Draft:Rebecca B. Alston

Rebecca B. Alston

Born	May 12, 1951 Mississippi, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Auburn University, B.F.A. Kansas State University, M.Arch New York University, Post Graduate Harvard Graduate Professional Program, GSD
Known for	Interdisciplinary Multimedia, Artist and Architectural Design
Website	http://www.rebeccaalstonstudio.com

Rebecca B. Alston is an American artist known for interdisciplinary visual art and architectural design work, as well as inventive investigation of form and media and development of processes. She creates paintings, drawings, prints, wall reliefs, and customized design forms. She lived in New York City for most of her professional career and was associated with Postmodernism, more specifically Reconstructivism. Alston grew up in the Gulf Coast regions of Mississippi and Louisiana, leaving after high school to attend Auburn University before moving on.

Throughout her many years as an artist and designer, Alston’s work has incorporated interdisciplinary systems in her approach to visual and design work. Most of it was buried in geometric systems that developed and transformed through experimental processes. These geometric approaches became the spring board seen through all of her bodies of work such as Bio Forms, Convergence, and in environmental bodies such as Urban Art and Earth’s Voice. Her work is consistently explorative, abstract and in-depth in its use of colors systems, 2D/3D geometric processes, media, and materials.

Her basis is rooted in understanding, and is in response to social, political, and technological developments through research, exploration, decision making, and expression. Alston uses her experimental techniques through interdisciplinary approaches to develop the foundation with dedication to raising public consciousness. Her cultural impact reflects on how people and systems move through space by denoting a mode of thinking.

Alston’s early work was influenced by the Avant-garde, and over time has been associated with Neo-modernism—an amalgamation of deconstructivism and post-modernism—through varying processes of transition by introducing interaction of form with color.

Alston's work has been featured in solo exhibitions in New York City, across the United States, the Netherlands, London, and Tokyo. Her work is in numerous private and public collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Museum of Geometric and MADI Art in Dallas, Mississippi Museum of Art in Mississippi, and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. She received the Bronze Award from the Japanese Government for her design of the International Urban Art Plaza Competition as the only US winner out of 233 competitors from 40 countries. Alston is an honored artist of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and received fellowship with Woodstock School of Art.

Education and Background

Alston’s B.F.A. came from Auburn University. After study at various schools, she finished her M.Arch at Kansas State University, where she became an assistant professor of design studios including Environmental design, as well as Color Theory and Perception. Her research was in the interceptions of color/light and music/sound. Although she had thrived in the academic setting, Alston moved to New York City in 1983 and opened her interdisciplinary studio two years later. After a brief relocation to London, Alston moved her studio to SoHo in downtown Manhattan. She studied further at New York University and attended the professional program of Harvard Graduate School of Design over several years. She also resided in London in 1986 and Chicago in 2014.

Her early influences were the 20th century Avant-garde (notably the Bauhaus), to which she had been originally exposed by her friend Cecile Higdon. Alston spent extensive time in the Netherlands, where she befriended artist and composer Roland Kuit. Even though her art evolved over her over the decades, Alston identified with the Deconstructionism movement and influences of Frank Gehry. During this time she was involved with exhibitions that were a reconsideration of the modern.   

Alston’s research into interdisciplinary work and perceptual function was grounded in the NASA Space Technology Lab at Kansas University. In her studio, she collected NASA’s information including infrared film and broke it down into screens and multilayer ink images, which she would finish by hand. Her early series after completing her M.Arch, Landsat and Lunar, date from this period in her interdisciplinary studio. Another influence through her continued exploration of color & sensory perception was her studies with Max Lüscher. The Lüscher Color Test, developed in Switzerland, holds that sensory perception of color is objective and universal, and thus common to everyone. Alston also studied the abstracts from the underground auditorium at the Centre Pompidou in Paris when developing her Parative Ambiance series that consisted of color plates, patterns, and three dimensional forms, with some being light.  

