“Curious & Collected” features items from private, public collections

salvetoday Posted On January 24, 2017
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The Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery has announced the opening of “Curious & Collected,” an interdisciplinary exhibition about collecting and its ties to Newport.

“Curious & Collected” builds on the “cabinets of wonder” tradition, drawing a disparate array of images and objects together into a dynamic singular exhibit. Within the space of the main gallery, creative work ranging from 8,000 B.C. through the 20th century appeals to the viewer’s imagination. Each of the several dozen curiosities on view tells a unique story and elicits a sense of wonder.

The exhibition runs from Thursday, Jan. 26 through Wednesday, March 8. On Thursday, Jan. 26, the campus community and the general public are invited to an opening
 reception, which will run from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery.

Loans from several private and public collections made this exhibition possible. The Newport Historical Society contributed artifacts ranging from miniature Egyptian figurines to a Masonic vessel rich in symbols. Avid Newport collector James Baker shared a number of images that he associates with the mythical winged figure of Icarus. Selections include rare book engravings, black and white photographs and an original New York City subway window tagged by Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Several automatons and porcelain half-dolls are on loan from the collection of Nicholas and Shelley Schorsch. And Salve Regina’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation Program provided a number of archaeological artifacts, including beads from a French fort in Alabama as well as pottery fragments and other handiwork from Native American sites.

The exhibition serves as the focus of a special topics course in art history at Salve Regina. Curatorial practices and the gallery experience will be the subject of a course co-taught by Dr. Anthony F. Mangieri and Ernest Jolicoeur.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery is closed on Mondays.