Photo by Autumn Walter|CIGAR| Students interact with a variety of media involved in the show, creating an immersive experience.
The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) allows artists to submit their artwork for a chance to receive a grant. Every year the council evaluates a plethora of submissions from that fall under one of the 13 categories. These categories range from poetry to three-dimensional art.
“It’s really an award from the state saying, we value artwork, we value artists and we hope you’ll continue to make artwork,” RISCA Program Director Mollie Flanagan.
Flanagan stated that the fellowship is an easy process to apply for and encourages any passionate artists, who are Rhode Island residents, to apply.
These pieces of art aren’t just thrown together. Observers can tell that these works of art had a lot of time put into them and this effort was seen in all of the pieces. This is evident in the work of artist Jungil Hong, who made two textiles out of woven jacquard, cotton, wool, and monofilament polyester. With these simple materials, Hong was able to create beautiful pieces of textiles that contain copious amounts of details, attracting viewers immediately.
Each piece of art shown has a story behind it that shows through the work, making it hard to look away from. This is especially true for a piece titled, “The Pain of Poverty Will Never Leave Yer Bones” by Polina Volfovich. This piece had many different scenes that had their own details. It is also evident from the title that the artwork is going to have a deep meaning behind it, hence all the detail that was included. For this specific artwork, an observer has to look at the piece for a while in order to have their own interpretation of it. This piece is outstanding and the rest of the artwork showcased, has the same outstanding effect on viewers.
Out of all of the pieces of art, the clay structures, continuously caught observers’ eyes. One such clay structure is “Moratorium,” by David Katz. This piece of work is very hard to describe, so, it is highly recommended to go view this piece of art for yourself. This massive clay structure has many details worked into the carvings of the material, and all of the work that Katz put into it clearly paid off.
This exhibition is meant to inspire viewers and any artists and that is exactly what these pieces of art do. To see that an artist in Rhode Island has this much passion and talent, is inspiring in itself. The exhibition is highly recommended to anyone who has an interest in art or maybe need a little inspiration.
The pieces mentioned are only a few of the works of art showcased in the exhibition. To see them all, anyone who is interested should visit the exhibition on the following days, March 16 and 22 from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., and March 25 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. in the main gallery of the Fine Arts Center. Make sure to visit before it’s gone in order to get the real experience of it all.