Aldrich's artistic career began as an
architect in
New York City, New York in 1933 with his uncle,
Chester Holmes Aldrich, at
Delano & Aldrich. After his time in New York, he spent two years in
Washington DC at the
US Treasury Department. In 1937 he became a partner in the architectural firm of
Kent & Aldrich in
Providence, RI. He later opened a private architectural firm and became the head city planner for the City of
Providence. He retained his interest in
watercolor painting throughout his life, studying at the O'Hara School, the Positano Workshop, the
Rhode Island School of Design and attending figure study classes every week at the
Providence Art Club, where he was a life member. In the 1960s he was owner and director of Art Unlimited, a gallery on
Thayer Street in
Providence, Rhode Island that exhibited contemporary art from artists such as
Hazel Belvo,
Lawrence Kupferman, and
Baburao Sadwelkar. Aldrich had numerous one-man exhibitions, notably at the
Providence Art Club, the Rhode Island Watercolor Society, and the Gallery on the Commons in
Little Compton, Rhode Island. He also exhibited in many group shows in those galleries as well as the
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Rhode Island Arts Festival,
DeCordova Museum, Virginia Lynch Gallery, Wheeler Gallery and others. His work received many awards and is represented in numerous private and corporate collections. A watercolor he did of the
Gordon School's campus still graces that school's diplomas. Up until his death he devoted himself entirely to his painting. As one critic wrote: “His view is always fresh and unhackneyed, his brush is deft, his strokes swift and colors translucent and unmuddied – the paper often does the majority of the work…a sort of artistic shorthand that can make water color really exciting.” Aldrich said that his work was “an expression of the essence of my feelings toward the subject in color, line, and space.” ==References==