Gallery 175 Exhibits the Work of Pawtucket Art Festival Poster Artists

On exhibit from August 27 to October 27 is the artwork of three artists who have provided images for posters for the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival. These posters, which have become collectors' items, are limited in edition, signed reproductions that reflect the spirit of Pawtucket. Two of the artists, Penelope Manzella and Gretchen Dow Simpson depicted historic brick mills with smoke stacks, images that are seen throughout the city that reference its once thriving industrial economy. B. Lucy Stevens' poster captures the spirit of the arts festival that takes place annually in a city that is redefining itself as an arts community.

Penelope Manzella, an accomplished and prolific painter and sculptor, depicts the mills and industrial complexes of our region. She elevates the buildings’ exteriors from gritty reality by focusing on the essential forms and eliminating such things as trashcans, electrical wires, and signage, but occasionally includes a small, lone figure. By doing so, she introduces nostalgia of former times, not unlike paintings by Edward Hopper that remind us of a by-gone era. After studying at Columbia University, Manzella relocated to Barrington, RI, and exhibits widely in the area.

Gretchen Dow Simpson, well known both for her many covers for New Yorker Magazine and for her paintings, attended Rhode Island School of Design and lives in Providence. Simpson has an eye for singling out partial views of exteriors or interiors of buildings where walls, openings, roofs, and shadows play off of each other in geometric harmony. Her colors are warm with subtle depth. Travelers on I-95 can see Simpson’s murals of windows along the highway in Pawtucket.

B. Lucy Stevens is a mixed media artist living in Providence who creates vibrant art instinctively. Her canvases are filled with a mish-mash of figures, colors, lines, and brushstrokes that comes together in a brash and delightful way. Stevens cites children’s art along with outsider and primitive art as influences in her expressive style. Underlying her work is a sophisticated use of composition, highly skilled brushwork, and lots of genuine warmth.

The public is invited to enjoy the work at Gallery 175, located at 175 Main Street in downtown Pawtucket in the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center. The gallery is open daily; the hours are 10 am to 4 pm.

For more information, visit www.Gallery175.com.