Sculptor Allison Newsome to speak on the evolution of the “RainKeep” at IMAGO on August 16

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Sculptor Allison Newsome will present "From Blithewold's Gardens in Bristol to the Giardini Marinaressa in Venice: The Evolution of the RainKeep" at 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 16 at IMAGO Gallery, 36 Market Street. The public is invited to this free event.

Inspired by the redwood trees of her native California whose upper canopies catch coastal fog and direct it downwards to maintain under-canopy ecosystems, Newsome constructed her first “RainKeep” sculptures at Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum in Bristol, RI in 2014. She was asked to curate a group exhibit incorporating wind, sun and water and came up with three bold sculptural forms that would catch rain water.

She now has a patent pending for “RainKeep” and has built site specific variations for Kennard Park Sculpture Trail in Newton, MA; Mrs. Perry’s Garden at Thomas Park in Bristol and most recently at "Time Space Existence," a collateral exhibition of the 2018 Venice Biennale of Architecture hosted by the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Italy.

Newsome received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is an instructor with Harvard University’s Office for the Arts Ceramics Program. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at RISD Museum and Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island, Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama, Beatrice Wood Museum in California, Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts and Federal Museum Ben Franklin Biblioteca in Mexico. She has also been part of group exhibitions in Jingdezhen, China; Paris, France; and Budapest, Hungary.

Other recent projects, besides “RainKeep,” have included the creation of 14 life-sized glazed terracotta Faience Lions for the roof of the Audrain Automobile Museum in Newport, RI; and a public art commission for the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol, RI.

The Imago Foundation for the Arts (IFA) supports community involvement in a wide range of cultural activities related to the arts. Regular gallery hours are Thursday, 4 – 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visit www.imagofoundation4art.org to learn more about IFA and its mission.

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