Can art by Joey Visco Dogs and drafts? Is there any better way to celebrate yappy hour? If you are an animal and craft beer lover, this is an event you do not want to miss!...
Photo by Sindayiganza Photography. The FIFA World Cup tournament was full of thrills, drama, chaos, unity, and live television shots of devastated children in tears after their team lost a heartbreaking match. The final whistle brought...
Matthew Provençal as Thomas Andrews in ‘Titanic: The Broadway Musical’ at Bill Hanney's Theatre By The Sea July 23 – August 15, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. The challenge to staging a production of “Titanic: The...
The Tattoo Awards featured a gallery wall populated by local artists. Here is a selection of the artwork on display! By Brianne Elizabeth @foxhallowart By Victori Leo Riel Grab Your Heart & Go by Allie Boyer @peaceflowercreations MONSTROELIZASUE by...
Photo by Jess Lee Images. I met Lily Spencer in an acting class taught by Eric Lutes, whom many television fans will remember from the 1990s sitcom “Caroline in the City.” Eric, who now lives in...
Rachel WS. Favorite Animal/ Favorite Floral Tara D’Agostino – Iron Lion Tattoo By the numbers, Tara D’Agostino got her first tattoo at the age of 15, picked up her own tattoo machine at the age of 19, opened...
Photo by Jillian Clark. There’s no feeling quite like finally being able to fully step into your own, to truly embrace your whole self and carry yourself through the world with that mentality. Not an identity...
Kai Nanfelt. Okee dokee folks… Last weekend I went on a ten-hour, each way, road trip to play a show. The drive wasn’t so bad, but the music was horrible. As I have mentioned before, I...
Photo by Isaac Laliberte Wards 2, 9 and 12 all report the same. Mendez wins in each! It appeared that Providence was perfectly poised to usher-in its first female mayor in history. The polls were closed and...
“You’re late, Brother,” she said, hovering outside the weathered cottage near a pebbly beach, indistinguishable from the shadows cast by moonlight that hit the thick hydrangeas. It was late in the evening of a seawind-chilled...
The NecronomiCon is a biennial celebration of the works of HP Lovecraft and beyond, and throughout the genre of “weird fiction.” Centered in downtown Providence, it boasts four days of literary panels, readings from various...
It’s almost Cthulhu – pardon my hiccup, I meant, “election” – season again. And if the tactics of these times don’t make your head swim and your bowls ache, as if you were being eviscerated...
When cover artist Bob Eggleton of Warwick first got interested in art and started sketching nightmarish creatures, he recalls, an aunt asked him, “What’s drawing a monster gonna get you in life?” He’s spent the last...
Skyler Shields (Kenickie) and the cast of the Theatre By The Sea (Wakefield, RI) production of “Grease” running thru July 18, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop! A-wop-bam-boom!” BY ALISON O’DONNELL ON JUNE 27, 2026 Grease is the...
Isham, Sheila. Teth (#8 Creation Series). 1972. Acrylic spray on canvas. Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI. (Image courtesy of the Newport Art Museum.) Quite some time ago, I read a quip that the art of diplomacy...
As an international student a year into Rhode Island, yet still only a breath into America, I finally found a question that I might be able to answer – this is my continued exploration of: What...
Tucked inside the historic Harrison Steam Complex in Providence's Olneyville neighborhood, Siren Spirits is redefining what a visit to a distillery can be. Equal parts neighborhood gathering place, cocktail destination, and craft spirits experience, this...
Music makes beer taste better? In 2016, Vrije University in Brussels, Belgium, conducted a study that showed scientific evidence that music has an impact on our taste of beer. This study concluded that lower audible...
Cold Chocolate. Okee dokee folks… Well, summer is here and for me, summer is HELL! A few years back I wrote a song about my disdain of Summer for the Empire Revue’s “Cool” show. Here are...
America, the focus of this issue, runs on wealth. So here’s how to get yourself some. It’s the perfect opportunity to launch a new column aimed at helping non-one-percenters with financial matters. Feel free to...
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“Foreigner.” I find it a harsh word that I hate seeing applied to others. Yet applied to myself, it’s the only word that half conveys how baffling I find this country at times. I’d like...
In his final year at college, cover artist William Schaff truly learned what it was like to work in a studio. “I developed a course of study in general fine arts with one of my...
