Warwick, RI
www.bob-rizzo.com
rizzobob51@gmail.com
Professional Experience
1975 – Present Painter/Sculptor
2001-2007 Owner, Over the Top Gallery, Providence, RI
1997-2003 Executive Director, CapitolArts Providence
2003-2004 Director of Programming, Mayors Office of Arts, Culture and Tourism, Providence
1987-2003 Director, Office Cultural Affairs, Providence Parks Department, Providence, RI
1988-2003 Founder/Director/Curator, Convergence International Arts Festival, Providence, RI
1992-2003 Director, Providence Jazz & Blues Festival
1993-1999 Director, Providence Waterfront Festival
1994-1997 Visiting Faculty, Performance Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1987-1994 Special Events Consultant
1985-1987 Visiting Faculty Performance Art, RI School of Design, Providence
1982-1987 Carpenter
1978-1981 Cultural Affairs Coordinator, City of Providence
1975-1976 Visiting Artist, Schiller College, Strasbourg, France
1973-1975 Artist in Residence, RI State Council on the Arts, Arts in Education Program
1971-1973 Active Service, US Army
Other Activities
2013 Moderator, “site-specific work, Open for Dancing”, Island Moving Company
2011 Moderator, “site-specific work, Open for Dancing”, Island Moving Company
Grant Panelist, Rhode State Arts Council
2004 Moderator, “site-specific work, Open for Dancing”, Island Moving Company
Guest Curator, Attleboro Museum Center for the Arts, Attleboro, MA
Panelist Public Art Forum, The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA.
2001- 03 Board of Directors, Blackstone River Theatre, Cumberland, RI
2001-03 Board of Directors, Newport News Public Art Foundation, Newport News, VA
2002-03 Downcity Implementation Network Committee, Providence, RI
2002 Guest Lecturer, “Public Art”, Statewide Historic Preservation Conference
Guest Lecturer, “Energizing the City: Public Art in Providence” Portland, ME
Providence Preservation Society, Tourism Committee
2000 Community Advisory Committee, RI School of Design Museum
1999-2000 Providence Banner Trail, Executive Committee
1998-99 Destination Providence, Executive Committee, Providence/Warwick CVB
1998 RI Percent for Art, Airport Art Selection Committee
1996-98 Board of Directors, Rhode Islanders for the Arts
1993-96 Executive Board, Total Arts Providence
1995 Grants Panelist, Massachusetts Cultural Council
1995-97 Board of Directors, Groundwerx Dance Theatre
1990-96 Rhode Island Earth Day Committee
1984-2003 Advisor/Grants Panelist, Rhode State Arts Council
1985 Grants Panelist, Connecticut Commission on the Arts
1987-92 Board of Directors, AS 220, Providence
Personal Awards
2003 Rhode Island Foundation Fellow
Kovar Award for Community Service, RI Technology Council
2000 RI Tourism Achievement Award, State of RI
Landscape Design/Open Space Award, Providence Preservation Society
1998 Arts Advocate Award, Business Volunteers for the Arts
1996 Outstanding Contribution to Regional Tourism Promotion, State of Rhode Island
Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, Pride in Providence Award
1992 Fellowship Recipient, New Genres, State of Rhode Island
1988 New England Foundation on the Arts Grant
1983 Fellowship Recipient, New Genres, State of Rhode Island
1981 Individual Artists Project Grant, RI State Council on the Arts
Selected individual & collaborative performances/exhibitions
2003 Bob Rizzo - New Work, Community College of RI, Warwick, RI
2001 Bob Rizzo - Bill Reis, C. Francis Gallery, Providence
2000 Fitzgerald, Rizzo, Veneman, Paintings, Totems and Shrines,
Full Circle Gallery, Providence
1992 Mirror Songs, **(RI School of Design
Ground-breaking Sculpture * Daphne Farago Wing, RISD Museum
Masks, ‘92 * First Night Providence
1990 Knot I Land * Set Designer, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, TN
1987 If an Army of Monkeys, *”Science Projects”, Mobius, Boston
Cowboy Movie, Parts I-IV, Text; Craig Watson Mobius, Boston**
1988 Fossil Fuel * Text; Craig Watson, First Night Providence, Mobius, Boston MA,
AS 220, Providence **
Running the Gauntlet * First Night Providence
(First public artwork commissioned by First Night Providence)
1985-86 Cowboy Movie, Part I, Text by, Craig Watson, Mobius, Boston**
Swinging With Vito * New England Arts Biennial, University of Massachusetts, Amherst**
Life Sure is Slow in the Fast Lane, (Bob Jungels) Mobius, Boston, MA**
1983 The Interrogation, (Bob Jungels, Richard Goulis) Amnesty International Annual Meeting**
1982 The Interrogation, (Bob Jungels, Richard Goulis) RI School of Design, Providence**
1983 Something Frightening But Not Inherently Dangerous * RI Community College**
1979 Two Bobs Do, (Bob Jungels) Anyart Gallery, Providence, RI**
