Projo Arts Blog

This just in from the Rhode Island School of Design:

Author Tom Wolfe and other luminaries are expected to attend a celebration honoring Richard Merkin, the longtime RISD professor, New Yorker contributor and bespoke fashion icon who died Sept. 5 at his home in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. The event, which will include an afternoon program of toasts, testimonials and film screenings at RISD followed by dinner at the Providence Art Club, will take place Sat., Dec. 5.

Known as much for his style sense as he was for his stylish drawings and illustrations, Merkin cultivated a persona that combined elements of the Edwardian dandy, the bourgeois-defying artist-bohemian and the Jazz Age hipster. It was a look Merkin himself neatly summed up in a 1967 interview, telling a reporter "My sartorial aspirations lie somewhere between the Duke of Windsor and the Duke of Ellington."

According to RISD, the festivities will begin at noon with a screening of two of Merkin's favorite films -- the Marx Brothers comedy "Horsefeathers" and the Todd Browning creep-out classic "Freaks" -- at the RISD Tap Room (55 Angell St.). At 4 p.m., it's on to the Chace Center auditorium for toasts, testimonials and recollections, followed by dinner ($50 per person, click here for reservations) at 8 p.m. at the Art Club. Needless to say, attendees are urged to wear "snappy clothing."

[Image: Richard Merkin "Self-Portrait with NY Cap"]

Here's one for the "Better Late Than Never" file.

More than a month after Arnie Zimmerman's urban extravaganza "Inner City" opened at the RISD Museum, the museum has finally released its catalog for the exhibit. The 40-page publication features plenty of photographs, along with an essay and interviews by the RISD Museum's contemporary art curator, Judith Tannenbaum.

Though small by traditional standards, the catalog does a good job of documenting the exhibit, which conjures up a miniature rust-belt city, complete with pint-size apartments, office buildings, bridges and a cast of doll-size citizens -- all made of ceramic stoneware. The catalog also includes shots of the first two versions of the show, which made its debut in 2007 at the Lisbon Architectural Triennial. (It was later shown at the national ceramics museum in Leeuwarden, Holland.)

The RISD show, which was developed in collaboration with Portuguese architect Tiago Montepegado, runs through Jan. 3. (The catalog, meanwhile, sells for $16.50 at risd/works.) In the meantime, check out this You Tube video, in which Zimmerman talks about his work (including "Inner City). You might also want to read the story I wrote for the Journal's Arts section.

[Photo: RISD Museum]

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts has named a new director for its Community Arts Program. She is Elena Calderon Patino, a Costa Rican-born graduate of Rhode Island College (where she studied jewelry design) and the Rhode Island School of Design (where she earned a master's degree in arts education). Patino, who will take over the director's job on Nov. 9, is currently the Family Programs coordinator at the RISD Museum.

In announcing the appointment, RISCA executive director Randall Rosenbaum said: "We are delighted to have someone with Elena's skill and dedication to cultural diversity lead this important effort. The State Arts Council is committed to ensuring that all Rhode Islanders have access to the arts, no matter who they are or where they live. Elena has the background and experience to help us in this effort."

Supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Community Arts Program is targeted at communities and neighborhoods where access to traditional arts programs and institutions is limited. The program also sponsors arts-related activities aimed at specific groups, including non-English-speaking communities and the disabled.

It's baaaaaack!

Thanks to a frighteningly strong show of support from local hotels and restaurants, WaterFire is returning for an encore performance on Sat., Oct. 31, otherwise known as Halloween. The fires will be lit at 7 p.m. and continue burning until midnight.

In keeping with the Halloween spirit, WaterFire organizers are urging visitors to come in costume. They're also promising a variety of "sweet treat" prizes for the most eerily innovative and/or fiendishly effective costumes. For more information, visit the WaterFire web site.

If trick-or-treating until the wee hours isn't your idea of fun, consider joining one of the Rhode Island Historical Society's popular Providence history tours. The season's final tour begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the John Brown House Museum at 52 Power St. Tours usually last about 60 minutes; tickets are $10 each. For more information on the tour visit the RIHS web site.

