The Rhode Island School of Design is one of the country's leading art schools and it has a museum to match this lauded reputation. Located on colonial Benefit Street, RISD museum traces the history of art from antiquity to the present day through more than 85,000 works of art from all over the world. There are also collections showing Providence's history as a manufacturing center for silver, but the main galleries are categorized as follows: The Grand Gallery, Early Renaissance & Medieval, Ancient Greek & Roman, Contemporary & Modern and Decorative Arts & Design.
The Providence Art Club is the second oldest clubhouse of this kind in the United States after the famous Salgamundi Art Club in New York. The galleries and exhibitions support artists around the greater New England region and all are open to the public. Some of the exhibits include photography, assembled prints, film, sculpture and much, much more. It's better to visit during the week as opposed to weekends when it's only open for two hours.
Tape Art is a group of artists dedicated to making temporary public art pieces and designing curriculum that makes the benefits of collaborative art-making accessible to everyone. As pioneers of drawing with tape, we have been exploring the artistic and social applications of the medium on the walls of cities, schools, corporations, healing centers, and correctional facilities since 1989. Call us today!
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Cited by the [ Providence Journal ] in 1997 as "the most popular work of art created in the capital city's 371-year history" and by Friedrich St. Florian as the "crown jewel of the Providence renaissance, " WaterFire continues to grow and gain in popularity. Barnaby Evans created First Fire in 1994 as a commission to celebrate the tenth anniversary of First Night Providence. In June 1996, Evans created Second Fire for the International Sculpture Conference where it became the gathering place for thousands of participants from all over the world. Ardent art supporters convinced Evans to create an on-going fire installation and started a grass-roots effort to establish WaterFire as a non-profit arts organization. With the support of hundreds of dedicated volunteers, a hard working staff, generous donations from visitors, contributions from corporate leaders, and support from the City and State, WaterFire's bright flames now regularly return to illuminate downtown Providence.In 1997, WaterFire Providence expanded to 42 braziers, and attracted an estimated attendance of 350, 000 people during thirteen lightings. Evans received the Renaissance Award from the City of Providence for his work as an artist and his role in revitalizing downtown Providence.In response to growing attendance, WaterFire expanded in size to 81 braziers in 1998 ; and 97 braziers in 1999. The 1999 season culminated with 100 bonfires in a special WaterFire lighting for the December 31 millennium celebrations. With WaterFire's 2000 season more than thirty sponsors helped host 25 lightings during a season that ran from March to October. WaterFire celebrated its 200th lighting in August, 2006.Hundreds of volunteers devote thousands of hours and join with the fulltime staff to create WaterFire for your enjoyment. The power of WaterFire Providence to attract millions of visitors is eloquent testimony to the importance of public art and its capacity to restore our urban and social landscape.WaterFire needs your support to keep the flames burning. WaterFire is an independent non-profit arts organization and we need your contributions to present the event and cover our expenses. Please give what you can and give your donation to the volunteers at any of the stands in the park marked by the blue columns. Donations are also welcomed online.
The Bell Gallery is located in the List Art Center, on the Brown University campus and is open to the public. You will find all manner of modern art in this sparse white space. In one month you could see an exhibit by three artists working with photography and texts, an installation about a vanished Russian cosmonaut and photographs depicting a futuristic society of bog-dwellers. All events at the Bell Gallery are free. Include this gallery in a walking tour of the campus.
