https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMUBCa67ybwFiX89w6N8TW5ggcyuzEIv0-bA5sBCWuwHJahXsT57rEJsuN8R5Ch1A?key=cGVEWGVMVTZNMVlKUkJRRjYxQVp5dVRfQ2tBU01B
Under construction. Not live links yet....
Advocate Article about Arts Council:
https://mymuseumess.blogspot.com/2013/08/artspeak-creative-pr.html
http://mymuseumess.blogspot.com/2013/08/art-exhibit-studies-roots-of-feminism.html
Article from New Haven Arts, written by Mimsie Coleman then the editor of the publication. It was the last interview I gave from my New Haven days... ihttp://somekindofhelp.blogspot.com/2013/06/beverly-richey-prime-mover-moves-on-by.html
In 1978 I took a drawing class taught by Paul Rutkovsky at Southern Connecticut State College. When the class was over Paul invited me into the studio to apprentice him. I stayed until after Paul left for a full time position at FSU in Tallahassee. I became co-director of PMVI and eventually developed my own mature style of leadership and art philosophy while working at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, under the leadership of Bitsie Clark.
Two group type shows preceded the One Night Only "First Show of 1984". Visual Events in Various Spaces was organized by Paul Rutkovsky in a part of the Hamilton Clockworks building adjacent to the PMVI studio space. It was a long empty hallway in where eight of us installed our work. The invite flyer is the actual map of the exhibit.
The artists involved were
Anna Bresnick (still living in New Haven) Cultural Refreshments (which I believe was the installation of the artificial store by Paul, thou he would have to confirm that).
Frank Gardner and his wife (forgetting her name)..that is why Gardner appears twice on the poster invite.
Jack Harriett installed a room with clay bird baths,
Reale ( I do not remember who or what that was)
Bev Richey, I had the room on the upper right hand side of the invite.. which I filled with framed graphic drawings. I included a photo of me from that event in front of two of the drawings. The last of the artists was
Ben Westbrock, had his space set up with sculpture in process.
Ben, Jack, Anna and of course myself went on to the next event which was a group show of things that did not belong together. I am sure that there are photos from this event.. between Paul, and Jack and I might even have some but that would take some deeper digging..
ENTER PHOTOS HERE:
SECOND TEXT BLOCK:
Moving on to PMVI's 1982 "A Group Show of Things that Don't Belong Together" After the success of Visual Events and Paul's departure for Tallahassee, this core group of artists chose to continue to keep the PMVI energy alive in New Haven. Paul keep the studio here in New Haven and was very much wanted to see things continue to happen here under the PMVI name. I had keys and was basically responsible for what went on there.
I continued to hold meetings every couple of weeks for the artists. We began to work more collaboratively to create and produce what was necessary to put a show together (invitations, press releases etc).
Anna Bresnick who was an early participant in PMVI and taught at ECA (Educational Center for the Arts High School) brought in
Tim Feresten (photographer) and
Andrea Rossi (sculptor). They were both teachers at ECA and added to the size and diversity of the group. We were now eight.
For the exhibit Anna, Tim and Andrea also included and supervised some of the ECA student's work which helped draw a new and diverse crowd (more about that later).
The title of the show helped us to develop an exhibit without concerns about a theme. We were new to each other and wanted to be inclusive of our authentically varied voices before trying to work together thematically. The poster again was likely designed by Jack Harriett as he had access to typeset at his job as well as the ability to create the proof which would go to the offset printer. This was an "11x17" poster.
The back drop to all of our portraits is a wall that Paul and maybe Dick (another regular at PMVI) painted in the empty studio space next to the official PMVI space. The back ground wall was painted to exhibit Paul's final show "Farewell Funeticut" I think that was the spelling. It was a large wall covered with orange grins and he had about a half a dozen large paintings hung on that wall. I own two and have lived with them for decades.
After another satisfying experience, this core group of eight moved forward to collaboratively commit to the next event... The First Show of 1984.
During this time I spoke frequently on the phone with Paul. He was trying to keep things going up here even while living in Tallahassee. A lot of our discussions were related to how to make PMVI a non profit. This led me to explore and join the Arts Council Board. Paul had received an Arts Council Award (1981?) so I looked to them as a way to lead more about how non profits worked. They put me on the board and I joined four committees the first year. I was however never allowed to join the Audubon Development Committee. When I was hired onto staff by Bitsie Clark to be the PR Director, I suggested my vacancy be filled by Tim Feresten. Tim served and faced the same issues never being allowed to join the Development Committee. Tim along with Rick Camp from First Constitution Bank (when Walter Miller was president) were my committee chairs for the Communications Department. We worked on building the New Haven Arts publication into a recognizable brand statewide. We knew things were fishy and I stuck my neck out but only nearly got myself fired. ( I will get you that New Haven Register Article on me commenting on the project.)
Ok, now for some 1984....
PHOTOS:
THIRD TEXT PARAGRAPH
