URI Feinstein Providence Campus

URI Feinstein Providence Campus Arts and Culture Program Presents:

Weaving Providence Together

curated by Jan Doyle, David Lima and Richard Muto

Selected fiber works by the weavers, spinners, and dyers of the Octagon House. The Octagon House is located in Carolina, RI and houses the Carolina Fiber and Fiction Center which offers a master weaving program under Jan Doyle, spinning instruction with Richard Muto, and for those who desire to spin their yarns with words Grace Farrell leads "Tuesdays at 10", a lively and supportive creative writing class.

When looking at this window on Washington Street, please also go inside to see the URI Providence Campus 1^st and 2^nd floor Gallery, 80 Washington Street Providence

Hours: M-TH 9-9, F&S 9-4 closed Sunday (evening and weekend summer hours may vary)

For more information: 

 uri.artsandculture@gmail.com  www.uri.edu/prov/arts

Fulton Street

Samantha Fields

Triptych with 206,720 beads
recovered afghan, beads, 11’h x 7’w x2.5’d

About the Work

The work often begins with salvaged afghans. Reminiscent of a near past, the afghan isnostalgic but not ‘beautiful.’ It is often 
‘garish’ in color and made from synthetic acrylic yarn; so while it is hand-made and a reminder of the domestic, it is also reminiscent of mass production and industrialization. The afghan is kitsch, considered lowbrow living at the bottom of the hierarchy of taste as well as the hierarchy of craft. It is imbued with the culture of daily life, referring to our humanness in both its making and use. As a multimedia fiber artist, I engage with, weaving, beading, embroidery, crochet, and sewing as both an aesthetic and conceptual strategy. Through these modes of making, I explore different
social constructs associated with the decorative: gender, class, professional/hobbyist, the hierarchical categories of taste and morality, and craft and art.

About the Artist

For more information about Samantha Fields work, please go to samanthafields.com

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Eddy Street

Corey Grayhorse

Imaginary Reality

rainbow hair, wallpaper, color photographs, white hair, paper

About the Work & the Artist

I was born in Sunny Los Angeles, California in 1980 and found

 myself later relocating to Providence, Rhode Island in 2001. In being a native Californian I feel both my culture and environment have strongly influenced my art. My desire to capture imaginative composition led me to a study of photography throughout all of high school and later at Santa Monica College. There, I gained a much needed knowledge of the structure and science of photographic arts. After gaining a strong foundation I began to infuse my work with the color and flavor of my eclectic and eccentric imag

ination.

My work is contemporary and studied; everything is by design. A wide-ranging influence of styles in art, photography, fashion, creative locations, and set design, as well as traditional and pop culture inform my perspective. My trademarks of color, composition, and lighting are apparent as consistent threads throughout my work. All of these serve as a strong narrative in each piece.

Attention to detail and artful manipulation of the medium elevate my work beyond just photography. This process involves the     creation of building sets, designing costumes and scouting unique locations. Each element is thought out and carefully placed as part of the story. In a sense, these sets and locations are installations and a platform for performance art constructed and acted solely by myself and my subjects. Through the addition of characters, my portraits show a deep interest in the human expression. Through the lens I create strange beauty and satire, eliciting emotional and social responses. Frozen in time through photography, the work becomes a window into a fantastic dream world, drawing my 

audience in.

In my world I take these icons from their original context and superimpose them into a new one, contrasting the traditional with the contemporary at times. My images are fresh and lively, and it is clear that I have as much fun making them, as the spectator has viewing them.

For more about the artist.

203 Westminster Street

William Schaff

Embroidered Jackets

embroidery floss on jackets

About the Work

....a little bit about the jackets....

Two examples of my seeing if I could do this embroidery thing. A lovely way to not feel like I am wasting time if I am watching television. The Pieta piece is just me tackling a traditional, and beautiful, subject in art. While the “Chop Chop” patch is a now retired jacket from my earlier days in the What Cheer? Brigade. Providence’s own 20 piece renegade brass band.

About the Artist

Warren, R.I., artist, William Schaff is a mess. Much of his art deals with debt and loss, as well as the consequences of, and responses to, human violence. Stories from the Old Testament and memories learned from The Holocaust are recurrent in his work. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, Schaff has exhibited and lectured at numerous institutions including the United States Air Force Academy, the Rhode Island School of Design, Amherst College, and East Carolina University. With all that said, he manages to create lots of artwork for different folk. From private commissions, gallery exhibits, and fine authors, to such notable independent musicians as Okkervil River, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Songs: Ohia, and many more. The boy has chops! Chops and debt! Working hard at avoiding debt collectors and making as much art as possible before they catch up with him, this rascal is just trying to keep his lights on, his car insured and his mortgage paid. Well, one out of three ain’t bad..God Bless you, William Schaff

For more information about the work of William Schaff, please go to 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Schaff

https://www.flickr.com/photos/samsa1973/

191 Westminster Street

Ricky Katowicz

Windfalls or: What Passes Through The Needle’s Eye

Crinoline, thread, paper, paint, fabric, filler, bucket, bottle, syringe

About the Work

The large stitched portraits represent the moment in time that Amanda Clayton, Urooj Khan, and Abraham Shakespeare each received a substantial monetary prize by result of playing the lottery. The bucket, bottle, and syringe symbolize the tragic end that each faced shortly after winning. The glittering pillows are meant to signify the excitement of easy money while simultaneously relating, in form, to the stones of Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, The Lottery.

