Close To Home, A World Away
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www.blockislandinfo.com
Island photographers take good pictures.
But don't take our word for it.
The u.s. ambassador to montenegro
thought a photograph of the north light by
island photographer Malcolm Greenaway was
so perfect he asked the state department to
bring it halfway around the world to his of-
ficial residence.
The photo, titled "dusk at north light," is
part of a 10-piece exhibit hand-picked by am-
bassador roderick W. moore, a rhode Island
native who visited Block Island frequently
as a child. In summer 2007, he returned for
a visit and admired the north light and the
coastline. When Moore's father, who lives in
East Greenwich, R.I., later saw Greenaway's
photo at a show, he thought of his son.
"I said see if you can talk to the artist and
send me a jpeg," moore said in a telephone
interview. "So he did and I saw it and I loved
it."
Moore's father contacted Greenaway and
pitched the idea of shipping the 2-by-3 foot
photo to a country Greenaway had never
heard of. Greenaway politely expressed inter-
est but never thought the call would amount
to anything more than an interesting tidbit to
tell at parties.
But moore contacted the state department
about its Art in Embassies program, which
pays shipping and insurance costs for ambas-
sadors to hang loaned artwork in official resi-
dences. When the program contacted Green-
away, he was more than happy to oblige.
"It was something that was sort of neat and
a little different," Greenaway said. "Just the
idea of Block Island hanging on a wall over
there in europe is sort of funny, and I'm curi-
ous to see what the reaction is when people
see it."
Moore said Greenaway's piece comple-
ments a New England theme for the exhibit,
and hangs prominently on the main floor
of his residence. He said he loves the colors
in the photograph and the uniqueness of
the lighthouse. and he thought the photo
was particularly relevant in the country that
borders the adriatic sea and includes similar
coastlines and inner mountains as New Eng-
land does.
"Block Island is a place that I've always
loved as a rhode Islander," moore said. "I al-
ways try and get out to Block Island when I'm
there in the summer and this [photograph]
being a tribute to New England, it seemed
like the perfect match."
Greenaway now joins a growing list of well-
known artists who have participated in the
art in embassies program established by the
State Department in 1964 as a way to comple-
ment diplomacy by showing the diversity and
quality of American artwork and culture. To-
day, artwork hangs in about 180 ambassador
residences worldwide. And Greenaway is not
the first Block Island artist to participate in
the program. A piece by Jerry Powers of the
Spring Street Gallery once hung in Russia.
moore said he's just delighted the state de-
partment program allows him to share scenes
from his roots with those in Montenegro.
"I think it's a wonderful way of showing our
hosts here in montenegro and other coun-
tries around the world what American art is
all about, and I love to show them what New
england art is all about," he said.
The North Light on the Adriatic
Greenaway photo adorns U.S. ambassador's residence
Photo by Malcolm Greenaway