Urban Art was influenced by landscape architect and city planner Kevin Lynch. Other impressions and references found in Urban Art was A Pattern Language, published through Oxford University Press by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein. Influenced particularly by the examples of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, Alston began work on her The Constructivist: Reconstructivism & Deconstructivism series, taking part in an international discourse on neomodernism.

Architectural Design - Rebecca Alston Inc.

Throughout her life, drawing has been her vehicle for communication. Architectural Design was a grounding experience in comparison to some of Alston’s more intuitive works of art. During her studies in architecture and completion of her M.Arch, her art and design work merged in a conceptual and systematic approach that led to the interdisciplinary. This later manifested with her history in visual arts in much of her work. Although they fused in many ways, her visual art stood as separate iconic pieces on their own.  This is especially seen in the idealistic perception Alston held as she hoped to explore through the studies of phenomenology and cosmology.

The architectural design profession enabled her to deal with sophisticated systems of order, environmental impact, and what a person or society has to do to work and live with forces of nature, man made objects, and the impact it has on the individual. Her architectural design firm, Rebecca Alston Inc., was founded in 1985 and flourished. It was featured in several publications in the United States and Japan.

Bodies of Work

Earth’s Voice

Earth’s Voice is a series that begins to address our awareness of the planet’s boundaries and the decisions we have to make as society, individuals, businesses, and governments for the earth to sustain itself. It is more of a plea to understand man’s impact on the environment and our lives. The body of work includes dialogue surrounding geology, ecology, and biology, addressing many of the issues that our world is facing and what we have to come to terms with. These works are created through different methods ranging from traditional mediums to artificial intelligence. Through the process of creating, Alston’s most critical notion is to gain knowledge and understanding of our world, the impact we have, and how this effects the survival of the biodiversity, human species, and our Earth. Whether it comes from internal, intuitive exploration, or an external address there is a visual language, perspective, and knowledge that is set forth.

Alston created It Is Time to Have a Dialogue About Our Ecosystems in response to the BP oil spill 2010 in the Gulf, which was one of the worst oil spills in history. It caused tremendous damage to the fishing industry and wildlife that lived in and along the gulf. It devastated many businesses, destroyed habitats, and damaged wetlands. As a result, this changed the industries on the gulf and compromised major food sources. Alston created the piece in Sag Harbor, NY while working and living there in the summer

The result of this spill was a federal indictment where BP stated well site leaders, R. Kaluza and D. Vidrime, acted negligently in their supervision and safety test performed on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig before the deadly explosion. The charges came as BP agreed to pay $4.5 billion in settlements to the US government. There were 11 workers killed and billions in damage to the environments and communities that line the Gulf coast. The area was considered a dead zone due to pollutants along the gulf coast. There are man dead zones in the world especially in heavily populated cities.  

The Divide, created while living in New York City, is a mixed media piece that has numerous techniques. The beginning of the paper piece started with Alston’s standard drawing technique and evolved though the use of dye, watercolor and acrylics paints, polymers, and other mediums. It was a slow process due to the use of multiple mediums. The Divide began after NASA discovered polarized fields in the deep gulf floor. The main force in this polarization pulled westward. The polarized forces were the genesis for The Divide; however as has developed over a long period of time and it became apparent of a multi faceted division in this country and world. The physical environmental of a warming climate and the melting arctic, extreme fires, volcanic eruptions dumping more carbon in the atmosphere, in addition to the polarized, social, political, economic divisions in this country but world wide.  

Oil Wars takes an in-depth look into the issues surrounding oil and the conflicts that it creates. The geometry is visible through the layers of medium. Oil Wars was created while living between NYC & Chicago.

Pieces from Earth's Voice were shown in exhibition at the Octavia Art Gallery during 2024.

