Saturday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m.— POULTNEY— Stone Valley Arts is hosting a major exhibit called: “A Gift of Dreams: The Creative Process” a retrospective of the work of Richard Weis. The show will display a body of work from Weis’ 59 years as an artist. An opening reception will be held on Saturday from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit will run through Oct. 20 with gallery hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4 p.m. where Weis will be set up as an artist in residence and he will be available to do painting demonstrations and discuss his work with visitors.
Growing up in rural Minnesota, Weis really didn’t know what life as an artist might be like. He didn’t really know any artists, and had very little experience looking at art. Following the lead of two older brothers, Weis was just a kid that liked to draw. The support of teachers, and a scholarship allowed him to attend the local college in his home town, and it was there he began
to paint.
Weis has long been aware of many recurring threads woven into the tapestry of his work over the years. Even so, putting the show together, he was surprised about how far back in time some of these threads go. There were the early observational figurative and landscape works, and a definite third generation Bauhaus influence, inspired by one of his early mentors, a student of Josef Albers. Through the years his work became more painterly and less representational, as he began to recognize the expressive power of the mark itself, as seen in traditional Asian painting, the work of the Rembrandt school, and work of painters such as Willem DeKooning, and Franz Kline.
Weis’ explorations forced him to question many traditional conventions in painting, leading to experiments beyond the rectangular format, creating assemblages, and developing paintings that moved from the wall into three-dimensional space. These various threads continue in his work to this very day, and he urges the viewers of this exhibition to see if they can trace them, and see how these various threads have evolved and changed over time. It is an on-going process, and Weis is still exploring, and still learning new things almost every time he goes into the studio.
Summarizing his own approach to painting Weis said, “I think of my work as visual poetry or music. The viewer should consider that perspective when viewing the work. If you can enjoy it for what it is, perhaps you can take away something new that will enrich the way you see the world.”
More about the artist
Richard Weis began his career as an artist/teacher in the 1960s in Bemidji Minnesota. Various teaching and study opportunities led him and his wife Nancy to Wisconsin, Oregon, Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. , Ohio, and Indiana, before he joined the faculty of Green Mountain College in 1989.
After graduating from Bemidji State College in 1966, his art work, which focused on the dynamics of visual form, continued to evolve as he explored the places in which they lived. He and his wife Nancy began graduate studies at the University of Oregon but their studies were interrupted when he received his draft notice. From 1969-1971 he served in the U.S. Army as a psychological operations illustrator.
From 1971-73 he studied painting at the American University in Washington D.C., graduating with an MFA degree, and honored with the David Lloyd Kreeger Award for graduate painting.
He has exhibited widely in the U.S. and abroad, spending time as a visiting artist at Aberystwyth University in Wales in 2002, and as a Fulbright Scholar and Artist in Residence at Hannam University in South Korea in 2003. In 2010 he was invited back to Korea as a Fulbright Senior Specialist to continue working with students and faculty in the art education department at Hannam University.
At the end of his teaching career Weis was a professor of art and director of international programs at Green Mountain College, retiring in 2010. He continues to work out of his Poultney and Castleton studios, regularly exhibiting his work and involving himself in community art activities in Poultney and Rutland. He is proud to have been one of the founders of Stone Valley Arts and feels blessed to have been able to share his life and work with fellow artist Nancy Pulliam Weis. To view their work, visit: otherweis.com.
Stone Valley Arts is located at 145 E Main St. in Poultney.
For more information, visit: stonevalleyarts.org.
