Thursday, August 24 – Sunday, Sunday, October 8, 2023
“Don’t Worry, You’ll get used to the Smell” The History and Works of Tannis Root
The exhibition features a deep dive into the prolific career of the design team Tannis Root showcasing the lineage of the group’s career from early screen printing techniques to designing for some of the most iconic bands of the alternative and independent music scenes such as Redd Kross, Nirvana, Hole, and Sonic Youth. The exhibition will also feature contributions from Sergio Aguila of Nic Fit + Sonic Life Archive a personal collection of one-of-a-kind merchandise and ephemera.
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1989. Susanne Sasic, Thurston Moore, Kevin Monroe, and John Brannon.
Photograph courtesy of Thurston Moore.
Thursday, June 1 through Sunday, July 9, 2023
If These Walls Could Talk, a group exhibition by the 2022-2023 WaterFire Accelerate Artist Cohort
If These Walls Could Talk, a group exhibition by the 2022-2023 WaterFire Accelerate Artist Cohort: Denzel Amoah, Justin DeGraide, Savaree “Sav” Hazard-Chaney, Hannah Nahas, Rhue Nobre, and Elijah Trice. Learn more about the artists.
The month-long exhibition is on view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Thursday, June 1 through Sunday, July 9, 2023 with an opening reception on Thursday, June 1 from 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
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Thursday, May 4 through Sunday, May 28, 2023
Merge, A One Gun Gone Exhibition
Merge, the largest to date One Gun Gone exhibition, combines art and activism through the creation and sales of art made from disarmed guns. The exhibition includes the unveiling of welded metal sculptures created through a new collaboration between the Princes 2 Kings, a Providence Boys and Girls Club program, and the Steel Yard, in addition to pre-pandemic visual artwork.
The month-long exhibition is on view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Thursday, May 4 through Sunday, May 28, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, May 4 from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, March 29 through Sunday, April 27, 2023
Interconnected, an exhibition observing Earth Month, curated by Gather Farm
Interconnected, is a month-long exhibition in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery created in celebration of Earth Month through a creative partnership between Gather Farm, Gather Glass, and WaterFire Providence. The exhibition is on view from Wednesday, March 29 through Thursday, April 27, 202.
This exhibit reflects, honors, and celebrates our interconnection with nature as a source of awe, inspiration, creativity, and wisdom. Animals, trees, plants, and fungi learned to coexist – to thrive, repair, and evolve – long before humans made their mark. We now look to nature as a guide and teacher. We plant seeds that give us food to sustain us. We cultivate herbs and plants that heal us. We watch the animals and learn from their teachings. As we share in gratitude for all that this extraordinary planet provides, let us be conscious about protecting the many interconnected ecosystems that nourish and give us life.
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Check out the WaterFire Arts Center Calendar!
Thursday, March 2 through Sunday, March 26, 2023
Vigilance, a solo exhibition by Scott Lapham
Vigilance is a month-long solo exhibition by Scott Lapham. The exhibition features work from three of the artist’s most recent bodies of work including “Vigilance“, “A is for Anthropocene“, and “Perfectly Preserved Sea Shore“. “Vigilance” is a body of work started during the pandemic and is currently ongoing. “A is for Anthropocene” is a body of sculptural work that explores the imagined transformation of human-made objects by sea level rise. “Perfectly Preserved Sea Shore” is a collection of ‘documentary sculptures’. Here sea debris washed up on the ocean’s tide line is epoxied on site. Once cured, the pieces are brought inside where the viewer can contemplate the organic and man-made inorganic matter that exists in our shared environment.
Thursday, January 19 through Sunday, February 26, 2023
Demystifying Process: A PVDPrintmakers Exhibition
Demystifying Process is a month-long exhibition curated by PVDPrintmakers. Despite the accessibility offered by printmaking, both in its ability to endlessly reproduce images and the direct process of creating an impression, the practice tends to have an air of mystery. Using the vibrant printmaking community in Rhode Island as examples this exhibition pulls back the curtain on a wide range of processes. Materials, presses, blocks, and plates are displayed alongside prints, celebrating every step of the printmaking process while highlighting the often unseen act of making.