Digital and AI Developments

Experimental Sub Sets of Earth’s Voice

The majority of Alston’s works are her own originals works that she further developed with technology. Using pieces of art from other bodies, Alston used Artificial Intelligence (AI) in development into new unique works of art. AI became a tool after her computer locked her out.  Out of desperation, Alston called around the world for help. A technician from India sent & downloaded an AI program that would mount to the existing technology program and files she was working on. As Alston worked with this addition, it became apparent that the program was memorizing the pattern and movements she was creating and handled the vector calculations that enabled the images to be larger.

These pieces were developed from the original Algae mixed media drawings, Algae 1 & 2. The results were the creation of Algae Interaction. Other developments using AI to manage the image were the Plankton Series.

Plankton and the Deep Blue are digital images comprised of are two panels conjoined as one. The left side is a was developed from her mixed media art transformed into a digital panel with the help of non-generative artificial intelligence, while the right side is comprised of glass beads, polymers, and acrylic paints. The right side is rich in materials and references some of the techniques used in Convergence series.

Bio Forms

Alston’s mixed media drawings and paintings in Bio Forms explore a new realm of significant inquiry and the impact that modern day viruses have on the individual physical being from a microscopic level, which aesthetically parallels to a macroscopic level incorporating phenomena found within the universe. She explored a restless, inquisitive sensibility, eager to understand the universe from all vantages—from the compilation of mathematical references to the aesthetic appreciation of natural form. If artists have marveled throughout history at natural beauty, Alston found new beauty in nature by following in the footsteps of scientific inquiry; for her, the telescope, microscope, data graph and spectral scale are no less artistic tools than the pencil and paintbrush.

Bio Forms consistently merges from her geometric beginnings but visibly has a very subtle reference to geometric vocabulary that is explored in Alston’s prior work, which employs simplified whole geometric forms. Prior geometric complexities are diverted as Bio Forms takes on exploratory mixed forms that reference decay through viral compositions. Pieces within the Bio Forms series elucidate a vigorous microcosm that breathes from the canvas. In observing Alston’s work, one will notice painting and drawing techniques have merged into a cohesive wholeness.

Convergence

The Convergence Series elicits a profound influence from time spent in Thailand and other parts of Asia with influences by the ambiance and tactile beauty of the temples and historic sites. The richness of materials is well shown in her large garnet canvases that were in her exhibitions at Island Weiss Gallery and the International Armory Exhibition New York City. She had reverence to the authentic historic building outside the main areas of Phuket, Bangkok, and the Golden Triangle.  

The garnet used is sometimes painted, but other times left in its natural state, which conducts natural light. Exposure to light is the most important aspect while installing one of Alston’s garnet pieces. When placed in indirect light, the media transcends to a higher luminous state. The optical experience features a drastic transformation according to light. One collector installed a work of Alston’s garnet so when she awakens, the painting is taking on the characteristic of a resplendent glow. As the time of day changes, so does the optical experience.

Urban Art

The Urban Art series lends a resplendent perspective on the manner in which both the natural and man-made forces alter individual environments. With attention to the theoretical processes of urban development, a variety of mediums reference contrasting urban patterns. These urban patterns are overlaid creating a chaos which Alston later reordered. The Urban Art series consists of mixed media on paper, oil, and acrylic on canvas. The drawings and paintings have their roots in the theoretical process of urban developments. Alston concentrates on the natural and man-made forces that affect urban environments and development patterns. She focuses on this tension between the modern right angle grid and the naturally developed urban cores of historic developments.  Pieces from this series are in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art, and the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Throughout the late seventies and eighties, Alston has pursued an investigation of formal color relationships that has involved extra-visual reams as diverse as the psychological, environmental, architectural, and musical. Her preoccupation with color, clearly present throughout her art works, is definitely visible in her Urban Art Series. However, the color use and complexity in form has transformed. Alston broke away from the rigid shapes of the grid, found in her earlier bodies of art such as The Constructivist: Reconstructivism & Deconstructivism (1986-2005). Instead, she obscured the lines at various angles and integrated new forms and patterns with many compositions deriving from chaos over time.

