Rice Polak Gallery Presents Fourth Exhibition of Summer 2025
Show to be held August 14 – 27, 2025; Featuring works by Willie Little, Pamela Murphy, and Christie Scheele
Provincetown, MA – July 24, 2025 – The Rice Polak Gallery is proud to announce its fourth exhibition of the summer. The show will run from August 14 – August 27, featuring works by Willie Little, Pamela Murphy, and Christie Scheele. Rooted in memory and place, each artist’s work draws from the past to reflect on the present. Whether through evocative materials, vintage imagery, or stripped-down landscapes, these artists create work that lingers in emotional resonance—exploring identity, nostalgia, and the quiet poetry of everyday life.
There will be an opening reception at the Rice Polak Gallery on Friday, August 15 from 7:00 – 9:00pm. Wine will be provided and there will be the opportunity to meet the artists in person.
Willie Little’s work reflects the complexities of his upbringing in the rural South, blending memory, history, and raw emotion into deeply personal yet universally resonant pieces. Known for his abstract paintings and mixed-media assemblages, Little incorporates elements of family history and personal photographs, while his full-scale installations recreate vivid memories from his childhood. Using iron dust and acid oxidation in his works, Little captures the essence of southern life—the faded paint and rusted tin of tenant farmer shanties—evoking both beauty and struggle. His work is an exploration of transformation, loss, and the urgency for societal change.
“When I think of home, I think of a place, the time, the moments, the colors, shapes, emotions, textures that emote such love for home, despite our circumstance,” said artist Willie Little. “The house was an old, 4-room, asbestos-shingled, lime green, raggedy, shot gun shack, with no inside toilet. It wasn’t much to look at, but it was ours, my father Charlie Little owned it and owned a 13-acre farm, down Sticks Road, a dusty dirt road, in the middle of nowhere, between Greenville and Washington NC. He grew cucumbers, tobacco, corn, soybeans and raised hogs. The lime-green shotgun shack with no inside toilet, on the main drag of Pactolus Highway looked like it was put together with spit and a prayer, but it stood the test of time; withstood, hurricanes and tornados, some brutal. The rusty tin roof was interesting to me, ugly to some, mostly dented. The sound of rain drops hitting that tin roof made me feel cozy, warm, protected, loved. My old sister Trishann and I helped Grandma Flora Ann and Uncle Cake tend, Grandma’s garden, behind her chicken coop, on a separate plot o’ land behind our shack. Her garden, oh, it was filled with lush, organic everything green and golden, as we could see it through the windowpane fence, like an oasis, tucked away like a slice of heaven. The sun was bright, shiny, the storm clouds and rain could be violent and turbulent in the height of southern summer. But I survived it, was ashamed of it at one time, and became proud to have come from all of that. When I think of home.”
Pamela Murphy’s evocative paintings blur the line between reality and memory, drawing inspiration from vintage photographs, animals, and the rural landscapes surrounding her ten-acre farm. Through layers of scraped and textured paint, gold leaf, and fabric, Murphy’s paintings take on a timeless, dreamlike quality, where subjects appear almost ghostly, peering through layers of history and nostalgia. Her process, which uses palette knives and rags, allows for a fluid interplay between the personal and the universal, creating works that resonate with quiet power and a sense of collective memory.
“I select figures from my large collection of old photographs to use as subjects for my paintings,” said artist Pamela Murphy. “I am interested in the fact that, although the people in the photographs may be strangers, they seem almost universally familiar. All of my imagery has a strong sense of nostalgia, history, and collective memory, which the distressed surfaces of my canvases enhance.”
Christie Scheele’s landscape paintings offer a meditative exploration of mood, shape, and atmosphere. Drawing inspiration from places she’s visited, including the beaches and marshes of Cape Cod, the Hudson River, and the bustling streets of New York, Scheele distills each scene to its essential elements. Her minimalistic approach balances realism and abstraction, focusing on the beauty found in simplicity and quietude. Through her work, Scheele invites viewers into an immersive experience, where every stroke of paint captures the subtle beauty of the natural world and its emotional resonance.
My paintings always start with a vista that reaches my heart,” said artist Christie Scheele. “While in progress though, the needs of the painting take priority while I create through the reduction of detail and soft edges an image that brings shape, composition and color to the forefront.These abstract elements can reach a viewer’s heart independently of subject matter and just as persuasively as the narrative aspect.I see this as a kind of koan – – two contradictory truths that coexist. “This painting is all about a moment in nature.” And/Or: “This painting is all about the abstract elements working together.” The place depicted and the painting created are related but not to be conflated. Sometimes the narrative is a bit stronger, as in my paintings of a lonely road with approaching headlights; but in the end my intention is to offer the viewer not a replica of a view but instead an experience that is similar in feeling to the absorption that nature inspires.”
The press release announcing the Gallery’s full summer schedule is available here, and the details for upcoming shows are listed below.
For press inquiries, to be connected to the artists, or to request photos, contact Natasha Fee at [email protected] or 978-460-4449. You can also contact the Gallery at [email protected] or 508-487-1052.
Upcoming 2025 Summer Schedule:
SHOW 5: AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 10, 2025
Opening Reception: Rice Polak Gallery, Friday, August 29, 7pm
This show features the work of Larry Calkins, Ellen Rolli, and Les Seifer.
FINAL GROUP SHOW: SEPTEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 31, 2025
This show will feature new works from all gallery artists.