1977 Dance for the Fourth, Performance for six dancers, pyrotechnics &
Improvisational music* Roger Williams Park, Providence, RI**
Who Says I Can’t Be in More Than One Place at One Time * Eventworks,
MA College of Art**
Maze ‘77 *, Solstice Festival, Roger Williams Park, City of Providence
Cats and Dogs at Anyart, (Philip Palombo, Michael Diekmann)
Anyart Gallery, Providence**
Internal Combustion*, (Philip Palombo, Michael Diekmann) Center for the Arts, Boston**
Cats and Dogs at P.C., (Philip Palombo, Michael Diekmann)
Providence College, Providence**
Branch Prop #4, Slater Park, City of Pawtucket, RI
Dirty Laundry, (Connie Coleman) Woods Gerry Gallery, RISD
1976 Branch Prop #2 *, Roger Williams Park, City of Providence
1975 Branch Prop, Chateau Pourtalés, Strasbourg, France
*Commissioned work ** Performances
Selected Group Exhibitions/Performances
2018-19 Group Exhibition - Jessica Hagen Contemporary American Art, Newport, RI
2015 Group Exhibition - Gallery Artists, Nisa Touchon Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2013 Marrow - Choreographer: Tom Pearson, Bob Rizzo, Monica Schinn & Anna Shapiro, Island Moving Company dancers & Third Rail Project dancers, Steel Yard, Providence, RI
2012 Global Flows, Amy Ingrid Schlegel, Curator, Tufts University Art Gallery,
Tufts University, Medford, MA
2009 Fluxhibition #3: Thinking Inside of the Box –
Boxes, Cases, Kits and Containers, University of Texas
2008 Holiday Invitational, Imago Gallery, Warren, RI
Collective Exhibit, The Silver Circle Studio, Putnam, CT
2007 Trashformations East, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, Ohio
Collectors Collect; Works from Denver Private Collections, Mizel Museum, Denver, CO
2006 Trashformations East, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA Trashformations East, Copia Museum, Napa California
Friendship: Angels and Saints, Ryoichi Jinnai Gallery, Lima Peru
Ourchitecture. Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI (collaboration w/Elizabeth Keithline)
2005 Trashformations East, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, curated by Lloyd Herman
2004 3-D Rhode Island: Selections of Contemporary Sculpture,
Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
Lost & Unknown, Stories from RI ‘s Underground, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
2003 The Last Supper, Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Juliett 484, collaboration between Polish and American artists, Convergence 2003, Prov.
2002 Field Work*, collaboration w/Daniel McCusker & Island Moving Co., Newport, RI
Celebrate Orange, Sarah Doyle Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI
1999 Recycle Show, Center City Artisans, Providence, RI
Small Boxes, Providence Children’s Museum, Providence, RI
1998 Serious Fun, Warwick Museum, Warwick, RI
Kimono’s, Center City Artisans, Providence, RI
1994 Wine-tasting, Mobius ArtRages, Boston, MA
1993 Maskcapade, RI Children’s Museum, Pawtucket, RI
Mask Appeal, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI
1986 Political Statements, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
1983 Provocative and Problematic Video from the American East Coast,
Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
1982 The Video Review, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1978 Assembling, Assembling, Pratt Graphics Center, NYC
1975-76 American Painters in Paris, Palias des Congres, Paris, France
Work in the numerous private/public collections: full list on request.
John M. Bennett Papers, Washington University in St. Louis
Bern Porter mail art collection, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Special Collections and Visual Resources, Los Angeles, CA
RI School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Cranston Public Library, Cranston, RI
Providence Public Library, Providence, RI
Brown University, Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, Providence, RI
Parkside Rotisserie & Bar, Providence, RI
Daphne Farago Collection, Little Compton, RI
International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction, Pagosa Springs, CO.
The Providence Athenaeum, Providence, RI
Publications:
Fluxus Book Project, 2010
WHITE ON WHITE, Selections from the Permanent Collection, The International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction, Cecil Touchon, 2009
The Spam Poetry Game - An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Cecil Touchon, 2009
Spirits, Shrines & Icons, Bob Rizzo, 2008
READERS DIGESTIBLE: The First Assembled Anthology on Rhode Island Artists’ and Writers’ Works on-a-Page, Bob Rizzo, Editor, 1978
Assembling, Assembling, Richard Kostelanez, 1978
Seventh Assembling, Richard Kostelanez, 1977