Wickford Art Association Scholarship Program Applications due February 21

March is Youth Art Month and in celebration, The Wickford Art Association (WAA) will present its annual Scholarship Fund awards to three Rhode Island public high school senior art students with a fourth award presented by the Rhode Island Art Educators Association in March.

Each Rhode Island public high school chooses one college-bound senior art student for consideration. The four winning students will receive cash scholarships in the amounts of $1,500, $1,000, $500 and with a fourth award from Rhode Island Art Education Association of $500 to use towards college. Winners also receive a one-year membership to WAA, a fine art exhibit in our gallery and exhibit space at the 57th Wickford Art Festival, ranked the #7 fine art festival in the country. This is an excellent, resume-building opportunity for college bound students. Interested students should speak with their art teachers about submitting their portfolio for consideration.

The 2019 WAA Scholarship Program application may be downloaded at http://wickfordart.org/scholarship-program-exhibit-and-awards-ceremony/ [wickfordart.org]

Application submission period ends February 21, 2019.

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Rhode Island Cultural Anchor: Meredith Stern

Meredith Stern is a ceramicist and printmaker living in Providence. She is a member of the international group The Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative. She is RISCA’s 2019 drawing & printmaking fellow.

We asked her a few questions about her life and art-making in Rhode Island for our series, Rhode Island Cultural Anchors.

RISCA: Give us a brief overview of your day yesterday- what did you do in both your personal and professional life.

MS: My typical work day in the winter begins by bringing wood inside for our woodstove and drinking coffee. I usually spend some time answering emails and managing other administrative issues. I’ll cook a lunch at home and then work on creating new work. Sometimes this means cutting up old prints and creating collages from them, other times it means drawing a new print onto a slab of linoleum or printing an image onto paper. I pick up our child from daycare in the afternoon and I often invite one of his friends over. Once my husband finishes work at 6, we have dinner as a family – usually cooking at home- and sometimes go on an adventure together. A walk outside, going to the playground, or when the weather is lovely, working in our backyard garden.

RISCA: How did you end up in Rhode Island?

MS: I visited Rhode Island in August of 2005 to visit some friends and we drove to the beach and I fell in love with the salty air and the feel of the sand between my toes. I had been living in New Orleans for 7 years and there were no nearby places to swim in clean water. I was enthralled with the fact that we could get to the ocean in Rhode Island in less than one hour, so I decided to move in with my friends for a couple months. That visit turned into me now living her for 14 years.

RISCA: Why do you do what you do? What inspires you, drives you, to create or enable the creation of art?

MS: I am inspired by people and our need to communicate and to connect with each other. Artistic expression can allow people to connect through non-word based language which allows for subtlety, for emotions, for dreams to be shared through sound, texture, color, or touch. I think art can be many things to many people – it can communicate what is present but also who and what we can be. Art can allow us to think differently, to explore different possibilities, and to explore how our society can change and how we can be better. Much of my art explores history, social movements, family connections, and mutual aid and cooperation.

RISCA: What is one thing you think the art community in Rhode Island needs?

MS: I think our society as a whole needs to work to undo institutional inequality, specifically racism, sexism, transphobia; which means so does the arts communities. Nationally, white men have been over represented, celebrated, and rewarded in museums, galleries, etc. It’s essential that we acknowledge our historic biases, and work to correct it. This can include many efforts, including retelling art history from the perspective of those who have historically been marginalized or ignored. We can highlight artists and hire administrators in our museums, galleries, and other cultural centers who reflects the diversity of perspectives of people living in our city of various ethnicities and genders.  Another example is a custom that has been being adopted by cultural and educational institutions of land acknowledgements of the indigenous inhabitants of the land. I’ve seen this done in the University of Connecticut, and I’d like to see institutions in Rhode Island adopting this practice as well. There’s a lot of work to do to address systemic inequality, these are just a couple examples.

RISCA: What is the biggest challenge for you in your art life?

