Recovered Dreams & New Creations
Eric Lintala & Bruce Bailey
June 5 – June 27, 2026 | Opening reception: Fri, June 5, 5–7 pm | Artist Talk Sat, Jun 27, 1 pm
Some of the most enduring art ever made was carved and painted onto stone long before written language existed. This exhibit brings together two artists who, in very different ways, have spent years listening to those ancient voices — and answering them with work of their own.
About Eric Lintala
Eric Lintala is a sculptor and Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he taught for decades and helped shape generations of artists. Working in steel, bronze, stone, paper, and fiberglass, he has built a body of work rooted in a lifelong study of prehistoric rock art. His travels have taken him to ancient sites across the American Southwest and beyond, where he records the petroglyphs and pictographs left behind by early peoples — including a previously unrecorded rock art panel he documented in Utah's Salt Creek Canyon.
Lintala describes his sculpture as a narrative woven from human, cultural, and natural events of the past and present. The shapes and symbols he creates, he says, are echoes from the prehistoric past — a way of carrying forward observations and experiences that have shaped him. For Lintala, the work is about preservation as much as creation: many ancient carvings are slowly disappearing, and through contemporary materials like steel and bronze he keeps their forms of communication alive for new audiences. His sculpture has earned numerous awards and commissions, including the Holocaust Memorial in New Bedford's Buttonwood Park and the 9/11 Memorials in Acushnet and Westport.
About Bruce Bailey
Bruce Bailey came to his life as a full-time artist by way of an entirely different path. After a long career as a software engineer, he returned to the painting, printmaking, and sculpture that first captivated him in the 1960s and '70s. He works across oil, acrylic, charcoal, and wood, and often reaches for digital tools such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop — yet always preserves the gestural, hand-drawn spirit of his earliest work.
Bailey's images draw on ancient cultures, history, science, music, and literature, as well as the work of other artists. He tends to let a piece's meaning emerge as it develops rather than planning it in advance. He continued his studies at UMass Dartmouth, where he reconnected with his craft under the mentorship of Eric Lintala — a relationship that makes this shared exhibit especially meaningful.
A Shared Vision
What unites these two artists is a deep curiosity about the human past and the ways people have always used image and symbol to record their world. Teacher and former student, working in metal and on paper, Lintala and Bailey offer two distinct yet harmonious responses to the same ancient questions. We warmly invite you to spend time with their work, and to discover what these recovered dreams and new creations stir in you.
Admission is free, and all are welcome. Creativity gathers here.