PUBLIC ARTS
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016
In February 2013, UPP held an introductory recruitment workshop that featured several speakers, including Sam Hough, a historian who showed a 1927 film about Gorham Silver; Diane Labrandi, a local resident who shared stories about living by Mashapaug Pond; Josh O'Neill, of the Providence Emergency Management Agency, who taught participants about storm drains and flooding of Rhode Island waterways; and Lisa Melmed and Juliette Casselman, who led a hands-on kite- and windsock-making workshop. All participants received an educational packet about stormwater runoff compiled by UPP and the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island.
Throughout the spring of 2013, Juliette Casselman and Lisa Melmed, both teaching artists, led five public kite- and windsock-making workshops. These events took place at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, the Southside Community Land Trust's Urban Agriculture Spring Kick-Off at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, Sophia Academy, Renaissance Church, and JT Owens Park.
During the workshops, participants created fish kites, fabric fish windsocks, and paper animal windsocks. Along with the art, participants engaged in a discussion of the pond and a celebration of the various animals that live in or around it. Each kite or windsock was affixed with a "Save the Date" sticker to let family members know about the upcoming procession.
Throughout the spring of 2013, Juliette Casselman and Lisa Melmed, both teaching artists, led five public kite- and windsock-making workshops. These events took place at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, the Southside Community Land Trust's Urban Agriculture Spring Kick-Off at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, Sophia Academy, Renaissance Church, and JT Owens Park.
During the workshops, participants created fish kites, fabric fish windsocks, and paper animal windsocks. Along with the art, participants engaged in a discussion of the pond and a celebration of the various animals that live in or around it. Each kite or windsock was affixed with a "Save the Date" sticker to let family members know about the upcoming procession.
This year UPP held our first ever summer workshops. These included a pond clean-up and three workshops that paired a local artist with a scientist or natural historian. The workshops featured environmental activist Phil Edmonds with spoken word artist Laura Brown-Lavoie, water scientist Neil Anthes with indigenous artist Loren Spears and plant specialist Steve Emma with videographer David Stephens.
Also during the summer of 2013, UPP founder and artist Holly Ewald collaborated with Laura Brown-Lavoie and Lisa Abbatomarco on an installation for the Pond. Reflecting on the work Holly had done with UPP Arts to raise awareness about the ill effects of stormwater runoff and the legacy of the area’s Indigenous and Industrial past, she wanted to create an ephemeral artwork for Mashapaug Pond that would melt, burn and leave no trace. Holly used lines from the collective poems written during Laura Brown-Lavoie's summer workshop to make lanterns attached to boats that she made out of ice.
On the evening of September 21, 2013, sixty residents of all ages, artists and followers of UPP gathered at the Mashapaug Boating Center for UPP's Summer Series Send-Off highlighting works created by participants of the year's school and summer workshops. It included an outdoor screening of Toxic Legacies, made by Alvarez Students; a film about Reservoir Elementary's Dust Bowl Project; animations about Mashapaug Pond made by ¡CityArts! students; Mashapaug Misadventures, a film by by Vartan Gregorian students Dylan and Ethan Itkin; and a short documentary about the summer workshops by videographer Richard Goulis.
As night fell, Laura Brown-Lavoie read her Mashapaug Pond-inspired poem “Ice Cutter,” followed by the ceremonial launching of the ice lanterns. As each boat was delivered to an awaiting canoe for placement on the pond, a member of the public read the accompanying poem. The audience gathered closely to the illuminated reader by the shore and watched quietly as the lanterns moved out into the darkness. There was a reflective stillness as people witnessed the magical short life of these messaged, candle-lit ice boats.
On the evening of September 21, 2013, sixty residents of all ages, artists and followers of UPP gathered at the Mashapaug Boating Center for UPP's Summer Series Send-Off highlighting works created by participants of the year's school and summer workshops. It included an outdoor screening of Toxic Legacies, made by Alvarez Students; a film about Reservoir Elementary's Dust Bowl Project; animations about Mashapaug Pond made by ¡CityArts! students; Mashapaug Misadventures, a film by by Vartan Gregorian students Dylan and Ethan Itkin; and a short documentary about the summer workshops by videographer Richard Goulis.
As night fell, Laura Brown-Lavoie read her Mashapaug Pond-inspired poem “Ice Cutter,” followed by the ceremonial launching of the ice lanterns. As each boat was delivered to an awaiting canoe for placement on the pond, a member of the public read the accompanying poem. The audience gathered closely to the illuminated reader by the shore and watched quietly as the lanterns moved out into the darkness. There was a reflective stillness as people witnessed the magical short life of these messaged, candle-lit ice boats.
