Ilse Buchert Nesbitt was born in Germany and spent her childhood in Japan, absorbing the influence of sumi brush painting practiced by her mother. In the 1950s she studied at the Art Academies of Hamburg and Berlin, concentrating on typography and book design. As a personal art form, the woodcut seemed a natural progression from typography; both processes involve the

Jerold Ehrlich studied sculpture at Connecticut College. He has lived in Austria, Italy, and Japan and now resides in Narragansett, Rhode Island. His material of choice is rebar, which is found around construction sites where Ehrlich has spent much time in one of his other lives. Rebar is the skeletal armature for poured concrete. Surrounded

Her love of Celtic culture inspires the creative life of artist Laura Travis. She is a sculptor, carving primarily in limestone, soapstone and slate, and has more than 20 years experience teaching Visual Art at all levels. Travis came to Rhode Island College from New York to study art education. For many years she had a studio at AS220,

John Udvardy retired from a thirty-four year career teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design where he chaired the Foundation Studies program and taught three-dimensional design. A sculptor who seeks to make connections between natural and manmade forms, Udvardy collects and categorizes his objects in his studio in a way that indicates what an

Mark Taber’s artistic world is one of other people’s “junk” assembled to create fantastical chariots. These assemblages of everyday objects that the Rhode Island native, born in 1943, has been making for over twenty years are often whimsical but also a trip into “a parallel reality,” as Taber says. Music informs Taber’s visions as well, sometimes

My inspiration comes from absolutely everywhere, and I truly mean everywhere. I probably cannot find a place in the known universe, especially the unknown, in which I don’t find some inkling of interest that might someday or another translate into a piece of artwork, video, or performance. But I don’t dwell on that. Its a

Alan Metnick was born in Chicago and came of age in the 1960s. Shaken by the political turmoil of the era, he earned a BA in history at the University of Wisconsin. Determined to forge a meaningful life as an artist, Metnick first embraced photography, creating sensitive and strong work under the guidance of photographer Harry Callahan at the

Originally inspired by the redwood forests in her native California, Allison Newsome sculpts on site, in response to the land. She writes, “I tote my clay, wax, aluminum, plaster, into the elements and then return to my studio with the memories embedded in my fingertips, like a naturalist returning from the field with specimens.” Her

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines proportion as ‘the relation of one part to another.’ Pleasing proportions render the whole harmonious, symmetrical and agreeable. I feel that this is central to good furniture design. With considered, but rough, mathematical proportions arrived at visually, I strive to create furniture which is graceful, balanced and sensuous. I

Deborah Baronas grew up on a New England farm and came of age as a designer in the textile industry. These working cultures have influenced her artistic investigations into the history of the American worker. Textiles are Baronas’ primary medium. In site-specific installations she creates interactive environments with scrims, paintings, drawings, video, music and photography.

Kate Blacklock’s early love of ceramics came from her viewing of the Pre-Columbian pottery at New York’s Museum of Natural History where her mother worked. Blacklock received her BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MFA in ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design. In her studio art, Blacklock has

Kenn Speiser, born in 1946, grew up in New York, and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in sculpture. He has remained in Providence, where he actively combines his talents as a sculptor and printmaker with various business and non-profit endeavors. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis “Scrod”

I have been painting and drawing forever, and from the moment my little fingers picked up a bulky crayon my love for all things art began. I always wanted to be an artist, and throughout my life I have been blessed with people that have pushed me in the right directions. My artwork is driven

Janet Prip, the daughter of Danish master metalsmith John Prip, was born in 1950 in New York. By the time her father was concluding his teaching career at the Rhode Island School of Design, she enrolled as a student, lucky enough to study with her father for four years. Prip began her career as a

Born in New York City in 1961, Steven Easton came to Providence in 1978 to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, specifically to study in the glass department. He works from his studio in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Music: “2001,” performed by Kid Dakota, The West is the

McDonald Wright transferred from the Pennsylvania College of Technology to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he graduated with a BFA in photography. He lives in Providence, and continues to use a manual camera and film photography over digital technology. Source in: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue   Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Music: Debra Mann Additional

