NEWS

New Hope Art Gallery closed

By MERI KENNEDY
Posted 4/5/22

By MERI KENNEDY

For the past seven years, the New Hope Art Gallery -- located in the Cranston Senior Enrichment Center -- has closed.

“This was not an easy decision for us to make. …

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NEWS

New Hope Art Gallery closed

Posted

For the past seven years, the New Hope Art Gallery -- located in the Cranston Senior Enrichment Center -- has closed.

“This was not an easy decision for us to make. Several reasons contributed to this decision. With the recent flooding at the center requiring the walls and floors to be redone the center decided not to have us install new art due to damage that does occur on any gallery walls,” said Gallery Director Rick Gagnon.

“Our gallery has been located in the senior center for seven wonderful years. During that time, we have had three very large art shows per year that has featured about 400 pieces of art per shows in media such as ceramic, drawing, fabric, glass, mixed media, photography and painting from 100 local, national, senior and special needs artists per show. It has been a wonderful and productive seven years partnering with the staff and management of the center and we have accomplished many of our goals of bringing art to the public. The gallery has been through many changes in seven years, especially during the last two years. It has been a challenge for the gallery to move forward with covid restrictions and safety concerns being utmost importance,” said Gagnon

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am about New Hope. I also wanted to thank the both of you for all of your work that you did throughout the years,” said local artist Melissa Lentin. “I always loved and looked forward to those shows. It was always such a warm and encouraging space and I always felt welcome.”

“We also realized how difficult it would be to continue planning such large shows and openings safely during covid and its variants. We were able to have a wonderful digital opening in November of 2021 so everyone could experience all the art in the new show while social distancing and staying safe. It was very obvious that covid had changed if and how we could do future shows. In January of this year the center also experienced flooding which required all the walls on,” Lentin said.

“We removed all art and stored on the second floor so all the damaged walls could be repaired. With all new painted walls and flooring at the center we realized for the gallery to start rehanging art again would damage all the new walls so it seemed like the right time for us to close our gallery so we could leave the walls looking nice for the center. We also had few options on how to continue our shows with covid variants continuing for,” Lentin said.

“After many discussions with our artists and gallery staff, we made the difficult decision to close. Many thanks to everyone who has supported our gallery,” said Gagnon.

Janice Bray, another local artist said, “I am so sorry that The New Hope Gallery is closing. I was honored to be able to show my work there. Thank you, Rick, and everyone who worked so hard to make it a real success.”

Hope Art Gallery, art

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