MF: Time. I used to spend 10 – 12 hours locked in my studio 5-6 days a week. Now we have a three-year-old and I have less time and need to budget my time better. I have less time to wander through the stacks at the library or get lost in the woods by myself. I think I am more efficient with my time, but sometimes miss the ability to lose myself in a book or random adventure for a day or two.

Rhode Island Cultural Anchor: Harrison Grigsby

Harrison Grigsby, aka Jon Hope, is a multidisciplinary hip hop artist and educator. He teaches at Roger Williams University, focusing on hip hop and urban culture and art, and the intersection with community development. He is the 2019 RISCA Fellow in Music Composition.

We asked him a few questions about his life and art-making in Rhode Island for our series, Rhode Island Cultural Anchors.

RISCA: What do you love about the art community/scene in Rhode Island?

HG: I love the counter stories and the counterculture here that is slowly but surely getting louder with their voice. There are so many stories that weren’t being heard and now we are creating our own outlets, spaces, and opportunities for those stories to be told. That’s a dope feeling.

RISCA: Why do you make Rhode Island your home, and how did you end up here?

HG: I was born and raised in Providence. I’ve had the opportunity to live in other major cities (ATL, Brooklyn, Richmond) but there is something about the cultural melting pot that is Providence and the niche things that you can engage in in short proximity. The Liberians, Dominicans, Haitians, Southeast Asians, Nigerians, and more communities are all neighbors with something to contribute – especially food!

RISCA: What is one thing, personal or professional, that you or (if applicable) your organization want to accomplish in the next year?

HG: I want to share my art and my voice on a larger scale. Rhode Island has given me the support and confidence to scale up and share it with the world. Furthermore, I would like Hip Hop culture to have a stronger presence in the academic space. This is why I started the Hope Scholars Initiative – to leverage Hip Hop’s impact to engage students in a much more sensible way when it comes education.

RISCA: What is one thing you think the art community in Rhode Island needs?

HG: We need to invest in our own. I see so many events being curated under the guise of Rhode Island/Providence centric art but it’s out of towners or transplants who are predominantly featured. Furthermore, we need to properly compensate and value the homegrown artistry and artists. The more that we celebrate HOMEGROWN through adequate showcasing and compensation, the more we will truly thrive.

RISCA: What is the biggest challenge for you in your art life?

HG: The biggest challenge is honestly securing adequate funding. I want to increase visibility and continue to connect with allies and organizations who value the impact of Hip Hop culture. There’s still a community of people who see Hip Hop still as a novelty or other. They’re in for an enlightenment because Hip Hop is going to be here whether they accept it or not. That’s always the spirit and energy that we rely on.

You can follow Jon Hope on instagram, twitter, and facebook. Check out his single, Eat!

Apply for Mabel Art Residency at Norman Bird Sanctuary

In September 2019, the Norman Bird Sanctuary will be hosting their inaugural artist residency in Middletown, RI. The residency will provide time and space for artists of exceptional talent to make work inspired by the rich history and breathtaking landscape of the area called Paradise Valley. The residency provides exclusive use of a studio on the sanctuary property, private accommodations in the Paradise Farmhouse, and three meals a day for up to four weeks. There are no residency fees. Artists will need to cover their own transportation to/from the residency and bring any supplies necessary for their work.

They are accepting applications from artists working in the following disciplines: architecture, dance,  film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, music composition, and visual arts. They welcome mid-career as well as established artists to apply. Applicants who are enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs as of the date of application are ineligible for a residency and therefore cannot apply.

For more information, click here.

Public Art Information

The Rhode Island State Council On the Arts has created a Google folder that contains information on public art. If you’d like to learn more about the Allocation For Public Facilities Act, RISCA’s process of selection or to see some samples of public art proposals that were selected, click here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Jxb7jx2ASEfQmcXVH_c5QJCgzuRWev0l?usp=sharing

All of RISCA’s public art projects can be seen on the Public Art Archive website: https://www.publicartarchive.org/. Just type “Rhode Island State Council On the Arts” into the search bar.