Alston created Urban Plan while focusing on the idea of urban development. She had been attending Harvard’s Professional design studio modules for several years in the GSD, where she was looking at urban development while conducting her own research. Alston’s fascination was with the way cities and urban areas constantly change, with a particular forces on changes due to national disasters or war.

During the creation of these mixed media urban art drawings, the focus was to explore the chaos that is created when one urban plan overlaps the other. It almost creates an urban jungle. The viewing position of these patterns is from above the plan view. It is the way the land and man made forms are interrogated into an environment. One may start with a random development pattern and switch to radial or right angle. I sometimes think of cities, like New York’s far west village, which was settled along the waterfront by the Dutch, where the ports were before the British came. An influence during this time was from a book titled A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein.

Urban and Chaos  

Alston frequently put layers or random lines over formal organizational grid patterns and edges that reference chaos theory an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics. It focuses on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. These were once thought to have completely random states of disorder and irregularities. An example in her mixed media works she used random line over her underlying grids in development of works of art references urban planning that disrupting patterns of existing neighborhoods during redevelopment, such as a highway running through an existing neighborhood.

In her drawing Node she was particularly influenced by urban planner Kevin Lynch and his book Image of the City.

The Node is the original piece that generated a group of artwork developed for the public art competition in New York City for the subway walls. The proposed work represents this mass transit system - an abstraction that symbolizes the essence of the system which is located at 42nd Street in New York City. The basis of the drawing shows the interrelationships of transit lines which appear and disappear into other forms through rapid velocities while a train moves. Interpretations, encompassing movement, dynamics, intersections, organized chaos. When one transcends into the underground, a new experience begins. It is the entrance way to a system that is difficult for anyone to comprehend. The mass transit system is about motion, merging and change, blurred images, impact, noise and bustle.

The Constructivist: Reconstructivism & Deconstructivism

The Constructivist: Reconstructivism & Deconstructivism series places emphasis on divulging both the historic and theoretical development of geometric art. The Constructivist: Reconstructivism & Deconstructivism series is composed of mixed media on paper, wood reliefs, and oil on linen. She exhibited in the Reconstructivism: New Geometric Painting, curated by Peter Frank and sponsored by the Amsterdam Trust Corporation in New York, New York in 1995. Other artists that were featured include Manfred Mohr, Charles Hinman, and Valerie Jaudon.

“Clear, crisp definitions and diagonal forces are basic to these paintings and wall reliefs, with every angle important in developing the dynamic tension that serves as a subject. With strong, unpredictable color and a variety of textures, Ms. Alston seems to test how inventive one can be with a restricted vocabulary….An obvious confidence with space of every type is one of the artist’s strong points. A more open piece closer to wall-mounted sculpture, is a particularly successful departure. Its flame-like protrusion introduces greater complexity and brings a hint of emotion to what is usually considered an abstraction of reason.” — Phyllis Braff, Art Critic

NASA/Landset/Space Scapes

Alston became fascinated by NASA research technology in the years between 1980 and 1983, while developing color theory and perception classes as an assistant professor at Kansas State University’s College of Architecture and Design. During that time, she spent considerable hours in the NASA space technology labs at Kansas University. NASA maintained a variety of labs for use by professors and post-graduate students pursuing studies in modern technology that analyzes the health of land. Among them were labs on landset images, which dealt with collecting and interpreting information obtained from infrared cameras and computers on satellites and airplanes. The results were utilized for research that included studies of Earth’s land, vegetation, water and population growth patterns. This experience offered her knowledge and deeper understanding of analytic analysis and land forms that deepened her understanding of technology and color that she still uses in her work today.  

Initially, Alston began experimenting with infrared negatives from NASA in her printmaking studio, but soon began simulating images based on her own knowledge of space. Starting with photography experiments, she brought this work into completion with mono and hand-finished serigraphs, in which she tried to reflect the compelling beauty of space technology. Some of her own aerial photography were broken into layers of Kodalith film, each being a unique screens made and produced with oil. The most successful hand-finished serigraphs created during this time were Luna, Luna II, Luna’s Passion and Luna’s Moods, simulated images which re-created the moon’s surface.

