Valentine’s Collage
We here at Motif are blushing after receiving the following Valentine’s in the mail, made out of old copies of the magazine. Check out the work below!
Subterranean Jungle: Heaven is wherever we can get together
I disappeared for a couple of months and the world ended. Legends have left us, notably Shane MacGowan and Robert “Balcony Bob” McBride. MacGowan once tried to drive his tour bus into Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel when it was at the Peerless Building for his stage entrance. Balcony Bob worked for over 30 years to keep […]
On the Cover: Jordan Seaberry
In 1968, The Beatles released one of the most highly regarded albums in popular music, The White Album. And in 2003, Jay-Z, in stark contrast, released his magnum opus, The Black Album. We associate a blackwash with things somber and final. But Motif’s Black History Month Issue is anything but. Featuring the artwork of Jordan […]
Repaving History
It’s 1875, a year before Edward Mitchell Bannister becomes the first Black painter to win a nationally recognized award. He and his wife Christiana Carteaux Bannister are taking a slow stroll down Westminster St. towards the bridge crossing the Woonasquatucket River. They are coming from her salon, where she operates as a successful “hair-doctress” for […]
The Past, Cast in Bronze: What happens when we allow white people to tell Black stories?
Last summer, a statue of a bronze man sitting alone on a bench appeared in PVD’s Market Square. Although he can’t introduce himself, his bench bears his name: Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901). If you aren’t familiar with Bannister, you likely know the Providence Art Club, which he helped found. During his life, Bannister was considered […]
Ocean State of the Arts: The Steel Yard’s Winter Residency Exhibition brings a human touch to industrial materials
I enter the Pawtucket Art Collaborative‘s gallery in Lorraine Mills and look at the art filling the room. It’s still early in the evening and the show’s energy is beginning to buzz. It doesn’t take long for Islay Taylor, The Steel Yard‘s associate director, to introduce herself. Taylor is friendly, despite the air of danger […]
Anti-Robot, Pro-People: Anti-Robot Club provides an opportunity for creatives while expanding its brand
Anti-Robot Club (ARC) is a community that is constantly looking to expand and provide new opportunities for creatives to display their talents and reach a wider audience. Their tagline states they are “dedicated to the preservation of mankind through a series of social gatherings and creative campaigns.” The marketplaces they host throughout the year feature […]
On the Cover: How to bake a cake, Charlotte Collins-style
Charlotte Collins had never painted a real cake before. Last November, the Providence-based artist baked a vanilla, gluten-free cake topped with the neon-pink pills prescribed for their chronic migraines. They staged a photoshoot for their creation, and painted the resulting images. “All the cakes I’ve painted before are fake cakes.” I was only nominally familiar […]
On the Cover: Kelly Knight
Assemblage is art made by assembling disparate elements, often everyday objects. Collage describes both the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, and other ephemera are arranged and adhered to a surface. Automatism refers to creating art without conscious thought, accessing material from the unconscious mind as part of […]
PAINTING THE GALAXY: A profile with the worldly artist Antoni
The day begins its descent into night; city shadows stretch like taffy as the sun sinks below the horizon. Antoni walks the darkening roads underneath the show of apartment windows lighting up like notes on a keyboard. A black cat slinks by, disappearing into the shadowy room behind a dumpster. The sun is replaced by […]