Kiki Shu created Always & Forever, the warm, mustard-backed cover art for this issue. According to Shu, the artwork is “a digital illustration made with a limited, layered color palette; it was drawn on an iPad in Procreate.” I asked the artist some questions to learn more about their illustration and art practice. What were […]
“When I learned that this was going to be the summer cover, I immediately got excited thinking about bright summery colors, animal characters in sunglasses, and summertime treats like ice cream and lemonade,” explains Valerie Nelson, local graphic designer, illustrator, and visual artist who created this Summer Guide’s cover art. Drawing under a rainbow sherbert […]
Cover art: Gina Lerman, @lermworm IN THIS ISSUE
The surrealist illustrations of Olivia Lunger feel like viewing the world from a dream; a dream that’s fashioned from the illustrations of childhood, mixed with the uncanny visages of adulthood. Originally from Pennsylvania, Lunger graduated from RISD in 2022 and has been living in Providence for a year now and says her art is inspired […]
COVER ART BY MICKEY ZACCHILI mickeyz.org IN THIS ISSUE: What’s the Vibe: Cannabis Dispensaries in RI by Lenny Brennan – An overview of the seven dispensaries in RI, with cannabis writer Lenny Brennan asking each dispensary to explain what patrons can expect when visiting their dispensary for the first time. Hops and Hemp: A blunt […]
“Through my work, I can create this cultural connection with nature and the places around us,” says this month’s cover artist May Babcock. Babcock forages for inspiration and raw materials where land meets sea. On windswept shores, she wades through tidal pools and combs beaches, gathering cast-off treasures brought in with each alternating rush of […]
This month’s cover art created by Silvermoon Mars LaRose communicates a wealth of cultural and artistic information. It depicts a group of eight women gathered together and leaning into one another in a way that suggests community, support, and caring. The figures are surrounded by intricate patterns that start at their heads, flow down their […]
“The universe is so divine.” Savaree “Sav” Hazard-Chaney noted the synchronicity as she sat in a waiting room with a copy of Motif when I reached out to her about creating the cover art. Hazard-Chaney is many things – a fiber artist, the entrepreneur behind TuftxPVD, a wife, mom of four, a music-lover, a champion […]
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 […]
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 […]