A native New Englander who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, Gretchen Dow Simpson spent many years living in New York City, where she completed over 65 covers for The New Yorker magazine. In 1985, an exhibition at the Newport Art Museum brought her back to the area, and she moved to Providence’s

The art of Jane Masters is multi-faceted, like the artist’s upbringing and education. Born in 1962 in London, Masters grew up in Europe and the West Indies, where her father owned a hotel. She received an undergraduate degree in art and art history from the College of William and Mary, a BFA in ceramics from

Dennis Congdon holds a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Yale University. In 1983 he won the Prix de Rome and became a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. He has been on the faculty at RISD since 1984 and has also taught at the School

Extraordinary and elegant in quality and beauty, Michael Glancy’s sculptures reveal the artist’s exacting struggle towards perfection. Drawing inspiration from natural macro- and micro-environments, Glancy translates cellular landscapes into elegant jewel-toned sculptural objects. Made with blown and plate glass, copper, bronze, silver, and gold, his works reference science, biology, molecular physics, and mathematics. A native of Detroit, Glancy received a BFA from

Judyth vanAmringe’s art is based on years of design work as well as the intricacies of artistic process. She is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and has attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. For many years vanAmringe worked in New York City as a designer, running a business that made accessories

Duane Slick identifies himself as a first generation urban Indian, born of a father from the Meskwaki Nation in Iowa— where Slick was born in 1961—and a mother from the Ho-Chunk Nation in Nebraska. He received a BFA from the University of Northern Iowa and an MFA from the University of California at Davis. Slick

David DeMelim pursues parallel explorations in printmaking and photography. He earned a BFA from the University of Rhode Island, studying with Bart Parker and Chris Cordes, and has been involved in advancing computer driven printing technology. With a focus on the built landscape and its human connections, DeMelim considers form, weight and proximity in his

Mary Beth Meehan is a photographer whose work explores issues of culture, community, and visibility. She undertakes long-term, in-depth projects, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, RISCA, RICH, and others. “City of Champions,” her first public installation, in her hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts, was featured on the New York Times LENS blog,

Shawn Kenney, born in Connecticut, grew up in Washington state and the Mid-Atlantic states before returning to New England to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. He has remained in the area, earning a living as an art director, designer and illustrator. Today he paints food and farms, producing luscious looking still lifes that

Anthony Russo graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1971 with a BFA but was undecided about a career as an artist until he sold an illustration to a Boston weekly, The Real Paper, and never looked back. Today he is a freelance illustrator whose many clients include The New York Times, Washington Post,

I was born in New York City and moved upstate with my family when I was five. I have always loved painting and drawing. I love the minutiae of everyday urban /postindustrial life. I like brief bios and statements, believing that the artwork is where the communication takes place. That’s my statement and i’m sticking

CW Roelle grew up in and around Palmyra/ Shortsville/ Manchester NY. The Finger Lakes region. It’s pretty up there. After high school he moved to Baltimore MD to attend The Maryland Institute College of Art. First a Visual Communications major, he quickly realized that graphic design and computers and all that weren’t his thing, so

My current work consists of geometric shapes that are built by the systematic application of repeated marks to a visual lined structure. It is derived from my previous work where the marks were hung on a linear structure to create an allover painting or drawing. I set up a defined format within which to work

Life’s course does not always follow the planned route. These days, as time allows, I am drawn to the sea, to bask in its restorative powers. I was raised on the water, the daughter of a sailor, and have always had an emotional response to the sea’s energy. I paint from life, plein air, in

Jesse Burke is a New England native and currently lives in Rhode Island with his wife and their three girls—Clover, Poppy, and Honey. He received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he is a faculty member, and his BFA from the University of Arizona. Burke’s work deals with themes related to

I am a painter who has lived and worked in Providence, Rhode Island for the past forty-one years. I received my BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1971 and my MFA in 1973. My paintings have been in the form of two series: one of self-portraits and the other of

