We’re excited to announce the next chapter of exhibitions at the WaterFire Arts Center—an inspiring lineup of Rhode Island artists, bold ideas, and community-focused creativity.
This summer and fall, we’re featuring five unique exhibitions that invite audiences to experience the work of both emerging and established artists from across the state. From large-scale narrative paintings and immersive installations to conceptual group exhibitions and our much-loved BuyArt holiday sale, this season reflects WaterFire’s ongoing commitment to elevating local voices and showcasing the richness of our creative community.
Here’s what’s on view:
Kate Blacklock: Inside Out
Thursday, June 5 – Sunday, July 6 | Gallery
Kate Blacklock’s solo exhibition presents a series of large-scale narrative paintings that use interior and exterior settings as stages to explore memory, relationships, and the fluidity of time and place. Inspired by the isolation period of the pandemic, the works explore themes of motherhood, aging, and identity through dream-like scenes where animals and objects become symbolic intrusions. Each painting begins with a digitally collaged photograph, manipulated with added, subtracted, and occasionally AI-generated elements. Together, these works invite viewers into liminal spaces where the boundaries between the real and imagined, past and present, dissolve into layered visual stories.
Learn more: waterfire.org/insideout
Growing the Networks
Thursday, July 10 – Sunday, August 31 | Main Hall + Gallery
Building on the momentum of the 2024 NetWorks Rhode Island and the Chazan Collection exhibition, Growing the NetWorks showcases a new group of artists recommended by participants from the 2024 exhibition. Taking place in both the 15,000-square-foot Main Hall and the adjacent 1,500-square-foot gallery space, the exhibition celebrates the diversity, creativity, and connections that define Rhode Island’s ever-evolving artistic community. This large-scale summer exhibition will also feature artist talks and community-centered programming designed to spark dialogue and connection across disciplines.
This exhibition is made possible in part by the generous support of BankNewport.
Learn more: waterfire.org/growingthenetworks
Family Business: An Exhibition by the WaterFire Accelerate 2024-2025 Cohort
Thursday, September 11 – Sunday, October 19 | Gallery
Family Business is inherently private—kept within the walls of a home and passed down from generation to generation. In this collaborative installation, six artists from the 2024–2025 WaterFire Accelerate cohort invite audiences into a reimagined household, each transforming a room to reflect their personal connection to the domestic, the intimate, and the inherited. Through themes of lineage, nostalgia, reconciliation, and individual truth, the artists examine the intersections of memory and identity, grief and joy, comfort and confrontation. Wipe your feet on the mat, take a deep breath, and come inside.
Featured artists: Elizabeth Alice-Isam Jweinat (Lizzy Sour), Janelle Geraldine Castillo, Dorian Epps, Caterina Maina, Sissy Rosso, and Ariel Tavares
About WaterFire Accelerate:
WaterFire Accelerate is a year-long professional development program for emerging artists under 30. Designed to provide access to career-building resources outside the traditional art school experience, the program includes workshops, site visits, and mentorship opportunities. Participants receive a stipend to support the creation of new work, exhibit as a cohort, and are given opportunities throughout the year to present and sell their art. (Learn more: waterfire.org/accelerate)
This year’s Accelerate exhibition runs concurrently with FireBall, WaterFire’s annual fundraiser.
Nothing Follows its Spontaneous Course
Thursday, October 23 – Sunday, November 9 | Gallery
This conceptual exhibition, Nothing Follows its Spontaneous Course, curated by Sihan (Tara) Chen and Isa Makielski, imagines the gallery as a series of uncanny domestic spaces. Drawing inspiration from systems that shape our collective experience, the show confronts how machines and automation have redefined the idea of “home.” From absurdist functional objects to installations exploring industrial materiality, eight emerging artists invite viewers into paradoxical visions of domestic life.
Featured artists: Xinchun Xie, Meri Sanders, Olivia Moon, Eun Yong Lee, Axel Anderson, Ankita Bhat, Isa Makielski, and Sihan Chen
Note: This exhibition coincides with the 30th Annual Fine Furnishings Show, taking place in the Main Hall at the WaterFire Arts Center.
BuyArt [small works holiday show & sale]
Thursday, November 13, 2025 – Sunday, January 4, 2026 | Gallery
Back for the holiday season, BuyArt offers visitors a chance to support local artists by purchasing affordable small works. Featuring hundreds of original artworks by Rhode Island-based artists across a variety of media, this curated sale is perfect for holiday gifting—or for building a meaningful personal collection—while investing in the creative community.
BuyArt also coincides with several weekend markets held in the Main Hall, offering additional opportunities to shop from local artists, makers, and vintage vendors—including the Providence Artisans Holiday Shows, The Good Trade Makers Market, and the Holiday Arts Market.
All exhibitions at the WaterFire Arts Center are free and open to the public, donations are welcome.
Special thanks to BankNewport for supporting Growing the NetWorks and helping elevate Rhode Island artists.
Interested in sponsoring future exhibitions or programs?
Contact Kellie Martin, Manager of Community and Corporate Relations, (401) 443-5534 or kelly@waterfire.org.
For full exhibition details, gallery hours, and updates on special programming, visit waterfire.org/exhibitions.
Follow @waterfireartscenter on Instagram and Facebook for artist spotlights and behind-the-scenes content.
About the author
Over the last 10+ years, alongside some incredible co-workers and volunteers, I've worked to build the organization that WaterFire Providence is today. As Director of Creative Services, my team and I work on visual communications, graphic design, the visitor experience, merchandising as well as project management for programming at the WaterFire Arts Center. Being a part of the 'Rhode Island' experience for tens of thousands of people is incredible and I have an intense pride in place for both Downtown Providence and the Valley neighborhood.
