Rita Rogers’ paintings derive from the physical world and from the metaphysical expanse of her mind and heart. The use of color in Rogers’ paintings is humbling and arresting, meditative and mystical.   Feelings matter in her paintings, but Rogers always tries to transcend the personal and find something other in the texture, color, light and movement of the abstract form creating that surprising interplay between thought, emotion and the physicality of paint and canvas.

Rogers received her BA from Bard College and attended the Art Students League in NY, Yale University Norfolk School of Art, and did graduate work in Contemporary Literature at Columbia University. She attended the Worcester Museum School and the Experimental Etching Studio. Rogers’ work has won numerous awards, fellowships and grants during her long career and her paintings are in collections all over the United States. In 2009 the Newport Art Museum mounted a retrospective of her work to great acclaim. Rogers lives and works in the Point Section of Newport.                           

www.ritarogers.com

Ben Butler

Ben Butler’s sense of design is intuitive, he puts different components together and wants you to be his partner in formulating what you see in the object. He is moved by the vibes he receives from the piece he works with and gets completely saturated by his object. He works on one piece at the time, calling them “short love affairs”. His sculpture often has a Zen- like quality, his sense of design and immaculate craftsmanship transform the ordinary into suggestive ceremonial objects.

Over the last twenty five years, Butler has won many “best in show” awards and recently had a one man exhibition in the new gallery at Salve Regina University. His work is found in many private collections. He occupies a working studio on Casino Terrace.

YouTube: Ben Butler, Objects from Oblivion

How this exhibition came to be: (by Marika van Vessem, Gallery & Show Coordinator)

 

By coincidence, I met Rita Rogers in a doctor’s office. We started talking about art and my involvement with the Sandywoods Gallery. I asked her whether she would be interested in showing her work at the gallery some time and she immediately said yes.

At about the same time I happened to run into Ben Butler, and during our conversation I mentioned that Rita had expressed interest in showing at Sandywoods Gallery and would Ben maybe want to show with her. His immediate response was: “I always wanted to do something together with Rita”.

I told him that I would check with Rita, and when I proposed that she do the show together with Ben, her response was the same: “I always wanted to show with Ben Butler”.

The artists then worked together to select works for the show and will aid in the installation of the exhibit

So, here it is, two artists who have always appreciated and admired each other’s work, together for the first time with new work in a brand new gallery.

Sandywoods Gallery is excited to present this exhibition, opening with an artists’ reception on Saturday June 25, 2011 from 5 – 8 pm. and continuing until July 24.  Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday from 12 – 5 pm.