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

Looking back throughout my 40 years of photographing what do I see through that clear singular reflective lens of time? From my first photograph, a self-portrait with dark glasses and a beret, to my most recent photograph, a self-portrait in a rat temple in Bikaner, India, the one word that jumps out at me is

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

I make art. The art I make is a product of my experiences, for better or worse. The work often represents my cynical, and sometimes humorous, view of humankind. My motive in making art is not to make art that sells. My motives are to create works that assert my individuality and to exercise the freedom

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

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

Irene Lawrence is a painter, printmaker, and maker of books as well as a musician who studies the cello and the viola da gamba. Born in California, she grew up on Long Island and came to Providence, where she lives, to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. Lawrence’s work is characterized by an integration of rhythmic strokes using monochromatic

Ana Flores is a sculptor and ecological designer. Her work, focusing on cultural and ecological narratives, is shown internationally and is in private, corporate and institutional collections throughout the United States and abroad. For two decades she has been promoting interdisciplinary dialogue and groundbreaking collaborations among the arts, sciences and humanities, working with communities to

Astrid, an American artist born in Havana, Cuba, has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA from Hunter College; she works from her studio at AS220 in Providence. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Music: “”Opus I,”” Es Kisher Lousnyag Kisher (This Starry Night) Komitas © 2009 TFA-13-E, Cuba,

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

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

“Nature is my model, sometimes literally, always conceptually. With clay and glaze I imitate nature. With function and form; color and texture; history and need, I attempt a layering of forces and structures similar to that found in natural things like flowers.” Lawrence Bush is a potter, collaborator, and educator who has taught ceramics at the Rhode Island School of

  “‘Written in Stone,’ as the saying goes. This is my work. Tap, tap, tap, announces the dance between mallet, chisel, and stone. The idea of a sculpted surface or dimensional plane with letters carved upon it adds a literal and physical element to the understanding of the words. For fourteen years, I’ve been a

Artist Meredith Stern obtained a BFA in Ceramics at Tulane University in New Orleans. She is a member of the international printmaking group called The Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and has a multi-faceted practice that includes printmaking, ‘zine publishing, gardening, and utilitarian ceramic ware. Stern has received project grants from RISCA, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund,

Wendy Edwards’ gravitation from a childhood on a farm in Virginia to undergraduate study in Philadelphia at the University of the Arts, to several years spent in the Southwest earning her MA at the University of New Mexico, has informed her tenure as Professor of Art at Brown University. She came to Providence and Brown

Tayo Heuser’s father was in the diplomatic corps; she was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up attending French schools in Europe and Africa. She came to the Rhode Island School of Design, pursued post-graduate study there and obtained her MFA from Vermont College. Originally a painter, but becoming known for sculpture, Heuser today has

Rosanne Somerson is the president at the Rhode Island School of Design, she came to the institution as a freshman photography major but quickly discovered the joys and challenges of woodworking and furniture design. Studying with Tage Frid, she received a BFA in Industrial Design in 1976, eventually teaching in the program and helping to

Leslie Bostrom, born in 1951, received a BA from the University of Maine and an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is an associate professor of art at Brown University. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue     Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Producer: Joseph A. Chazan M.D. Additional Information: Artist’s Website: lesliebostrom.com

Originally from New Orleans, Coral Bourgeois, born in 1954, received her BFA from Northern Texas State University. An artist who works with tiles, her studio is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue   Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Music: Miles Stenhouse and the Road to Ruin Producer: Joseph A. Chazan M.D. Additional Information:

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

Performance art was the catalyst for David Allyn’s career as a ceramic artist. His gigs as “Uncle Thirsty” led him to make ceramic cups, which he says led to a “more grounded” approach to his craft. Using photo decals and silkscreen printing on porcelain, Allyn creates one-of-a-kind handmade porcelain objects, filled with color and imagery.

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

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

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

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

When I was a student I attended a lecture by Naum Gabo the painter and sculptor whose philosophy of Constructive Realism had a profound effect on all modern art. He began his remarks by saying, “ It has always been my principle to let my work speak for itself, following the maxim that a work

Well-known as the creator of The Plaza of Art and Cultures/La Plaza del Arte y Las Culturas, the mural on Broad Street in Providence, Agustín Patiño was born in Ecuador in 1969, studied architecture at Cuenca State University and received his BFA in painting from Central University of Quito. He paints and resides in Providence.