All of RISCA’s Requests For Qualifications can be seen on the callforentry.org website:https://www.callforentry.org/. Just type “Rhode Island” into the search bar.

For further information, contact Elizabeth.Keithline@arts.ri.gov.

 

Rhode Island Cultural Anchor: Veronica Mays

Veronica Mays began quilting in 2004, and got serious quilt fever in 2015. She is based in Portsmouth, RI and works to preserve African-American heritage and history, as well as her family’s history, through her quilts. She received a Project Grant for Individuals last year to create quilts celebrating African American history, as well as demonstrations, classes, and public showings of these pieces.

We asked her a few questions about her life and art making in Rhode Island for our new series, Rhode Island Cultural Anchors.

RISCA: Give us a brief overview of your day yesterday – what did you do in both your personal and professional life.

VM: Yesterday I went to church, then entertained my Aunt Marsha who is visiting from California – I took her out for a lobster roll. After that, I prepared lessons for my week as an English teacher and got my clothes, lunches and thoughts together. I took a long leisurely nap, which I regretted because I woke up at four in the morning – tossing and turning for an hour. I woke up and cooked three nights worth of dinner – baked chicken wings, steak and onions, a big pot of yellow eyed-beans, oven fries, broccoli, and fried monk fish. When I was done with these obligations, I returned to the love of my art life – quilting. I prepped three quilted post cards, created a Barack Obama quilt pattern, and continued to spread material all over the living room, two bedrooms, and the dining room table.

RISCA: Why do you make Rhode Island your home, and how did you end up here?

VM: I was born and raised in Newport in 1961. I have lived in three far away places – Long Beach, California, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Naples, Italy – but I always return home.

RISCA: What are you the most excited about right now in your art practice?

VM: When it comes to quilting I am like a kid in a candy store! This year I learned several new (to me) techniques including multi-media collage, fabric painting, quilted post cards, bottles and blooms, and accidental landscapes. However, the quilted post cards have taken on a life of their own.

RISCA: What is the biggest challenge for you in your art life?

VM: The biggest challenge is having to put my supplies away so that my family can have the space to use for its original intended purpose! This creates a wrinkle in my fluidity.

RISCA:What Rhode Island artists and/or arts organizations most inspire you and why?

VM: I am inspired by URI Professor Robert Dilworth. He is an art professor, painter, and has recently become an incredible quilter. In addition, I love two organizations I am a part of: Quilter’s By the Sea and Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). Both of these organizations expose me to artists and techniques that enhance my skills and creativity.

See more of Veronica’s work on facebook or instagram, and catch her at the Broadway Street Fair in Newport on October 6th.

Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship

The Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) program was launched in 2007 to provide outstanding visual artists from across the world a unique opportunity to work with Smithsonian museums, research sites, collections, and scholars, so they may conduct research that inspires new artwork. SARF Fellows spend one to two months in residence at the Smithsonian immersed in its unparalleled collections and multidisciplinary scholarly expertise, building connections between art, science, history and culture. The program embodies the depth and breadth of the Smithsonian. Fellows have studied not only what is on view in the Smithsonian’s nineteen museums and National Zoo, but also the vast collections in non-public areas, libraries, archives, gardens, laboratories, storage facilities and field sites in the U.S. and abroad.

This unique residency offers creative collaboration in a dynamic environment. It brings together Smithsonian scholars and distinguished visual artists from a variety of disciplines throughout the United States and abroad to explore cross-disciplinary connections. It allows the Smithsonian a unique opportunity to see the collections and resources in different ways. It inspires new directions and creative expression for both artists and Smithsonian staff. It strengthens the arts community within the Smithsonian and broadens public interest in and understanding of contemporary art. SARF fellowships are explicitly for artist research and do not require recipients to create or exhibit artwork.

For more information, click here.

Rhode Island Cultural Anchor: Eric Bennett

Eric Bennett is a Providence based writer and Associate Professor of English at Providence College. He is this year’s fiction fellowship recipient, for his novel Make Yourself Decent.

