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Westerly artist group looks to 'create joy' with May offering - The Independent

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WESTERLY, R.I. — Celebrate the joys of nature and life in the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery of Westerly with its latest exhibit, “Creating Joy: Connections to Earth and Spirit,” which debuts today and runs through May 30, with Artists Cooperative Gallery of Westerly President Arlene Piacquadio as this month’s featured artist.

“This show is all about creating joy in the spirit of the earth, so it’s all about sort of organic kinds of artwork,” Piacquadio said.

The native New Yorker and lifelong artist has over 50 years of experience as an oil painter and jewelry artist, and about 10 years ago began working with the ancient art form of encaustics, which utilizes natural materials to make paint and was commonplace in ancient European society.

“My medium is very apropos in terms of being organic, since it’s comprised of organic materials, which is beeswax and pigments,” Piacquadio said. “It’s an ancient form of art discovered by the Greeks and the Romans.”

She first became interested in the art form while taking a class at RISD.  

“It was sort of a lost art for a long time, it’s had a resurgence (lately) and I literally fell in love with a medium,” Piacquadio said. “There are many different ways of creating with this medium, but like I said, I fell in love with it. It was wonderful, because I think it had so many possibilities. I was an oil painter for a long time, I also was a jeweler for a while, so I did all different kinds of mediums. But this is the one that I love the most.”

The gallery features over 100 pieces from member artists — 26 of which are new by Piacquadio — and all of hers are new for this show and done in the encaustic medium.

“There’s a couple of what I call sembler pieces, which includes some wood,” Piacquadio said. “Pastels are included as well. Also, it’s sort of a crazy medium that you can sort of do a whole lot with, but the medium itself is actually all beeswax and pigments.”

Piacquadio drew her inspiration for the pieces from the natural beauty of Rhode Island, something she doubled down on by utilizing natural organic materials to create her pieces.

“My work is very organic, and I take a lot of my work from the beautiful nature of this wonderful state,” Piacquadio said. “So I have a lot of pieces that have to do with water, earth, sky, and that actually gives me the most joy. But all of my work is created from that, so it’s a very organic show.”

The exhibit debuts today and runs through May 30. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at their gallery located at 14 Railroad Ave. in Westerly, which is the old Amtrak train station.

“We took over the Amtrak train station in Westerly, which is a historic building built in 1912, and Amtrak had sort of not used the building for quite a while,” Piacquadio said. “And three years ago, the artist cooperative gallery of Westerly took it over and turned it into a gallery, so there are actually three separate galleries inside of one gallery. We have a West Gallery, a Committee Gallery and Main Gallery (inside).”

For more information on the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery of Westerly, visit their website, westerlyarts.com

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Westerly artist group looks to 'create joy' with May offering - The Independent
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