A multi-disciplinary artist, Lisa Perez makes abstract sculptural paintings, objects and works on paper that investigate attention, perception and spatial dimension. Fusing the subtle edges between mediums, her practice takes a malleable approach to form. The work invokes minimalism initially, but slowly one encounters an unfolding of playful extremes in color, shadow, form, and a

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

Best known as the creator and, since 1994, the artistic and executive director of WaterFire, Barnaby Evans received his BS in biology and environmental science from Brown University in 1975. He had an early career as a photographer, exhibiting his work nationally and internationally. Today WaterFire epitomizes Evans’ mission to create innovative art works that

Barbara Owen received a dual degree in sculpture and poetry at Bennington College. She wrote a creative thesis under the direction of the poet Ben Belitt, studied sculpture with Brower Hatcher and painting with artist Sidney Tillim. Her work has been featured in numerous venues nationally and in 2016 she was asked to exhibit with

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

A native Californian born in 1980, Corey Grayhorse came to Rhode Island in 2002. She brought with her a California flair for fantasy that emerges in her photographs of costumed participants wearing tutus, dayglo outfits or animal masks, evoking her own Alice in Wonderland scenario and often drawing on popular culture. Grayhorse, who studied photography

I began working with glass in 1970 because it is an extraordinarily versatile material and I believed that there were endless unexplored possibilities. I still believe this . I employ the vessel as my vehicle of expression because of it’s basic three dimensionality; giving me the possibility of working in 2 and 3 dimensions at

“Painting for me is neither a magical channeling of creative forces, nor a juggling act of conceptual ideas. It is, instead, a highly personal experimentation involving elements of color, space, and line balanced with emotional experience. To that end, I have been a student of painting for over forty years.” A native Rhode Islander and

Photographer Annu Palakunnathu Matthew was born in England in 1964, grew up in India and lives in Providence; she is a professor of art at the University of Rhode Island. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Additional footage: David H. Wells Music: “Kirvani” (Veena Improvisation) performed by L. Ramakrishan, Recorded at Lars Nesbakken’s house, Portland,

Born in Israel in 1964, Yizhak Elyashiv received a BFA from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He lives in Providence and teaches Foundation studies at RISD and Rhode Island College. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue     Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Music: Kai McMurty

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,

Jessica Deane Rosner was raised in Manhattan and received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she majored in enameling. Back in New York, Rosner worked in enamel and then jewelry before relocating to Cranston, Rhode Island, almost thirty years ago. She began to work in pen and ink, eventually finding satisfaction in

Bob Dilworth, born in 1951, received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; he is currently professor and chair of the art department at the University of Rhode Island. He resides in Providence. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Additional

Peter Prip, the son of Danish master metalsmith John Prip, was born in Denmark, shortly before his father came to teach at the Rhode Island School of Design. Prip attended the Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craftsmen, and after an apprenticeship with Ronald Pearson, launched a career as a studio metalsmith and jeweler.

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

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,

Howard Ben Tré’s sculpture, and especially, as we shall see, his public works, are permeated by idealism. Even when his sculptures are intended for more private viewing, they draw on forms that are at once simple and universal. Ben Tré recounts that he began to cast glass when he looked at the molten liquid and

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

Brian Shure is a painter and printmaker working with representations of people in public spaces. He received a BA from Antioch College. He worked as a professional lithographer for 15 years, has published and printed editions under the Smalltree Press imprint, and was a Master Printer and Coordinator of the China Woodblock Program at Crown

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

Originally from East Providence, Rhode Island, Tony Ramos was born in 1944, obtained a BA in art from Southern Illinois University and MA from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. He lives and paints in France. Source: NetWorks 2009-2010 Catalogue Credits: Video: Richard Goulis Video excerpts: “Hydroscapes,” Electron Movers © 1976, Laurie McDonald, Alan Powell, Philip Palombo,