We asked him a few questions about his life and art making in Rhode Island for our new series, Rhode Island Cultural Anchors.

 

RISCA: Give us a brief overview of your day yesterday – what did you do in both your personal and professional life.

EB: After dinner I polished a 250-word endorsement of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man for the student newspaper at Providence College; googled clips of the Chinese internet celebrity HoneyCC; read about Meitu apps that transform Shanghai selfies into universal fantasies of perfection and drive the booming business in plastic surgery in Chengdu; kept trying to record a MIDI part for “Broke My Heart on You” for the forthcoming Hopper album, Hopperesque; and typed up some notes on William F. Buckley’s God and Man at Yale.

RISCA: What Rhode Island artist or arts organization most inspires you?

EB: The painter Todd Ingham, now in exile in Oregon City, was an undervalued civic marvel throughout the years he roved the streets sorting plastic, gluing memory boards, painting the beauty in defunct bridges and saggy wires, and postulating how the divine delight of numbers, coursing invisibly all around us, structured reality, including the street plan of Elmwood.

RISCA: What do you love about the art community/scene in Rhode Island?

EB: On Monday and Thursday nights you can walk from your apartment in the West End to band practice at the Wurks. On Tuesday night you can walk an even shorter distance to your writing group, comprised of brilliant, serious writers, meeting just off Dexter Field. On Wednesday night you can drive down to Cranston and drink a beer with Andy Davis at subModern Studios as he runs punk vocals through a wurlitzer and humors your affection for Bob Seger’s “Fire Lake.” On Friday, at Ada Books (also a short walk) you can browse comics drawn by locals, then head over to an opening at RISD or a play at The Players on Benefit Street. On Saturday afternoon you can chat with Mike Samos at Empire Guitar about what the band Geraldine’s up to. Do I sound like a promotional magazine? Who cares? This place is the best!

RISCA: What is one thing you think the art community in Rhode Island needs?

EB: Authentic German rouladen.

You can read more about Eric at ericbennett.org, and catch him at Writers Night during the Fellowship Exhibition at the Warwick Center for the Arts in March 2019!

Providence Public Library Announces 2019 Creative Fellowship: Call for Proposals

Providence Public Library is now accepting applications for the 2019 Creative Fellowship. The 2019 Creative Fellow will create new, original work in the field of creative writing (poetry, fiction, playwriting, creative nonfiction, etc.) related to the topic of the evolving built environment, as part of the Library’s 2019 exhibition and program series.  Application is open to practicing artists 16 years of age or older.  Application materials are due by 5 p.m., October 1.

Providence Public Library offers an annual Creative Fellowship for an artist to create new work with a topical tie-in to the library’s exhibition and program series. Creative Fellows perform in-depth research in our historical collections, using images and text as source material and/or inspiration.

The 2019 exhibition and program series will explore Providence’s evolving built environment. The exhibition will focus on the histories of vacant places and open space throughout the city. Our eyes often pass over vacant space, rendering it all-but-invisible in the profuse urban landscape. What are the stories of these nothing-spaces, these overgrown lots, parking spaces, crumbling foundations, and fields, and what urban processes left them unoccupied? As PPL’s building is currently undergoing an extensive renovation, this exhibition will take place primarily off-site, utilizing site-specific installations and a digital tour featuring maps, photographs, and information gleaned from PPL’s Special Collections.

For more information, click here.

New England States Touring Grants due August 1st

NEST (New England States Touring) funds presentations of New England-based performing artists from outside of a presenter’s state.

NEST grants are awarded through a competitive selection process. Grants are available in amounts of up to 50% of the artists’ fees, and typically range from $400 to $4,000. Requests below $400 will not be accepted. Artists’ fees may include costs for creation of new work, travel, and per diem.

Grant amounts are based on:

• The artist’s fee.
• How well the project meets the funding criteria below (applicants who receive the highest scores receive the maximum amount, which is 50% of the artist’s fee).

For more information, click here.