Rachael Warren as Diana. Photo by Mark Turek. The Next to Normal audience is exposed to waves of raw emotions drowning your soul and dampening your eyes. You may wish you had premedicated with any of...
Blaq Sav. Photos by Lillian MK Photography. Favorite Free Verse Spoken Word 2026 Ashley Hosa Sending out a big congrats to Ashley Hosa, who came to the Spoken Awards with a multitude of wonderful supporters (shoutout to Ryan!)....
The founder of the long-standing hipster-ish West Side restaurant Julians hadn’t been involved directly with the restaurant in quite some time. But his legacy persisted. A larger-than-life personality, you never knew at what event Julian...
Renowned supporter of local music and arts Lisa Gourley (Sometimes Lisa Gourleyx) passed away on June 15. Reading reactions on social media, you can’t help but notice how often the words “nice,” “kind,” and “photography”...
This beautiful Solstice moment, June 21, 2026 brings the winds of change into our lives. The pivotal points among the planetary movers and shakers of the Zodiac find Gemini, with Uranus and Ceres, reaching across...
By Olivia Lunger By Lillian MK Photography ...
Favorite Color Tattoo Evan Olin, Powerline Tattoo Runner-up: Luis Bold, Unicorn Ink Favorite Black & Gray Ryan Dowden, Dark Ritual Runner-up: Luis Bold, Unicorn Ink Favorite Black & Gray with Color Steven McDonough, Secret Safe Tattoo Runner-up: Rachel WS, Rachel WS Fine Art...
It was twenty years ago today… At the time, we could not have predicted it, but the launch of Motif Magazine in August 2004 might have been the lucky charm New England sports fans were waiting for. Over eight decades, the fall refrain for Red Sox fans was always the same. “Wait ‘til next year.” […]
Shady Acres Diner on Danielson Pike in Foster, Rhode Island, has been a long-time staple with fun, nostalgic ambiance. Offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner to locals and travelers alike, everyone is family here! “We survived COVID, having bought the diner from the original owners just a few months before COVID hit,” says proprietor Desi Wolf. […]
Jim Vickers started Motif Magazine in 2004. He started Motif to give voice to marginalized groups of underrepresented Rhode Islanders. Vickers agreed to write an article for our special 20th anniversary edition. This is his story. In the beginning, there was the NewPaper and Nice Paper. It was a friendly rivalry between Rhode Island-based alternative […]
Throughout our 20-year history, our commitment to the local arts community has never wavered. Even today, you can open any issue of Motif Magazine and see elements of art, music, and culture on almost every page. It’s one of the things we’re most proud of as an organization. This commitment starts from the very first […]
A woman stands on the edge of a balcony overlooking the city. Blocky brick buildings squat underneath golden spires with great clocks; cobblestones wobble the edges of distinct lines, ivory grows up the alleyway, and the few distinctly new, sleek metal buildings catch the last rays of light like a gold tooth in an old […]
It doesn’t feel real that the Motif is turning 20. Sometimes, it feels like I’ve been writing for Motif for a hundred years. Other times, it seems like I started last month. When I started, about 19 years ago, I was writing for another “alternative” paper called The Agenda. It was around for a couple […]
As you may know, I am brewing a beer with Vigilant Brewery for Motif’s 20th Anniversary. I presented this project in December of 2022 to Motif and Vigilant Brewing. During this time, I have committed my Saturdays to learning how to brew beer at Vigilant Brewing with the help of Vigilant’s brewers John Otero, Chris […]
After 12 years of occasionally trying and false starts, we are finally releasing an official Motif beer. Co-brewed by our very own mistress of beer writing, Kelly Currier, under the tutelage of John Otero at Vigilant Brewing in Bristol, Liquid Art is dedicated to all the arts Little Rhody produces, from the culinary to the […]
Stray Love is RI native Stacey Caputi Liakos’ compelling and candid memoir in which she recounts her decade-long relationship with Ray-Ray, a charismatic bad-boy and drug hustler, and wrestles with her realization that life – and the pull of the heart – is not always within her control. In a conversational tone akin to swapping […]
For political enthusiasts looking for fact-based rationalism in our hyper-polarized political climate, this film represents a breath of fresh air on the horizon. At the intersection of sanity and racial intellectualism, the documentary Dr. Ira Raid Haverford College’s Unsung Scholar and Activist comes to Newport this month. The documentary was screened this spring at the […]