Friday, November 25 through Sunday, January 8, 2023
BuyArt small works holiday show
Thirty-one contemporary Rhode Island-based artists are showcasing their work in the gallery at the WaterFire Arts Center for the BuyArt small works holiday show and sale from Friday, November 25 through Sunday, January 8, 2023. The BuyArt show and sale encourages visitors to support local artists by giving the gift of art for the holidays.
Visitors were invited to the show’s opening day on Saturday, November 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. during WaterFire’s ArtMart on Small Business Saturday as well as an evening with the artists for our holiday Sip ‘n Shop event on Thursday, December 15 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 13 to Sunday, November 20, 2022
Tender Cargo, an exhibition by Taleen Batalian
Tender Cargo, is a month-long exhibition by Taleen Batalian. The exhibition explores how bodies hold and carry trauma across time and geography, drawing on artist Taleen Batalian’s legacy as the granddaughter of four grandparents from Western Armenia. Batalian grew up surrounded by references to the Genocide her family endured, but it was never discussed openly. After the death of her mother in 2012, Batalian began using textiles and sculpture to unpack this murky silence and interpret her cultural history to understand the legacy of trauma passed down from her grandparents to her parents and ultimately to her. Tender Cargo investigates what it means to wear and carry our trauma and asks us to consider how the body traverses under the weight of these heavy loads.
Thursday, September 1 to Sunday, October 9, 2022
Portales: Reimagining The Future
PORTALES: Reimagining the Future is an art exhibition presenting the variety of ways that artists and organizers in Rhode Island have strengthened our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the movement against racial injustice. In moments of difficulty, we can see how art can turn into ‘community portals’ that help us envision better futures. The exhibit is a sample of artistic works by RI-based artists who work in various mediums -photography, mixed media, painting, dance, video and who have a practice of community organizing and/or are in relationship to grassroots community groups that center justice, equity, and access. The exhibit is part of a broader research project on public health, policy, organizing, and the power of art and culture, led by faculty and artists from Providence College. In the spirit of this, the exhibit will be accompanied by a story circle event. Reference: Arundhati Roy: The Pandemic is a Portal
Friday, August 5 to Sunday, August 22, 2022
Ebb and Flow a solo exhibition by Lois Harada
Ebb and Flow, is a month-long solo exhibition by Lois Harada. The exhibition features documentation from the artist’s ongoing campaign to encourage Rhode Island residents to rethink the naming of Victory Day. In 2020, Harada hired a banner towing plane to carry the message #RENAMEVICTORYDAY across the state’s beaches and the letters used in that project are displayed in the gallery alongside a lifeguard tower. The exhibition also features work from a recent residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado with imagery of guard towers and the shadows they cast.
The exhibition was on view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Friday, August 5 through Sunday, August 28, 2022.
Thursday, June 30 to Sunday, July 31, 2022
This Must Be The Place – A WaterFire Accelerate Exhibition
This Must Be the Place, produced as a capstone of the inaugural Accelerate program, is a month-long mixed media exhibition of works from the five Accelerate artists: Julio Berroa, Kiara Costa, Sydney Sousa, Ysanel Torres, and Jared Winslow. The exhibition is a collection of works that celebrate the variety of perspectives of the artists, as well as a reflection of the artists’ personal voices. By intersecting their aesthetics and mediums in this exhibit, the artists hope to inspire viewers to find the beautiful connections and contradictions that create the worlds within us and around us. This Must Be the Place in total, is an honoring of storytelling through art.
On view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Thursday, June 30 through Sunday, July 31, 2022.
Friday, June 3 to Sunday, June 26, 2022
Envision Resilience: Designs for Living with Rising Seas
Envision Resilience: Designs for Living with Rising Seas is a month-long exhibition, curated by ReMain Nantucket, of adaptive proposals for sea level rise on Narragansett Bay. Explore the vibrant history of the Narragansett Bay region, its resilient communities, and the adaptive possibilities for its future. The 2022 Envision Resilience Narragansett Bay Challenge features adaptive designs by participating university teams.
The exhibition ran from Friday, June 3 to Sunday, June 26.