Alston also produced a separate series of related works, The Landset Images, which have subtle but luminous layers of hand-finished colors on top of serigraph prints. These were created after months of experiments in her studio with infrared negatives taken from NASA. Prior to the NASA-inspired works, Alston produced the Spacesapes, which are abstract studies of atmospheric environments.

Parative (Partitive) Ambiance

The Parative (Partitive) Ambiance series is the study of perceptual interrelationships of color/light, & music/sound. This body took several years of research and development. Alston had been experiencing photosisms (seeing color patterns while listening to music), which is now referred to as chromesthesia. The production of Parative Ambiance took place between 1978-1980, during which she created color plates and three dimensional forms to use in the study of the perception of visual elements and ambient sounds. Alston conducted perceptual tests of visuals in the Heliodome at Kansas State University for control of light and sound. Parative Ambiance was later exhibited at the Kansas City Art Research Center (A.R.C.), where Alston met the German artist Manfred Mohr and a friendship developed between the individuals who were associated with science and art.

While researching the perception of color/light and music/sound, Alston read and studied the abstracts published by the underground auditorium at Centre Pompidou in Paris. The abstracts dealt with pure tone, which helped Alston while designing her questionnaires to test the viewer’s perception of their relationships to color elements and isolated sounds. These studies laid the foundation for future projects that involved sensory stimuli, later coined by Peter Frank as sensory ecology. The germ of this was her internal perception but it quickly demanded a more comprehensive understanding of other disciplines. Alston played isolated sounds while testing her perceptual subjects. The minimal composers & musicians Robert Fripp and Brian Eno’s album Evening Star were one of the first minimalist sound references. When Alston heard the sounds from the British group she was inspirited and felt she had discovered a sound form that she had been searching for. She was also impressed by the minimalism composer Philip Glass. Other early influences include Rudolf Arnheim’s book Visual Thinking.

She later developed light forms that were created while she lived between London & New York City in 1986. These studies were used as development and a proposal for the contagious disease units where patients were contained for approximately 3 months at a time due to drug resistant Tuberculosis. Her design involved the room being unable to contain anything due to the capture of the bacteria. Alston prosed projecting patterns and sounds, changing according to the time of day to keep their body in rhythm with the day to prevent breakdowns, depression, and violence in the rooms as a stimuli to the isolated patients.  

After moving her studio to a top floor of a downtown building near KSU, a severe snowstorm hit while Alston was away. Part of the roof collapsed and destroyed the three dimensional pieces of art made of steel, styrene, and wood.

The Interaction of Color and Form

Alston had developed a geometric system in the mid-1970s, lending itself well to the interdisciplinary approach that was a direct influence from the Bauhaus while her harmonies were vastly different. She was also influenced by music and other disciplines throughout.

The earliest body of art created by Alston upon graduating from Auburn University was developed while living for three years in Jackson, Mississippi. Alston set up her first studio focused on serigraph print making. She taught herself this technique with the help of a close friend, who was an acclaimed photographer. The techniques were developed while exploring color. The body of art created was The Interaction of Color and Form, having been influenced by Josef Albers’ book The Interaction of Color. Albers was one of the many colorists from the Bauhaus that influenced Alston, as well as Johannes Itten, Dutch color theorist Frans Gerritsen, and many other contemporary masters. Alston’s first exhibition took place in the Deposit Guaranty Plaza in Jackson, MS with most pieces being serigraph prints and large collages.

During her time as an assistant professor at Kansas State University, she worked with and had several exhibitions at Strecker Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas in from 1979-1980. This included mixed media works that addressed the vulnerability of the environment, work from Parative Ambiance, and mixed media pieces. She also exhibited with the Art Research Center (A.R.C.) in Manhattan, Kansas in 1980.

