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Arts administrator, graphic designer, arts liaison, decorative painter, art

teacher and translator — these are just some of the jobs Marian Purviance

has worked at in her circuitous route to a career as an artist. Soft-spoken

and slender, Purviance is known locally as an arts administrator working

with a variety of area arts organizations. Three years ago, Purviance left

the administrative art world behind and began her career as a fulltime

painter.

Growing up in rural Somerset County, New Jersey, Purviance, her brother and

sister were introduced to the arts by her mother, a landscape designer. ³We

were always doing little projects,² Purviance remembers. ³My mom got us all

making things and did a lot to introduce us to the arts early on.² But it

was a pre-college program at the Rhode Island School of Design that

especially made her sit up and take notice. ³A couple of really good

graduate students inspired me and after that summer I knew I wanted to

become an artist,² Purviance recalls. After RISD, Purviance earned her BA at

Sarah Lawrence College. As part of her college education she spent a year in

Florence, Italy, studying art history, painting, art restoration, landscape

design and fully immersing herself in all things Italian.

Purviance returned to the United States and moved to Newport and then

Providence to manage a frame shop in Davol Square. ³I didn¹t really like

Providence and I was about to move back to Philadelphia.² But fate

intervened and she stayed in Providence, married and had two children, all

the while starting her decorative painting business — Prime Coat, painting

walls, floors and furniture. ³It was extremely labor intensive and I often

felt like I wasn’t getting what I needed to be paid for the amount of work I

did.² Purviance says. ³Joyfully raising her small kids² took precedence

over her business and she gradually weaned herself from decorative painting.

For the time being making art was on the back burner, but Purviance always

kept a sketchbook or watercolor pad handy for quick studies and she taught

after-school art classes. As the children grew up, she was able to rent a

two-room studio in Pawtucket and dedicate one room to a fledgling freelance

graphic design business. The other, she devoted to her painting and drawing.

Fast forward a few years, financial woes forced her to look for full-time

employment and she began her career in arts marketing and administration.

These chameleon-like arts careers were wearing her down. She was

meticulously designing ads and brochures, or equally meticulously painting

garlands on bedside tables, but she wasn¹t painting what she wanted. She

was organizing shows for other artists, but she wasn¹t organizing shows for

herself. ³I had to get back to my artwork; I was missing it too much,²

Purviance says softly. ³I was tired of helping other artists and needed to

help myself.²

Financially more secure, Purviance finally she had ³the freedom of getting

away from everything² she was doing. From her tiny studio on the top floor

of her home, she has been painting and drawing full-time for about three

years now. Her gallery, Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Sandwich, New

Hampshire, has been selling her work consistently.

Purviance¹s paintings and drawings are meditative, dreamlike encounters with

nature, soft pastels, or engaging charcoal sketches that bring the outdoors

in. ³For me painting is purely sensory. I am very interested in harmony,

balance and movement,² Purviance says. ³I paint informal views of things

from unusual perspectives, that express my impressions of the world and

particularly my strong connection to nature.² These are not stiff, proper

floral arrangements, but loved flowers in private gardens and intimate

spaces. ³I hope someone can look at what I do, step away from everything

and feel peace.²

This is Purviance¹s first exhibition in Providence.

The BankRI Galleries are curated by Paula Martiesian. Paula Martiesian is a

Providence-based artist and arts advocate.

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