INSIDE THIS EDITION:
- Retrospective from the Spring semester: PUBLIC ART AND THE CITY and THEATER CONVERSATIONS
- For Your Reading Enjoyment: BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS by Suleika Jaouad
- (RE)TELLING: CRAFTING NEW STORIES OF RACE AND PLACE IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND, Jun 7 at Providence Public Library
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Retrospective from the Spring Semester:
The Public Art in the City Class
Co-coordinated by Barbara Barnes, Beverly Pettine, and Joan Hausrath
A VISIT TO THE AVENUE CONCEPT
The Public Art in the City class made a visit to The Avenue Concept in Providence on April 19.
The Avenue Concept produces exceptional visual public art and experiences with artists and communities designed to inspire joy, dialogue, and inclusion.
- It supports the creation and installation of artwork in public spaces.
- It creates public art encounters by incorporating art more thoroughly into the urban environment and providing opportunities to engage and interact with it.
- It develops programs, policies, partnerships, and funding streams that make public art projects more viable and sustainable.
- It promotes art and telling stories through documentation, communication, education, and programming.
“Art belongs in public spaces.”
“Both art and public spaces bring people together.”
“The public has a right to experience and interact with art in everyday life.”
This wall was actually painted by the class. “We were given instruction by Yarrow Thorne, the founder and director of The Avenue Concept. Everyone chose a spray paint can, and we took turns painting the wall at the headquarters. It was so much fun.” – Barbara Barnes
“Public art enlivens and improves cities and adds value to public spaces.”
“Art tells stories and creates dialogue.”
A YouTube video from LLC member and class participant Liz Siftar: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5aWZrU4lL2U&feature=shared
Photos by Celene Healy
“Public art should invite engagement and interaction, not passive observation.”
Found at Classical High School
TAC-TEN PLUS
The Avenue Concept is having a Public Art Party and Fundraiser on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 3 Davol Square in Providence. This event celebrates Founder Yarrow Thorne and its vision for the next 10 years. Tickets are available on their website.
Theater Conversations
Co-coordinators Kathy and Mike Webster
It was a big day in Theater Conversations when we were visited by Allison Crews, the Executive Director of the Burbage Theatre Company, who talked about their recent production of Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties which she directed. This hour-long conversation was followed by an hour long visit with Jackie Davis who starred as Rose in Trinity Rep’s production of Fences. Jackie will be directing the next show at the Burbage this season as well. It was a wonderful two hours of lively conversation.
Pictured front, left to right: Sam Shamoon, Allison Crews, Jackie Davis, Jill Tobak, Mary Frappier, Donna Lancaster, Arlene Strom and Bobbie Cohen. Rear: Mike Webster
Phyllis Kay, the renowned veteran Trinity Rep actor, visited Theater Conversations to talk about her current run as Sister Aloysius in the Gamm’s wonderful production of Doubt: A Parable.
Pictured: Mike Webster, Phyllis Kay, Barb Simon, Mary Ellen O’Sullivan and Susan Remington
Josh Short, the Artistic Director and Founder of The Wilbury Group, visited with Theater Conversations on April 25 to discuss the development of The Wilbury as well as their current programs.
Pictured: Mike Webster, Josh Short, and Sam Shamoon
Deb Martin visited Theater Conversations on April 18 to talk about her recent role of Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the Gamm. We have enjoyed all of Deb’s performances at the Gamm so were delighted to talk with her.
Pictured: Kathy Webster and Deb Martin
For Your Reading Enjoyment:
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
Recommended by Janice Golden, LLC Member and Vice President
A New York Times Notable Book of 2021: In remission from leukemia, Suleika embarked on a cross-country journey to visit the strangers whose letters gave her the strength to carry on. A deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into “normal” life.
FROM SULEIKA'S WEBSITE (suleikajaouad.com/): "Suleika Jaouad, pronounced Su-lake-uh Ja-wad, is the author of the instant New York Times bestselling memoir, Between Two Kingdoms. She wrote the Emmy Award-winning New York Times column “Life, Interrupted,” and her reported features and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vogue, and NPR, among other publications.
Born in New York City to a Tunisian father and a Swiss mother, Suleika attended The Juilliard School’s pre-college program for the double bass and earned her BA with highest honors from Princeton University and an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College.
Suleika’s career aspirations as a foreign correspondent were cut short when, at age 22, she was diagnosed with leukemia. She began writing her New York Times column “Life, Interrupted” from her hospital room at Sloan-Kettering and has since become a fierce advocate for those living with illness and enduring life’s many other interruptions."
From the DEI Committee
On Friday, June 7, 2024, the Roger Williams University Public Humanities and Arts Collaborative (The Co-Lab) will host “(Re)Telling: Crafting New Stories of Race and Place in Southern New England” at the Providence Public Library in Providence, R.I.