Finally, a word about the weather. Saturday's forecast calls for nighttime temperatures in the mid-40s, so be sure to dress warmly. There's also a chance of rain, which may result in WaterFire being cancelled. Check the WaterFire web site for the latest information.

Update: If you missed last month's release party for The WaterFire Duck, the new children's book inspired by Rhode Island's best-known public art project, don't worry. Author Kiki Latimer and illustrator Beth Griffeth will be signing copies of the book from 5-9 p.m. near the Basin Stage in WaterFire Park. Copies will also be for sale, with a percentage of the $19 price going to support WaterFire.

[Photo: The Providence Journal]

A classic 1950's diner, a preservation specialist who works with the Narragansett Indian tribe and a modernist church (see below) designed by the pioneering architect Pietro Belluschi are among the winners of this year's Rhody Awards, which honor outstanding historic preservation efforts around the state.

The awards were announced Oct. 15 by two of the state's leading preservation organizations: Preserve Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Heritage and Preservation Commission.

Among the projects receiving an award were two from the mid-20th-century: the Star Diner (1951), an East Providence landmark that was recently restored by its owners, and the Church of St. Gregory the Great (1960), a modernist icon on the campus of the Portsmouth Abbey School.

Other winners include the Newport Restoration Foundation, which won for its restoration of the historic Almy-Cory House in Portsmouth; the City of Providence, which won for its eco-friendly restoration of the Nathan Bishop Middle School; and John B. Brown III, a preservation specialist who won for his efforts to protect the historical legacy of the Narragansett Indians.

All 12 of this year's Rhody Award winners will be honored at the annual Preservation Celebration on Thursday at 5:30pm at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket. For more information on the Preservation Celebration and the award winners, visit the preservation commission web site.

[Photo: interior of the Church of St. Gregory the Great, boardingschoolreview.com]

NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Deck the halls with Charlie Hall. Rhode Island's king of comedy, the founder and host of the Ocean State Follies show, is opening a gallery: the Charlie Hall Gallery & Gift Shop.

In addition to being a performance artist, Hall, a RISD graduate, is a visual artist having published three books of cartoons and caricatures. In his gallery, Hall is offering art on demand, painting whatever people want - pets, portraits, landscapes and cityscapes, in whatever colors and sizes people wish.

The gallery, located at 1375 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence, opens Tuesday, Nov. 3, and will remain open through December, closed on Mondays. The grand opening is Friday, Nov. 13, 7 to 9 p.m.

For more, call (401) 368-0428 or (401) 353-3330.

Jed Perl, an award-winning art critic and the author of several books exploring the relationship between art and society, will give a free lecture on Thursday, Oct. 22 at the RISD Auditorium (North Main St. at Market Square).

A visiting professor at New York's New School for Social Research, Perl is best known for his sharp-eyed -- and occasionally sharp-elbowed -- reviews and essays, which have appeared in The New Republic (where he's the regular art critic), The New Criterion, The New York Times and other publications.

Perl is also the author of several book-length works, including "New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century" (about the rise Abstraction Expressionism), "Paris Without End: On French Art Since World War I, and "Antoine's Alphabet: Watteau and His World" (about the 18th-century French artist Antoine Watteau). At RISD, Perl will be discussing topics related to his latest book, "Authority and Freedom: Reflections on Artistic Experience and Liberal Society."

Perl's talk is scheduled for 7 p.m. (Photo: Random House, Inc.)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Don Bousquet, a comic cartoonist living in South Kingstown, would probably make a joke about receiving a lifetime achievement award considering he's still living his life. But it's no joke.

Tonight the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities honors Bousquet, 61, with its Lifetime Achievement Award. For decades Bousquet has caricaturized Rhode Island culture, producing thousands of cartoons that have appeared in 20 books, and numerous magazines and newspapers, including The Providence Sunday Journal

Also being recognized tonight is the Living History 14th Rhode Island Reenactors Program, which involves high school students reenacting Rhode Island's black Civil War regiment.
The award ceremony is at 5:30 p.m. at Exchange City, 321 Harborside Boulevard, Providence. It is open to the public. Tickets are $45, $25 for students: (401) 273-2250.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had the wrong hometown for Don Bousquet.

