“I thought I was gonna be a drummer in a rock band and go on tour and sell CDs,” Andrew Hlynsky tells me, laughing at how absurd he thinks his admission sounds. So he went to The New School in New York to hone his practice. “I got totally wrecked because New York is intense. […]
Art + Activism = artivism. And these artivists are coming from The Womxn Project, a non-profit organization focused on building a feminist, community-based movement to further human rights. Their form of artivism is to display words on businesses around Rhode Island to send a message – one that the community is feeling and one that […]
PVDFest is an annual event that typically transforms The Creative Capital into a boisterous celebration of art and culture. Unfortunately, the dumpster fire that is 2020 necessitated its cancellation this summer. But PVDFest’s commitment to public art hasn’t wavered. People out taking a socially distanced stroll through the city’s streets might have noticed three pieces […]
We spoke with Howard Schulman, MD, whose photography show, My Rhode Island, is currently on exhibit at BankRI in downtown Providence through September. Cathren Housley (Motif): Which came first, the photographer or the doctor? Howard Schulman: As far as composing pictures and capturing things I’ve seen, that was definitely something that started after I became […]
Public art is meant to inspire conversation, and What Cheer Writers Club and The Avenue Concept recently teamed up to formalize that exchange in an event called Ecstatic Ekphrastic. The two arts organizations selected four pieces of Avenue Concept-installed art — “Condemned” by Richard Goulis, “Misty Blue” by Andrew Hem, “Night Flight” by Lauren YS […]
It was a love of animals that inspired Susan Joseph to found the New England Humane Society in 2013. Since then, Joseph has gathered a group of dedicated workers who share her mission: to rescue animals from euthanasia at overcrowded facilities and to care for abandoned and homeless animals in need until they find their […]
“Bee Violet” is an outdoor art installation on PVD’s Empire Street that was created by Allison Newsome and Deborah Spears Moorehead. Its patented design, a symbolic metal fish combined with a growing vegetable garden, redefines what is possible aesthetically and environmentally with art. “It was made on a wing and a prayer,” says Newsome, referencing […]
After a June night of violence in PVD, many downtown business owners covered their surviving windows with plywood to protect them from being broken during anticipated protests. Local artists beautified the display by using the panels as blank canvases where portraits of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and messages of peace and justice emerged. The […]
Christine Cho is interested in “the power of the collective (people and images) and performativity’s relation to personal and historical narratives.” There is no doubt that Christine’s work is in conversation with what it means to be visible — the two characters in “Do Si Do” confront the viewer with direct eye contact, and one […]
The toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on our economy has been as debilitating as the disease itself, and some of the hardest hit were those who worked in creative fields. As the shut downs began, performance artists watched bookings disappear, teaching artists saw workshops and residencies cancelled, galleries were forced to close their […]