All Pawtucket All The Time

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts announced today a call for artists interested in painting the official state portrait of Governor Donald L. Carcieri. State law requires that a portrait of Governor Carcieri be commissioned and presented to the State by the time the governor leaves office in January 2011. The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts will assist the Governor in choosing a portrait artist.

The deadline for submitting sample work to the Arts Council is Thursday, October 15, 2009.

“Commissioning a portrait of a governor is an important event in the life of Rhode Island,” said Randall Rosenbaum, director of the State Council on the Arts. “Art is the way society preserves its history. Great art tells a great story, and walking through the halls of the state house, you experience the history of Rhode Island.”

A website providing an historical list of all Rhode Island governors with links to their official portrait can be found at http://www.sec.state.ri.us/library/riinfo/governors.

A panel consisting of representatives from the arts community, the Governor’s Office, and the Historic Preservation Commission among others will select up to ten finalists to present to the Governor for his review. The Governor will choose a portrait artist from among the finalists, or he may ask the panel for additional choices. The artist chosen by the Governor will then be commissioned to produce an official portrait.

The portrait will be created in cooperation with the Governor and the Rhode Island Historical and Preservation Commission, which is the caretaker of the portraits of past Rhode Island Governors on display at the State House. The finished portrait must be completed and turned over to the State by January 2011, at the conclusion of Governor Carcieri’s final term in office.

Artists interested in being considered for the commission should contact the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts or visit its web site for an application form. Artists will be asked to submit a resume and no less than five and no more than ten digital images of previously commissioned work. Interested artists have until Thursday, October 1, 2009 to submit samples of their work to the State Council on the Arts.

Full details are available at http://www.arts.ri.gov/portrait or by calling the Council at 222-3880.