Press Release
Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild to Exhibit Renowned Pittsburgh Artist R. Jean Vallieres’ Oil Paintings at Cultural District Gallery
Pittsburgh, PA: January 25, 2006. The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild will feature the portrait paintings of R. Jean Vallieres in a solo exhibit entitled “Women Then and Now.” Over twenty-four oil paintings, ranging in size from 48 x 36 inches to 20 x 16 inches, all of women, are to be on display from February 6 through April 3 in Guild’s 800 Penn Avenue gallery, located in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, adjacent to the Benedum Center. Several oil paintings, never before shown, will be introduced to the general public at this exhibit. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild will host an opening artist’s reception on Thursday, February 9 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the 800 Penn Avenue gallery. The Greater Pittsburgh community is invited to attend the artist’s reception. Mr. Vallieres will be available at this time to discuss his works.
R Jean Vallieres’ creations demonstrate mastery of medium; convey meaning, immediacy and depth. The value of his canvases is their capacity to strike both personal and universal chords, appealing to human emotion, memory, imagination and aesthetic feelings. Each canvas arouses the viewer’s memory, consciously and unconsciously.
Mr. Vallieres explores art almost exclusively with oils on canvas. He began his portrait painting career at age thirteen in the cellar of his parents’ home in Woonsocket, RI, a mill town located along the Blackstone River. He furthered his learning while completing his undergraduate, graduate and post graduate studies at Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts colleges and universities. He studiously applies himself to light, color and technique – passions that he elegantly incorporates into his portrait and landscape paintings.
When asked to describe his personal approach to painting and his own style he replies that his approach is an “imaginative-curiosity”, and his style a balanced amalgamation of “European Neoclassical” and new “American Realism” which he has adopted almost exclusively. While equally focused on landscapes and portraiture paintings, portraitures remain his primary passion.
Mr. Vallieres has recently participated in local solo exhibits that include The Merrick Museum, in New Brighton, The Renaissance Fine Art Gallery, Carnegie, The Borelli-Edwards Gallery and the Wexford Gallery located in the North Hills area. Vallieres’ portrait and landscape paintings are now on display in fine art galleries from Vermont through Florida, and Washington DC. The artist has most recently been invited to display his works at fine art galleries in greater London, England. In March several of his landscape paintings will be displayed along-side renowned international artists at an event to be hosted by the Joseph A. Hardy family’s Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Two of his religious paintings hang at St Paul Cathedral and Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh.
Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is a multi-discipline, minority directed, center for arts and learning. The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, and private corporate grants, The Guild, a multi-disciplined center for arts and learning, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is housed, in a 62,000 square foot facility located at 1815 Metropolitan Street on Pittsburgh's North Shore. The Guild maintains an art gallery at 800 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh for the display of the visual arts.
For more information contact:
Angeliki Georgiou, Coordinator, Exhibitions and Visiting Artist, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, PA 412 322-1773, ext 196. E-mail: AGeorgiou@mcg-btc.org