William Pettit | the sea between
July 5 - August 3 . 2025
Opening Receptions : Saturday July 5th from 4-6pm with the artist who is visiting from Italy Thursday July 10th from 4-6pm
This is an exhibit about the sea.
The horizon is the destination.
Where the sea and the sky meet, there is no reference to land.
Hope and longing are between here and there.
A storm might be approaching or subsiding, it’s not clear in the stillness.
There are questions of geomorphology, but distance is not measured in miles, but in the heart.
These are paintings about painting.
They are an homage to Fitz Henry Lane, whose stillness of brush reflecting safe harbor contrasts and balances the perils of voyage and of distance.
They are an homage to Captain Harvey MacKay, whose home was the Jane Deering Gallery at 19 Pleasant Street in 1842. His ship “Boston” was struck by lightning and lost on May, 26, 1830.
They are an homage to poet Charles Olson, who saw Gloucester in mythical terms and in actual terms, a place made up of people. In his poetry of space, Gloucester moves Outward — to the sea.
William Albert Pettit III is a Professor of Studio Art at Temple University Rome and at Iowa State Rome Program, Italy. He specializes in historical materials and techniques related to Italian art. He currently teaches Fresco Painting, Medieval Materials, and Darkroom Photography. He is a painter and published poet and works with photography, sculpture, music, video, and installation. His recent shows at NBWM and at The Vincent House, MVY, are about working with museum collections and records to revalorize and reinhabit stories of our past. Pettit has exhibited extensively in the United States and Italy. He is the 2024-2025 recipient of the Dean’s Research Grant and 2019 recipient of the OVPR Arts and Humanities Grant from Temple University Rome. His research on pigments has been supported by residences and shared at conferences. The artist lives in Tarano, Italy, where he maintains a small vineyard, olive grove, and garden.

East of Nova Scotia 2024 . Oil on canvas . 36" x 59"
Oil on canvas . 36" x 59"
Oil on canvas . 36" x 59"

Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame

Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame

Oil on canvas . 36" x 59"

Oil on canvas . 36" x 59"

Untitled 2023 . Oil on canvas . 36" x 59" . on reserve

Portrait of Harvey Coffin Mackay 2024 . Oil on poplar panel . 8 1/2" x 12"

The Packet Ship Boston Returns to Gloucester, 1829 . 2024 . Oil on canvas . 19 1/2" x 16"

Ship (the Boston) in a Gale 2024 . Oil on canvas . 12" x 16"

Grouping of small framed paintings from the series 'Per Grazia Ricevuta' (PGR)

PRG #5 . Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame . 4 1/2" diameter

PGR #4 . Oil on board in lacquered wood frame . 4" diameter

PGR #7 . Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame . 6" diameter

PGR #11 . Oil on canvas in vintage ivory frame with glass . 3 1/2" x 4" . Sold

PGR #3 . Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame . 3" x 4" . Sold

Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame

PGR# 13 . Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame with glass . 3" diameter

PGR #12 . Oil on canvas in vintage gold frame . 3" diameter

The Burning of the Boston, after Fitz Hugh Lane . Oil on canvas . Sold

Scrod 2023 . Watercolor on log book pages from 1879 .

Haddock 2023 . Watercolor on log book pages of the late 1800s

Sardine 2023 . Wataercolor on log book pages of 1879

PGR #20 2023 . Oil on canvas in gold iron standing frame .

Group of miniature oil paintings in vintage frames . from the series PGR 2023