Notable Work

Nike Headquarters (1984): Development of Color System and Design Development (Based on Parative Ambiance)

Rebecca Alston was a member on the design team for the Nike Headquarters in New York City. She used her color system that she created during her Parative Ambiance project references from as development, which influenced selections of created color pallets, patterns and design forms for the Nike Headquarters in New York City, taken from her color and sound perceptual studies Parative Ambiance. Parative is sometimes referred to as partitive. Parative Ambiance was a body of art that expanded upon created by Alston that made use of color/pallets, 2 & 3 dimensional forms and specific synthesizer sounds to test the perceptual interrelationship of color/form and sound.

Alston completed the Nike color pallets in 1994-1995 while working with MLA in New York City, one of the top 10 architectural engineering firms in the US at that time. The architectural team used and applied this pattern and color system as a generation for the design forms for the interior design renovation and color development in the Brownstone Nike headquarters in New York City.

Alston combined her fine art and environmental color background with the Parative Ambiance color studies as the basis for this scheme.  The more subtle studies were used in conference rooms and corporate office areas while the more active and angular studies were used in the recreational and showroom areas. The color finishes specified were based on the color system and pallets fell into place due to the subtle transitions that were executed while creating the plates and prints for the perceptual studies of Parative Ambiance. The smooth transitions were required to work with the open spaces where one color scheme met another.

International Urban Art Design Plaza (1992)

Rebecca Alston’s entry of OKAZAKI, a project that integrated art and urbanism, made her the sole United States winner out of 233 entries from 40 countries, and was granted the Bronze Award by the Japanese Government for Excellence in Design Space. The foundation of Alston’s approach to the Urban Art Plaza design in Nagoya, Japan continued integrating through different disciplines of art, science, social, and architecture. Alston used one of her paintings from the Deconstructionism series, Purple Wedge, that had a geometric vocabulary as a basis of development while relying on her understanding of their culture. The design plaza began by researching the Japanese approach to public art and understanding purity in their design cultural references. The spirit was a force in development of ideas and studying Buddhism as chakra colors and their relationship to natural elements. The thought behind the design scheme evolved in elements of visual and spatial grace, creating a vibrant environment and introducing a contemplative atmosphere along the lines of a Zen garden.

Awards

Year	Organization	Type
2020	National Museum of Women in the Arts, MS Chapter Committee; National Museum of Women in the Arts	Cash Award
2002	National Museum of Women in the Arts, MS Chapter Committee; National Museum of Women in the Arts	Honored Artist
1992	International Urban Art Plaza Competition (Nagoya, Japan) Only US winner out of 233 participants from 40 countries	Bronze Award
1990	Woodstock School of Art Awarded to explore the relationships of Deconstruction / Reconstructivist Art and its relationship and the meaning to society.	Fellowship

Memberships

Year	Organization
1980 - Current	Art Research Center (A.R.C.), Kansas City
2017 - 2020	ArtTable, New York
2016 - 2020	Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Drawing and Print Committee
2011 - 2014	Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Contemporary Art Council (CAC) Liaison between Architect Department and Council
2009 - 2012	Art of Leadership (Lawrence Klepner, UBS)
2006 - 2015	Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Contemporary Art Council
1995 - 2019	American Institute of Architects (AIA)
1995 - 2012	National Arts Club (NAC)