About the Artist

Ricky spends late evenings in his basement studio, using the sewing machine as a drawing tool. In addition, he creates noise and visuals for an experimental group called Wind & Ghosts, performs with an international puppet troupe called Big Nazo, and spends every day designing girls toys for Hasbro. He lives in Cranston, RI with his wife, daughter, cockatiel, and dwarf hamster. His work can be seen at his personal blog, in the Todd Oldham board book - Sundance Film Festival A-Z, and on toy shelves around the world.

For more about Ricky's work, please go here.

Rhode Island Housing

Community Prep Collaborative Piece

Collaborative Observations of the Ordering Principles 
of Symmetry, Geometry, and Nature 
(a Kaleidoscopic Research Investigation, Pilot II)

Materials: acrylic paint, ink, paper, graphite, and wood panel

About the Work & the Artists

Amy Leidtke, Janine A. Lee, and the fifth grade class at Community Preparatory School, including, Sophia-Joy Agbelese, Amida Akpan, Tessah Almonacy, Maeve Collins, Lesley Flores, Quincy Griffin, David Gutierrez, Ger Lee, Tamira Lopes, Yasira Paulino, Deijah Prak-Preaster, Jalia Ramos, Robert Rosas, Gianny Santos, Carina Santos, Irca Sian, Jasper Summers

This collaborative artwork was created by seventeen G5 
Community Preparatory School students, along with Arts Educator, Janine A. Lee and Master Teaching Artist | Industrial Designer | Educator, Amy Leidtke. It represents the culmination of a multiple phase project, developed to activate children’s minds and hands in meaningful academically integrated curriculum that is engaging, fun, and creative.


For more about Community Prep and this project, please go to:

http://www.communityprep.org/schoollife/creativearts.html

http://www.amyleidtke.com

More reflections from the students and instructors:

Student Reflection: “This experience changed the way I look at the world. You realize how many shapes and details there are everywhere. If you look closer at your surroundings there’s a whole other world of shapes and colors that you can’t imagine. I didn’t know what I was capable of and Ms. Amy and Ms. Lee helped me find what I could do. The geometry that was mixed in help me comprehend shapes more. …(This project) helped me feel like I was doing a great job and (gave) me confidence.” – Maeve, Grade 5

Art Teacher's Reflection: “Amy initiated us working together and I have been grateful and fortunate to welcome her into my creative arts classroom ever since. She is an exceptional artist and designer. She provides my students with the opportunity to interact with a professional who views them as young artists she can inspire and who can inspire her. Amy is a guiding force who leads us to inquiry, investigation, exploration and discovery. Through working with her have we been exposed to the world of design thinking, process and work; sharing that with others both within and outside of our school community. Every project exchange with Amy is a valuable, rewarding and unforgettable experience. It is through RISCA funding that these experiences are possible for Community Preparatory School.” – Janine A. Lee, Community Preparatory School Arts Educator

Master Teaching Artist's Reflection: “As a professional industrial design practitioner, artist, and RISD faculty member, one of my goals is to practice ‘community-engaged scholarship’ (Boyer, 1996). [1] I believe this work, which is focused on researching and designing academically integrated arts curriculum and products, in the pursuit of producing educational ‘gifts’, is an important way to positively impact the lives of young citizens in Rhode Island.

Children benefit from access to practicing artists and designers, and I am happy that my background, education, faculty position, and research interests make it possible for me to serve in this role.  Children need greater access to opportunities to experience the arts in meaningful and multidisciplinary ways.

It is remarkably rewarding to co-create things with children and teachers! Janine is easy to work with and an amazingly capable and multidisciplinary arts educator. She is great with her students, patient, firm, and caring. The collaborative partnership that we developed together over the past several years is one that I highly value. She has been so generous to welcome me into her classroom, an environment that I consider to be crucial to the successful development of my work, as a designer and as an artist. 

It is important to note that the experiences we create in her arts classroom at Community Preparatory School are partially supported by RISCA funding. The funding for this particular project partially covered time and materials. Thank you to RISCA for helping to support this form of work.” – Reflection from Amy Leidtke

Photo credit: Amy Leidtke

Spring and Summer 2014

Spring and summer will bring color, beaded, threaded, embroidered, shredded and blinged out textiles to downtown Providence for the warm walking and viewing months of Providence Art Windows. Artists committed so far are Corey Grayhorse, Samantha Fields and Ricky Katowicz. Corey Grayhorse illustrates “nail culture” with her multimedia installation of her signature photography on Eddy Street within Two Brothers Beauty Supply. Corey worked with the owner of Two Brothers in utilizing supplies of rainbow hair extensions to round out her piece. Ricky Katowicz machine embroiders tales of lottery highs and lows at 191 Westminster Street. Samantha Fields dis-assembles a rainbow afghan, a symbol of kitsch and elevates it with threading  with 206,720 beads. Installations start popping up
April 7th and continue through the month of May, and lasting through September. More information and a map to follow, updated as new installations and committed artists appear.