A native of California, Wendy Wahl was born in 1961 and received a BA from California State University, Northridge, before leaving for the Rhode Island School of Design, where she obtained an MAE. Known for her sculptural work with paper and site-specific installations, she lives in West Kingston, Rhode Island. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue  

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1984, with two degrees in Industrial Design, Peter Diepenbrock launched his sculptural career. He simultaneously supported his studio, producing limited edition furnishings and tabletop functional objects. While designing for his private label TROY, as well as Dansk and Umbra, Diepenbrock’s sculpture continued to develop. His

Richard Fishman grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts and attended Boston University before transferring to the Rhode Island School of Design for his BFA. In New Orleans, at Tulane University, he earned an MFA. In 1965, Fishman began teaching at Brown University where he has contributed to the remarkable growth in the institution’s arts departments. His

Born in 1946, Bunny Harvey came to the Rhode Island School of Design where she obtained a BFA, MFA and MAT. In 1974, she won the Rome Prize in Painting from the American Academy in Rome. She soon launched herself on a series of career successes, including many solo exhibitions, thirty years of exclusive gallery

Neal Walsh, born in Rhode Island in 1969, graduated from the University of Rhode Island and received important artistic training as the studio assistant for Pawtucket-based Polish artist Wlodzimierz Ksiazek. He serves as Gallery Director for AS220. Source in: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Edited by: Saulius Sruogis, Richard Goulis Additional footage: Jill

Peter Marcus’ recent focus is on “The New American Family,” the title of his recent exhibition at the Newport Art Museum. Marcus creates large-scale composite prints using a unique collagraph printmaking process. He says that his work crosses boundaries between painting, printmaking and drawing. As a professor of art at Washington University in St. Louis,

Born in 1927 to Greek immigrant parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Thomas Sgouros is a fifty year veteran of the Rhode Island School of Design Department of Illustration, where he became department chair in 1975. Currently he paints “Remembered Landscapes” in his studio at the Fleur de Lys building, part of the Providence Art Club. Source:

Denny Moers is known for his highly imaginative, technically innovative monoprints created by controlling the action of light on the chemicalsensitized photographic paper during the print developing process, giving his black and white photographs an extraordinary range of tonalities. He has photographed subject matter as diverse as New England architecture, medieval wall frescoes and tomb

Ben Anderson, born in 1960, has a BFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego. He is an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island and works from his studio in Warren. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Music: “Mountain

Julie Gearan enjoys exploring a narrative in her painting; she describes herself as “a painter of themes that connect human relationships of past and present, linking ancient myths with our current everyday lives.” She also is interested in the portrait as a genre, and has recently been selected to paint the official portrait of Governor Lincoln D. Chafee. Gearan received

Nancy Friese obtained her BS in nursing from the University of North Dakota, in the state where she was born and maintains a farmstead studio. She changed her career course and studied painting and printmaking at different venues, culminating in an MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 1980. Primarily a landscape painter

After completing a BS in metals and painting at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Monica Shinn moved to Providence in 1996. She has worked as a writer, a painter, a carpenter, a metalsmith, a welder, and an electrician. Having a technician’s knowledge and a fine art training informs both her design work and

In 1978 David Frazer began teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he is still there in 2016, as head of the painting department. Frazer received his BFA from RISD in 1970, and as a participant in the European Honors Program, he traveled in Italy and The Netherlands, becoming influenced by the painting

David Barnes is a Newport artist with a long trajectory of success as a painter and teacher in Rhode Island. He received a BFA from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. His recent paintings have reflected his interests in the art historical past as well as the technological, fast-paced present—particularly the Internet.

A Pittsburgh native, Boris Bally received a BFA in metals from Carnegie Mellon University. Not afraid to take on the “form versus function” dilemma, Bally is a master of blending fine craft and popular culture. His work is both witty and innovative, employing the use of jeweler’s skills on non-precious materials. His current body of work transforms recycled street signs,

Born in 1973, Brian Chippendale grew up around the Philadelphia area. His entry into the Providence art and music scene came after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in printmaking in the early 1990s. He began to make posters and comics and was one of four founders of Fort Thunder, a warehouse space