a single unit reminiscent of a flower, leaf or other organic shape creates relief-like formations. “They appear at once firm and airy, dense and translucent,” says Vesela Sretenovic, curator of the show. “The titles – lure, haze and soufflé – further highlight their elusive and poetic nature.” Searles describes her works as being “about beauty care, delicacy and joy, sensuality and space. They are musings on how we clothe our bodies and our environments to reflect ourselves.” She earned a B.A. at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Art in New York City. In recent years, she has exhibited extensively in the greater Providence area. Solondz will present River Box, a shallow, basin-like wooden structure, measuring 12 by 6 feet and filled with water. The piece is part of a larger installation currently in progress, titled Until Everything Not Essential Was Washed Away, which portrays the dichotomies of evolving and dissolving, materialization and dematerialization, and appearance and disappearance. “Using fabric, rocks, fiberglass, underwater pipes and light, Solondz creates a mesmerizing piece in which fabric floating in the water suggests a river flow, continuously bringing in and washing away everything around it,” says Sretenovic. Solondz received a B.A. in philosophy from Clark University in Worcester, Mass, and an M.F.A. in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has exhibited throughout the United States, predominantly on the East Coast, and her work is included in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and the DeCordova Museum, as well as in private collections. Treen will make a dramatic contribution to the exhibit. Her sculptural piece – an eight-foot high structure made of transparent, off-white silk – is suspended from a ceiling. Meticulously crafted, the piece resembles a huge honeycomb that visitors can enter and inhabit. “Its translucent fabric is dramatically lit to emphasize both its lush texture and the spatial enclosure it creates, thereby emanating a comforting and ethereal ambience,” says Sretenovic. Treen is an artist and designer who combines fine art and functional design. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, using her background in design, fashion and architecture as inspiration for creating artwork. She says she is interested in “how the play of light filtering through the fabric affects the spaces we inhabit.” Treen has worked with custom furniture designers, architects and fashion designers for magazine and television projects. In 2002 she founded her own business designing window treatments and custom textiles for the home. The David Winton Bell Gallery is on the first floor of List Art Center, 64 College St. It is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For further information, call (401) 863-2932. ###### News Service Home | Top of File | e-Subscribe | Brown Home Page | ||||