Norman Rockwell Museum and Casablanca: Shop for Good
Friday, July 26,
5 -7 p.m.
Please join Norman Rockwell Museum and Casablanca, one of the Berkshires’ finest clothing stores, for an exciting evening of “Fashion Meets Art” at Norman Rockwell Musuem. Meet Kent Stetson, Rhode Island artist and view his latest handbag designs derived from original illustrations. Complementary wine & cheese will be served. All are available for purchase and a portion of sales will support the Norman Rockwell Museum exhibits and education programs. This event is for members and donors only.
RSVP to this exclusive fun event to alexa@nrm.org by July 25th and Shop for Good.
K E N T S T E T S O N
In 2000 I was making partially computer-generated paintings and showing them in galleries around Providence, Rhode Island. In 2003 I started cutting up some of the prints and crafting them in to handbags and I noticed right away how they sold much better than the wall-hanging pieces. It turned out that I didn’t need the wall, and that a handbag was a perfectly-suitable way for me to show my paintings.
Since then, handbags have become my medium. The son of a blacksmith and equestrian, I was raised on a horse farm in New Hampshire where I have early memories of my mother making and maintaining horse tack. I had all of the tools for crafting handbags, I just had to connect the dots with my paintings to develop what has become a signature clutch style (larger totes and briefcases also join the array of designs that I create from my studio).
These handbags have greater interactive and social aspects than my early wall-hanging pieces, and I hope that my handbags promote the idea that art can happen in unexpected places.