Emily Peters, the RISD Museum curator who organized "The Brilliant Line," the museum's fabulous survey of the history of engraving, will discuss the exhibit as part of Thursday's Gallery Night Providence. The show, which traces the history of engraving from the 15th century through the late 1600s, includes works by Albrecht Durer, Agostino Carracci and Marcantonio Raimondi, among others.

During her 7 p.m. talk in the museum's Waterman Galleries, Peters will be joined by Andrew Raferty, a RISD printmaker who collaborated on the exhibit. In the meantime, here's a link to the exhibit's web site, which includes an interactive map and other online tools that help viewers understand the engraving process.

[Left: Self Portrait, Anna Maria van Schurman, 1633, courtesy RISD Museum.]

Cross an art exhibit with a yard sale and you might come up with something like the annual RISD Alumni + Student Sale, which takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Benefit Street, across from the RISD Museum.

More than 150 artists and designers are expected to take part in the event, which features everything from cutting-edge prints and paintings to hip clothing and housewares to artist-made glass, pottery and furniture. And don't worry about the weather: if it rains, the entire sale just moves under a tent.

As usual, the sale coincides with RISD's parents and alumni reunion weekend. Other items of interest include a book signing for "Infinite Radius," a new book that chronicles the founding of the School of Design in 1877, and a walk-in camera obscura that students are constructing near the school's cafeteria.

The book is signing, which includes a panel discussion, takes place Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Metcalf Auditorium in the Chace Center at 20 North Main St. The camera obscura will be located in the Quad Terrace, directly above the RISD Beach between Waterman and Angell streets. Times are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Finally, students and teachers from RISD's ceramics department are holding a pottery-making workshop from 11:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Tillinghast Farm, 231 Nyatt Rd. in Barrington.

Highlights include a Japanese-style raku firing and another firing that attempts to recreate the pottery-making methods used in ancient Egypt.

For more information visit the alumni weekend web site here or here. (Note: all the events mentioned here are free and open to the public.)

PROVIDENCE - The final full WaterFire lighting of the 2009 season is set for Saturday, October 10. The braziers will be lit at 6:18 p.m. and the fires will remain burning until 12:30 a.m.

The final fire will be sponsored by the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation.

Saturday's WaterFire lighting will be the 10th full lighting of the 2009 season. The popular public art event on the city's downtown rivers typically draws thousands of visitors.

Gov. Carcieri and the R.I. State Council on the Arts are again inviting artists to enter the "Scenes of Rhode Island" competition. Artists are asked to submit images of artwork that highlight landscapes, seascapes and scenery unique to Rhode Island.

The winner will receive $1,000; second place $250; and third place $100. For more, visit www.governor.ri.gov.

Can good design save the world?

Find out this weekend when artists and designers from around the world converge on Providence for the first annual "A Better World by Design" conference. Co-sponsored by Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, the three-day confab will feature a wide range of events, including a Friday afternoon keynote address by Jan Chipchase, a senior desiger for Nokia. Other speakers include Stefan Behnisch, a German architect who specializes in eco-friendly buildings, and Emeka Okafor, a technology consultant and creator of the Timbuktu Chronicles, a blog devoted to design and technology issues in Africa.

Registration for the conference, which begins Friday and runs through Sunday, is $120 ($50 for students, $25 for Brown and RISD students). For more information visit the conference web site.

Photo: Norddeutsche Landesbank headquarters by Behnisch Architects.

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities has announced the recipients of this year's awards honoring those making contributions to the arts. And the winners are...

Don Bousquet of Narragansett will receive the council's Lifetime Achievement Award. For decades Bousque has been creating comical illustrations of Rhode Island culture, which he has collected in a few books, and which he also presents every Sunday in The Providence Journal's comics section.

Living History's 14th Rhode Island Reenactors Program will receive the council's Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement. The reenactors are high school students in Providence who are being recognized for their promotion of state history and for their civic engagement with youths.

The awards will be given during the council's annual fundraising banquet, the 2009 Celebration of the Humanities, on Oct. 19, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Exchange City, 321 Harborside Blvd., Providence. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $45, $25 for studnets. For reservations, call (401) 273-2250.