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

• 2023: ArtSource Loft in New York, NY
• 2022: Waveland Gallery in Waveland, MS
• 2019-21: Drawing to Artificial Intelligence, Tambaran Gallery 2 in New York, NY
• 2020: One Woman Exhibition, The Mary C. Cultural Center, The Duckett Gallery in Ocean Springs, MS
• 2019: Ohr Museum Of Art in Biloxi, MS
• 2018-19: Tambaran Gallery 2 in New York, NY
• 2015: Armstrong De Graaf International Fine Art in Douglas, MI
• 2014-15: One Woman Retrospective: Over 80 works of art from the bodies of Earth’s Voice, Bio Forms, Convergence and Urban Art. Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, MS
• 2008: 1900 to Contemporary. Park Avenue Art 20 Expo. The International Art Fair in New York, NY
• 2007: Island Weiss Gallery in New York, NY
• 2006: Island Weiss Gallery in New York, NY
• 2005: Orlov Arts in New York, NY
• 2002: Jefferson Davis Gallery in Gulfport, MS
• 2000: The Society for Arts in Chicago, IL
• 1995-99: Space 504 Gallery in New York, NY
• 1996: Galerie Artline in Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 1995: Space 504 Gallery in New York, NY
• 1993: Elise Goodheart Fine Arts in Sag Harbor, NY
• 1992: Barnard Biderman Gallery in New York, NY
• 1991: Rockefeller Center in New York, NY
• 1990: Winfield Gallery in Gulfport, MS
• 1989: The Mohr Exhibition in New York, NY
• 1989: Lorenzo Di Mauro in New York, NY
• 1988: L’elan Vitale Gallery in New York, NY
• 1983: Aurora Gallery in Gulfport, MS
• 1983: Parative Ambiance. Mississippi Museum of Art in Biloxi, MS
• 1983: Luna, Landsat, & Environmental Form. Strecker Gallery in Manhattan, KS
• 1982-83: Multi Media/Parative (Partitive) Ambiance 2D & 3D. The Heliodome Exhibition in Manhattan, KS
• 1980: Farrell Exhibition in Manhattan, KS
• 1976: Deposit Guaranty Plaza in Jackson, MS

Museum & Nonprofit Exhibitions

• 2020: Mississippi Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts
• 2019: South Hampton Art Center in Southampton, NY
• 2008: Walter Anderson Museum of Art & National Museum of Women in the Arts, MS Committee
• 2007-8: Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn, AL
• 2004-05: Museum of Geometric and MADI Art in Dallas , Texas
• 2004-05: Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, MS
• 2003: Placement of four pieces in their permanent collection. National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
• 2002: Honored Artist. National Museum of Women in the Arts, MS Committee
• 2001: Museum of New Art (MONA) in Detroit, MI
• 1997: Biannual National Exhibition. Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, MS
• 1994: Parrish Art Museum in South Hampton, NY
• 1992: Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, MS
• 1992: Auburn University Gallery in Auburn, AL

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2023: NO.12 / A.R.C. GROUP ’55 Anniversary. Konstruktiv.ist via Istanbul/International (Virtual Exhibition)
• 2019-20: Solar Print Making - Traveling Exhibition. South Hampton Art Center in Southampton, NY
• 2018: Art Basel. Tambaran Gallery in New York, NY
• 1998: Space 504 in New York, NY
• 1997: ALSTON •CUNNINGHAM • TRINCERE. Space 504 in New York, NY
• 1996: Four Women Painters. Space 504 in New York, NY
• 1996: Exploring Dimensions. Space 504 in New York, NY
• 1995: Color and Form. Space 504 in New York, NY
• 1995: Decon Recon-stuctivism Exhibition, curated by Peter Frank. Sponsored by Amsterdam Trust Corporation. Space 504 in New York, NY
• 1993: Woods Art Gallery (University of Southern Mississippi) in Hattiesburg, MS
• 1992: Auburn University Gallery in Auburn, AL
• 1991: Molica Guidarte Gallery (Italian Gallery) in New York, NY
• 1990: Changing Systems With Our Environment. Strecker Gallery in Manhattan, KS
• 1989: Art Who Gallery in Ocean Springs, MS
• 1988: Anna Bornholt Gallery in London, England
• 1988 New Kings Road Gallery in London, England
• 1988: Texas Art League in Jasper, Texas
• 1987: Galleria in Tucson, Arizona
• 1987: Mori Art Center Gallery in Tokyo, Japan
• 1985: Nike Exhibition in New York, NY
• 1983: Lawrence Gallery in Kansas City, KS
• 1983: IAC Inc. in Los Angeles, CA
• 1983: Kansas 3 in Topeka, KS
• 1983: Cabo Frio International in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1982: Kansas City Artist Coalition in Kansas City, KS
• 1982: McClain Exhibition (KSU) Manhattan, Kansas
• 1982: Strecker Gallery in Manhattan, KS
• 1982: Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS
• 1981: Art Research Center (A.R.C.) in Kansas City, MO
• 1980: The Art Connection in Kansas City, MO
• 1978: Deposit Guaranty Plaza in Jackson, MS
• 1975: Auburn University Gallery in Auburn, AL
• 1972: Jackson County College in Gautier, MS

