URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2017_Melissa-McCarthy

“One of the beauties of her exhibits is the interaction. You don’t have to touch these things to move them; all you have to do is walk by them for them to start to sway.” - Jeffrey Bertwell

“One of the beauties of her exhibits is the interaction,” says Jeffrey Bertwell, URI instructor of drawing. “You don’t have to touch these things to move them; all you have to do is walk by them for them to start to sway. I love it. Life, there’s a little bit of life going on.” The process of creating occurs years in advance of an installation. Pagh researches a culture and location to inspire her artistic work. She admits that choosing a site to examine is part of the joy of her process. During Pagh’s career at URI she has not only highlighted ancient cultures, but draws a connection between them.

Sitting in the University of Rhode Island (URI) main gallery, Barbara Pagh, professor of art, easily reveals her harmonious nature through a conversation peppered with humor as she discusses the seriousness of her work. She displays the sense of a firm core that carried her as an artist from her undergraduate days at Mount Holyoke College to New York University, where she earned her master’s degree. She began teaching courses in printmaking and two-dimensional studio at URI in 1983. “I’m always thinking about what the end result will be in this space,” Pagh says of the gallery and her installations.

Alignments installation

Fall | 2017 Page 9