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The present’s opening reception might be 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5. The exhibit will run by way of March 1. The gallery is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to five p.m.
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- Thirteen former Providence Journal staff are showcasing their private paintings in an exhibit titled “Post-Journalism.”
- The present will characteristic a various assortment of work, images, drawings and collages.
- Many of the artists, now retired, have used the chance to discover artistic retailers past their journalism careers.
Former Providence Journal photographer Frieda Squires took up portray in 2002 when the newspaper switched to digital {photograph} manufacturing, and “we lost the darkroom.”
Squires knew she’d miss the hands-on, creative elements of growing images within the darkroom, so she began portray to assist exchange that artistic deficit.
“It was just so much fun to see your pictures come up in the darkroom,” Squires mentioned.
Now Squires and 12 different former Journal staff are becoming a member of collectively to supply an exhibit of their paintings, which is able to open Feb. 5 at Ritual Spaces, a gallery at 719 Westminster St., Providence. Called “Post-Journalism,” the present will characteristic former jJournal photographers and artists “now exploring personal styles beyond journalism through diverse visual media,” a present flyer says.
The present will embrace work, images, drawings and collages in a wide range of types.
“Everybody is doing something that’s just a little bit different from everybody else,” mentioned Gunnar Johnson, a retired graphic designer and format artist. “It’s eclectic.”
Who is taking part?
In addition to Squires and Johnson, the next artists will present their work: Denise Bass, Sandor Bodo, Ray Capobianco, Mick Cochran, Frank Gerardi, Kathy Hodge, Mary Beth Meehan, Tom Murphy, Gail Roderigues, Bob Selby and Dave Weyermann. Each artist will present a number of works. They name themselves Artistic Ex-Press.
This is definitely the second artwork exhibit for a few of the group of retired Providence Journal staff. A smaller group displayed their work final 12 months at a Connecticut medical workplace. Johnson has a health care provider who practices within the workplace. While wandering the house and taking a look at artwork on show, Johnson questioned if they could present his artwork. He inquired and was instructed that the workplace does not host exhibits by particular person artists, solely teams.
Johnson thought, “Well, I used to work with a bunch of talented people, and I’m still in touch with some of them.” He made some cellphone calls and located about one other half-dozen former co-workers inquisitive about displaying their work. “It was nice for everybody to have their art exhibited,” Johnson mentioned, “and it was also nice to see everybody.”
Retired photographer Sandor Bodo, a Providence resident, helps Johnson arrange the bigger Providence present. Although the artists have branched out into various kinds of artwork, Bodo has discovered a typical denominator linking again to their days within the newsroom.
“We’ve had a relatively short amount of time to get this show together, but everybody is familiar with deadlines, which is not always the case with a bunch of artists,” Bodo mentioned.
After a 35-year profession with The Journal, Bodo retired 5 years in the past and has directed a lot of his spare time to paintings.
How can paintings match into retirement?
“I’m not relying on the traditional playing golf, gardening and hanging out with the grandkids, although we have grandkids, and we like to hang out with them,” Bodo mentioned.
Bodo has been engaged on a wide range of initiatives, together with a documentary. For the Providence present, he’ll show a number of of his massive, close-up photos of “distressed” pennies. Bodo has been gathering pennies for about seven years and has about 200 “interesting” ones. He produces photos, of the Lincoln facet, which might be “as large as manhole covers.”
Bodo figures that the timing of his show is acceptable, “this being the year of the penny, in the sense that it’s the year they finally canceled the penny.”
Studying pennies carefully can reveal quite a lot of blemishes. “Pennies get ground, mushed, scratched and gouged,” Bodo mentioned. “Chemicals grow on them.”
“I think of Lincoln standing in for democracy,” Bodo mentioned. “It’s democracy under stress.”
Bodo loved working for The Journal, however he is additionally happy to have extra time to dedicate to his artwork initiatives. For Bodo, working as a photographer in journalism typically gave him a level of “artistic satisfaction.” He mentioned, “You know, you’re solving a problem, and that’s really enjoyable to say, ‘Oh, OK, I’ve got a good solution for that.'”
“But it’s not the same as when you do the art thing completely. It heads in that direction, so it’s offering you a partial satisfaction for the art bug,” Bodo mentioned.
Bodo’s longtime colleague on the images employees, Squires has develop into an avid hiker since retiring in 2014 after a 33-year profession. She’s hiked up many 4,000-foot mountains in areas together with northern New England, Scotland, Patagonia and Banff National Park in Canada.
“I fell in love with the mountains,” Squires mentioned. “I live by the ocean, but I fell in love with the mountains.”
Squires brings her digital camera on her hikes and makes use of the photographs to color landscapes in oil and acrylic paints. She likes the leeway portray provides her in re-creating the out of doors scenes.
While a few of the present’s artists will supply their work on the market, Squires will not.
“I paint for myself. I don’t paint to sell,” Squires mentioned. “I paint because it makes me happy.”
The present’s opening reception might be from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, and the exhibit will run by way of March 1. The gallery is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to five p.m. Admission to the exhibit is free.
“It will be fun,” Squires mentioned. “When we can all get together, it’s always a good time.”
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you’ll be able to go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2026/02/03/post-journalism-exhibit-will-show-artwork-of-former-journal-staffers/88399310007/
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