Collections

Permanent Collections

• National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
• Museum of Geometric and MADI Art in Dallas , Texas
• Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn, Alabama
• Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, MS

Environmental Installations

• Kalem Environment. New York, NY (1998)
• Battery Park City Environment, Art Environment. New York, NY (1987)
• Environmental Color for Nike Headquarters. New York, NY (1975)

Reviews

• (2014). ”Where Art Meets Science” The Sun Herald
• (June 2007). “Round & Round Painter Rebecca Alston” The New York Sun
• (Sept. 2005). The MS Complete Entertainment Guide
• (Sept. 2002). “Alston’s Work on Exhibit” The Sun Herald
• Frank, Peter, (Oct. 1996). ”Constructivist Art Space 504” NY SOHO Arts Magazine
• Stephens, (Oct. 1993). “Alston Work on Display” The Sun Herald. Arts & Leisure
• Braff, Phyllis, (Aug. 1993). ”Rebecca Alston” The New York Times
• Long, Robert, (Aug. 1993). ”Works by Rebecca Alston” South Hampton Press
• (Spring 1992). ”Nagoya Design 92, Urban Art” International Public Design, Nagoya
• Monti, Lisa, (April/May 1991). ”Rebecca Alston” Mississippi Coast
• Luter Floyd, Neil, (Dec. 1990). ”Artist Builds Art on Architectural Foundation” The Clarion-Ledger
• (Dec. 1990). ”Ocean Springs Native Shows Art Exhibit” Ocean Springs Record
• (Dec. 1990). ”Alston Works on Display” The Sun Herald
• Warren, Leland E., (Nov. 1990). ”Artists Help Gallery Celebrate” The Manhattan Mercury
• (1987). The New York Sun
• “Notes on Soul of Being” Ionist Newsletter (London, England)
• New York Review of Art (3d Ed.)
• Payne, Ifan, (Jan. 1983). “Culture” The Manhattan Mercury
• Kinser, Jerry, (Jan. 1983). ”Native Ocean Springs Artist Doesn't Stand Still for Time” The Sun Magazine
• Chapman, Alan, (May 1982). ”Rebecca Alston” Forum Magazine (Kansas City Artists Coalition)
• Elliot, F. W., (April 1982). ”Women Artists” Forum Magazine (Kansas City Artists Coalition)

External Links

Rebecca Alston at the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art

Rebecca Alston at the Octavia Gallery

The Origin of an Artwork: Rebecca Alston

Rebecca Alston: Konstructiv.ist Exhibition

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION NO. 12: ART RESEARCH CENTER/A.R.C. GROUP 55TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

Rebecca Alston: The Art Research Center (ARC)

Rebecca Alston at the Mississippi Museum of Art

Rebecca Alston at Island Weiss

Energy, Agriculture, and the Environment: Dead Zones and the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

Rebecca Alston at Park Avenue Art 20 Expo. | The International Art Fair 1900 - Contemporary | Island Weiss

Rebecca Alston’s Urbanist Plan | Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

Elements of Change: Rebecca Alston and Allison Stewart

Art, Myths of the American Indian, and Significant Photographs

Artfacts - Rebecca Alston