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Illustrating Movement

June 6, 2025 - July 6, 2025

Art League RI

Art League Rhode Island is pleased to present the Exhibition, Illustrating Movement, featuring Dan Borden, Sharon Cutts, Victoria Guerina, Sarah Hardesty, and Jonathan Pitts-Willey. Movement can be defined as an act of changing physical position, a change or development in different forms, or a group of people coming together to advance shared ideas with society. The messages all these artists send with their work are movements alone, but together, they test the definitions and exceed the limits of defining through imagery. These pieces show a conception of different illustrations of movement whether it's dancing or still, morphing, changing, or waiting, even in ways of gaining power in community by movements of voice. They illustrate movement through a mix of photography, painting, drawing, sculpting, and mosaic.

Dan Borden keeps photography abstract, like piecing moments in time together, or having the viewer's eye running with the piece, or sitting with them overtime. All his work makes the viewer want to look deeper into all the details that can be hidden within. He adds key parts of the piece that are more defined in smaller areas that draw the viewer's eye in.

Sharon Cutt’s pieces have an abstract flow or movement of their own. The pieces give a feeling of waiting peacefully, or impatiently. Some of her pieces will have the viewers feel almost as if they are floating with the piece or that the piece is bouncing around as they look at it. Her other pieces are captivating as well, her works leave viewers with a message whether it is related to societal factors, environmental, or even making the viewers look deeper within themselves.

Victoria Guerina uses historic timelines in some of her collections. She shows movements in women's rights, or peaceful protests along with portraits. Her works can speak to viewers as giant sculptures, detailed portraits or smaller mixed media pieces.

Sarah Hardesty’s work of abstract painting leaves room for interpretation. She uses materials to leave feelings connected to her pieces that allows the viewers to sit with them and have their own connection. She uses pops of color that directs the viewer's eye and makes them wonder.

In Jonathan Pitts-Wiley's collection “States of Play”, he uses photography to capture moments in everyday life. The collection captures different states of movement even when the subject is still. The lack of conceptual movement in some of the pieces make a powerful contrast as it feels like a memory in a snapshot. His other work has a feeling of power within it as well, portraits that are like a glimpse into others lives, showing emotion, or passion.

Curated by Molly Vanderlaan, an intern from Rocky Hill Country Day. This internship and exhibit was a part of the senior experience Rocky Hill holds for the final capstone project.


Exhibition contents

Artworks

About the artist

Sharon Cutts

I grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, and began painting intensively at the age of 13 using my mother's oils. I attended the University of Wisconsin - Madison, earning a BA in Art History with a concentration in studio ceramics.

After university I returned for a few years to Racine where I was a ceramics instructor at Wustum Museum before I moved to Chicago. There I switched to painting, exhibiting at various galleries in the Midwest. In 2006, I moved to Rhode Island where I continued to paint while expanding my work to include sculpture and metal work. In 2010, I was an Adjunct Instructor working with Professor Julia Strandberg, Brown University, in the production of Childish Things, combining dance, sculpture and painting. Today, I continue my work at my studio in Pawtucket, RI.

ARTIST STATEMENT
February 8, 2025

I believe that the more energy I put into a work, the more energy goes out to the viewer. This is work that I love, and it brings me a satisfaction and calm that would otherwise be elusive. In this way my making art is an evolution of myself, and I use a range of techniques that I have developed on my own, always looking for a fresh twist in the creation of my art---a new idea that shapes what I see, and what I have seen. The processes and the products of my making absorb abundant energy that allows me to share my intensity with others--the viewers.
The sum of this effort is my own form of narrative abstract expressionism, each work with its own story and reason for existence. The bold colors I use, and the unusual techniques vary greatly. Sometimes I first paint loose canvas on the floor, and then later shoot it with a twelve-gauge shotgun. This invests the canvas with a random form of energy--like a palette of emotions-- which can then be cut into small and large pieces for mosaics or collage. At other times I add staples and other mixed media, or I bend wood to make an undulating substrate. Sometimes I just paint on a stretched canvas.
This odyssey of styles and techniques is a way for me to broaden my experience and share with others, but most of all, it’s simply what I have wanted to do for many years, and I see no lessening in this the drive to create.
Image of artist