NetWorks Rhode Island and the Chazan Collection Exhibition, WaterFire Arts Center (2024) Bio:
With a fifty-year plus career as an artist, Paula Martiesian has been painting her entire adult life. A native Rhode Islander, she attended RISD both as a child and later as an adult, graduating in 1976.
The former exhibitions curator for the BankRI Galleries, Martiesian is one of the founding members of Gallery Night Providence. She was the editor and co-publisher of Quix Art Magazine (1991-1998), a quarterly publication focusing on the cultural scene in Rhode Island. She is a strong advocate for the visual arts in Rhode Island and has earned awards for her work from Business Volunteers for the Arts and WaterFire Providence. Her paintings have been featured in regional galleries and museums and can be found in public and private collections throughout the country.
Martiesian’s paintings focus on nature, both in the urban environment and in the wild, undeveloped stretches of the landscape. She is a colorist at heart, balancing the abstractions of space with her response to the natural world. Her paintings represent nature’s tapestry, a planet where no human treads. Nature, not as we see it, but as it might see itself – intertwined, co-dependent and woven into a single living organism.
Original NetWorks Catalogue Bio:
“Painting for me is neither a magical channeling of creative forces, nor a juggling act of conceptual ideas. It is, instead, a highly personal experimentation involving elements of color, space, and line balanced with emotional experience. To that end, I have been a student of painting for over forty years.” A native Rhode Islander and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Paula Martiesian also studied extensively with her mentor Gordon Peers, head of the European Honors Program at RISD. She is, and has been, an integral part of Providence’s creative community. She was the editor and co-publisher of Quix Art Quarterly, then a co-founder and board chair of Gallery Night Providence, and remains the curator for the BankRI Galleries. Martiesian has exhibited extensively around Rhode Island and is active as an awardwinning advocate for the arts and artists—both emerging and established.
Source: NetWorks 2013 – 2014 Catalogue
Oil on linen, 36 x 50 in
Credits:
Video: Richard Goulis
Music:
Kid In The Cage
written by Kenneth Carpenter
arranged by Mark Armstrong and Kenneth Carpenter
performed by The A&C Duo
produced and engineered by Kenneth Carpenter
Gallery Night footage courtesy of Daniel Larsh
Additional Video: Owen Goulis
Still Photography: Erik Gould, Cecily Goulis
Executive Producer: Joseph A. Chazan, M.D.
Additional Resources:
Artist’s websites:
paulamartiesian.com
paulamartiesianblog.wordpress.com
Highlighting the work of selected artists who have played vital roles in shaping the contemporary visual arts community in Rhode Island. This collection of brief video portraits provides a window into the lives, practices, and cultural contributions of professional artists.
