Current Featured Artists

Wunderwälder — Spirit of Place

A Group Exhibit at IMAGO Gallery
Featuring IFA Exhibiting Artist Stephen Fisher

IFA Spotlight Artist Rina Naik and Guest Artist William Kendall

Including other IFA Exhibiting Artists

March 26–May 2 | Reception Saturday, March 28, 5–8 PM |Music by guitarest John Birt

Our latest exhibition explores the magic of viscous layers of light, the tactile nature of materials, the feeling of being pulled in two directions at once, and the weaving of pigments to create a palpable sense of place.

Après-snow, 2026, charcoal, 21×22" by Stephen Fisher

Stephen Fisher | Featured Artist

For some years, Fisher explains, his visual explorations have primarily focused on two major genres (still life and landscape) in two technical modes (drawing and printmaking). This exhibition, which he calls “Wunderwälder — Spirit of Place,” offers a collection of landscape drawings from multiple decades of exploring the genre.

The semiofficial beginning of Fisher’s artistic career can be traced to a deal with his parents in the seventh grade, agreeing to give up the trumpet in favor of art lessons. Today, his award-winning drawings and prints can be found in numerous public, corporate and private collections. Public recognition of Fisher’s efforts includes three Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowships, a regional National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Graphic Media Achievement Award from American Artist Magazine.

Asylum Mist, 2025, charcoal, graphite and color ink washes, 14×15" by Stephen Fisher

“Common to all this work is my obsession with intense perceptual rigor, compositional manipulation, the viscosity of light, and the tactile sensual nature of materials.”

—Stephen Fisher

Snowbound, 2011, charcoal, 15×30" by Stephen Fisher

Rina Naik | IFA Spotlight Artist

Naik’s description of her artistic layering is “the feeling of being pulled in two directions at once, the tenderness of being close to what matters and the quiet strain of knowing it can change without warning. She calls her group of works for this exhibit “Tethering.”

Naik’s art practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation as she explores perception, memory, color, and the emotional terrain of space and landscape. She is an assistant professor in the Architecture and Design Studies department at Endicott College and has also taught in the Interior Architecture program at Suffolk University, in the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Continuing Education program, and at the Attleboro Arts Museum.

“I wanted the surface to look composed at first, almost gentle, and then to reveal a heavier undercurrent the longer you stay.”

— Rina Naik

Still Storm 2x3" acrylic block, sumi, paper, wood sheets, acrylic ink, metallic accents

Holding a rust 4"acrylic block with layered paper and sumi

Holding Rust_RinaStudio-showing translucency.JPG

Holding a Tranlucency 4"acrylic block with layered paper and sumi

KENDALL-WHALE WATCpainting_no_border_3000px_300dpi.jpeg

Whale, William Kendall

William Kendall | Guest Artist

I think in terms of abstraction; the subject of my paintings is the paint itself. I am totally involved in what can be done on the canvas through the manipulation of the paint.

My process is a complicated layering of pigment using impasto, scumbles, and glazes. The edges are my vocabulary; much like jazz, improvisation is my language.
I try to keep pushing the paint-to make things happen in spontaneous ways. I use combinations I’ve never used before.

Biography

William Kendall holds a B.S. degree in Art from the University of Minnesota and MS and MFA degrees in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

He presently holds the title of Professor Emeritus from Bridgewater State University, where he taught painting for over 30 years. He is represented in numerous private and public collections. Kendall lives in the coastal town of Westport, MA, where he is constantly inspired by the sights and sounds of the sea.