I have spent the majority of my professional life in gallery work. Managing gallery spaces, organizing exhibitions, and guiding artists through the process of sharing their work are core elements of what I do. So, when the opportunity arose to take on a space to mount my own personal curatorial projects outside the context of my day job, I jumped at the chance. Through this new venture, I hope to expand my own practice as an independent curator and advisor and give emerging artists novel opportunities to share their work while testing and improving gallery practices.
My new Project Space is located at 1 Meeting Street in Providence on the second floor. This is just around the corner from RISD and Brown, and is less than a five minute walk to the Providence Amtrak Station. Domestic in scale, this space lends itself to small and medium sized artworks that could easily find their way into home environments. I plan to host my first exhibition, a group show titled Housewarming, in the coming month or so.
When considering how I would like to utilize this exhibition venue, my first thought is to make it a laboratory. We often get bogged down in the status quo of gallery practices, so trying out new ideas and seeing where they lead sounds like an opportunity to learn and grow. Agility is an important quality and one that seems easier to grasp in a project-based format.
I am interested in pursuing a variety of curatorial goals with this space but at this early stage I think two are most worth noting. The first is that I plan to use this physical venue to continue and expand upon my series of online juried shows begun during the pandemic. These virtual exhibitions allowed me to connect with artists throughout the United States and beyond, and by adding a physical component to the digital I can continue to offer artists opportunities to exhibit in themed group exhibitions with improved depth and reach.
Second, but no less important, I plan to center much of my work in this space around emerging artists. That term can mean a lot of things but to me it primarily means artists in the early part of their career. Mentorship is important and I have benefited greatly from the support of numerous colleagues. I would like to use this space to cultivate new generations of artists and to continue to build on my network to form connections between artists and those who are interested in art.
Alongside featuring new artists, engaging with new collectors is an equally critical task. Creating a welcoming and accessible environment for individuals new to support artists is something I will strive to do in this venue as well.
As with my online exhibitions, there will be some restrictions in the way I use my Project Space. To avoid conflicts of interest, I will not be featuring the work of current members of the Providence Art Club, where I’ve served as gallery manager since 2014. I also do not anticipate maintaining a stable of artists or acting as a representative for individual creatives, but rather will focus on curated group exhibitions with occasional smaller format or solo shows thrown into the mix.
I hope this brings some clarity at the outset of this exciting initiative. I am looking forward to what I can create in this space. Thanks are due to the many individuals who have supported and encouraged my varied projects thus far and I hope to have your support in this special endeavor too. As things develop, I will share news here on my blog as well as on my social media channels.
For questions about my Project Space, please feel free to email me at michael@michaelrosefineart.com.
To share your interest in participating in future group shows in the Project Space, please fill out my quick and simple Google form.