Thursday, May 5 – Sunday, May 29, 2022
Faded, the gallery
Faded, the gallery is a month-long exhibition exploring the lineage of graphic t-shirts from their earliest adaptations as a new medium for creative self-expression in the 1930s to the present day. Opening night is Thursday, May 5, from 6-9 pm, and Gallery Night Providence + TroopTop, a rooftop bar with neighborhood restaurant Troop PVD (third Thursday of the month), May 19, 5-9 pm.
The exhibition will have over one hundred rare examples of vintage t-shirts, showcasing eight decades of explosive genre-defining artwork while highlighting groundbreaking innovations in design and printing techniques.
February 10 – March 6, 2022
Lots of little things add up, recent prints and their processes from Overpass Projects in the gallery
“Lots of little things add up” is a month-long exhibition of recent prints and their processes from Overpass Projects. On view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Thursday, February 10 through Sunday, March 6, 2022. A public opening is scheduled for Thursday, February 17, from 6-9 pm.
January 12 – February 6, 2022
The Seeing: a video exhibition scored by Daniel Bernard Roumain
“The Seeing” is a month-long video exhibition produced through a creative partnership between FirstWorks and WaterFire Providence of six film works scored by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). On view in the WaterFire Arts Center gallery from Wednesday, January 12 through Sunday, February 6, 2022. A public opening is scheduled for Thursday, January 20, from 7-9 pm.
December 4, 2021 – January 9, 2022
Buy Art
[small works holiday show]
The Buy Art show is made up of work by artists: Sydney Sousa, Kiara Costa | OZMA, YSANEL Torres, Jared Winslow, Spocka Summa, Keira Gonsalves | Stone Soup, Rafael Medina, Madison Peck, Julia Dwinell, Laura White Carpenter, Maxime Jean Lefebvre, Julia Samuels, Lois Harada, Jeremy Schilling, Sara Breslin, Regina Teresa, Molly Horan | Creations by Fiore and Alexa Cahill.
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October 29 – November 28, 2021
Welcome to the Anti-Robot Club” by Spocka Summa
Spocka Summa is an emerging artist based out of Providence, RI. Through his artwork and collaborations with other artists, he has developed a unique way of storytelling. In this installation, “Welcome to the Anti-Robot Club”, Spocka explores the idea of a world in the not-too-distant future in which technology has taken over and mankind is on the verge of extinction. Join the battle as he combines forces with the Anti-Robot Club (@anti_robotclub) in a final attempt to recruit worthy members to save mankind. Don’t get lost inside the system…
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September 15 – October 24, 2021
CHAZAN! UNFILTERED
at the WaterFire Arts Center Gallery
Featuring original artwork by Rhode Island based artist Erminio Pinque. Chazan! Unfiltered follows the path of Rhode Island superhero and nephrologist Joseph A. Chazan, MD, as he pursues his two passions – art and medicine – and explores how the two collide.
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December 9, 2020 – January 15, 2021
THE LET-OUT
Presented by THE VANTA GUILD
THE LET-OUT is an exhibit focusing on the joy, anger, and uncertainty of Black American experiences in Rhode Island as people grappled with the realities of pandemic-induced lockdowns, socio-political uprisings, and the struggle to maintain a sense of beauty, joy, and balance in the century’s most turbulent year.
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February 18 – July 31, 2020
Reflective Lenses:
WaterFire Volunteer Photography Show
A vibrant collection of photographs by WaterFire’s Volunteer Photographers featuring highlights of their WaterFire stories interacting together as an enchanting reflection of WaterFire. This group exhibition showcases the work of our local talent in Providence’s cultural tapestry.
The WaterFire Volunteer Photography Program brings together local artistic talents for an exploration of Providence’s culture and provides an opportunity for local photographers to share experiences and collaborate with one another.
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August 1, 2019 – January 31, 2020
Landscapes in Relief: Recent Work by Julia Samuels
“My most recent work has been depicting neighborhoods around Providence. I love how the maze of transmission lines acts as both a conduit for current activities and shows the legacy of growing through different types of technology. I want the viewer to feel a sense of interconnectedness- with the neighborhood, the city, and when we expand our view, an interconnectedness with all of America and the world. I want the viewer to consider our collective responsibility and personal implications as we think about the ever-looming threat of global warming.”
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