In 1998 Jennifer and David of Clancy Designs Glass Studio met while each were working for different glass artists. Soon thereafter the two married and started the process of building their own studio next to their home in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Since then they have been creating finely crafted functional and sculptural work which can be found all over the world. The couple is known especially for their skilled blowing techniques and their strong sense of design and color. David M. Clancy was born in Long Island, New York and was raised in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. From an early age David exhibited exceptional talent for drawing that eventually brought him to the Swain College of Art and Design in Massachusetts to study printmaking. While there he was introduced to an alternative way to produce an image – sandblasting on flat glass. It wasn’t long after that a love of glass took root and David left Swain to receive intensive training in glassblowing as an apprentice for 16 years. Jennifer R. Clancy was born and raised in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Creative from the start she was bound to have a profession in the arts. She attended The Cleveland Institute of Art first for Photography and then for Glass. Both practices focus on process and a relationship to light but the glass studio was quickly what Jennifer would come to know as home. Although tutored mostly in glass casting techniques, soon after graduation Jennifer found herself working in glassblowing studios in the US and overseas, broadening her base of knowledge in glass. David and Jennifer recently expanded their series of botanical and aquatic themed sculptures and exhibited works in a solo show, “Nature Studies in Glass”, at the Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island. Works from that show are currently found in galleries up and down the east coast. To see upcoming shows, and learn more about their work, visit http://www.clancydesigns.com/.

Our offices are closed today, enjoy the holiday!

Kim Gardner is currently a ceramics resident artist at the Steel Yard in Providence. She was first introduced to clay at the Community College of Rhode Island in 2008. Her interests in material took her to Portland, Oregon where she studied for two years at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. In 2014, she took a short pause in her education, teaching ceramics at Camp Laurel in Maine and Organizing a series of pop-up art shows in Newport, Rhode Island. She returned to school in the fall of 2015 to the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and in May of 2017 earned her BFA in Ceramics. Her work is both functional and sculptural - she creates pinch pot wares and jewelry made with colorful porcelain, and her sculpture work utilized clay, found objects, fibers, resin, and post-fire glazes. Most often the work is a subtle reflection of her surroundings, as she develops work she is considering a variety of thoughts on erosion, growth, preservation, dependency, decay, and anthropomorphism as it relates to material, utility, tactility, and volume of the work. Check our her website at kymgardner.com, and instagram @kgardner03.

We're right in the middle of grant panels here at RISCA, with 4 different panels just this week! We will be sending notifications about the grant applications the week of December 15th, so check your email then.

Laura Travis of Laura Travis Carving carves limestone, soapstone and creates assemblage (pretty much all from recycled materials) in a mill studio at 30 Cutler Street in Warren, RI. She studied at RIC and at Maryland Institute College of Art, where she completed her MFA in 2001 on a fellowship while working full time as a visual art educator in Providence Public Schools. She was a studio resident at A220 for eight years, showing several times in the galleries there, as well as in New Bedford, Baltimore, Ontario, and in a sculpture garden she collaborated to create with the Blackstone River Theatre. Her work in stone is featured there, at the South Kingstown Land Trust Sculpture Trail, and along the South County Bike Path. A veteran organizer and award winning art teacher, she hosts workshops and classes in stone carving at RISD- CE, in her studio, and on the road as far afield as western Ontario. Laura’s work has been documented by NetWorks RI in 2011and was featured in three NetWorks exhibitions. Pursuing inquiries at points along the border of fine and folk art, she’s currently absorbed in a body of work inspired by recent trips to the British Museum and the National Museum of Scotland. Laura, now retired from full time public school teaching, finds time to help organize open houses and studio sales at 30 Cutler Street. For more info, visit lauratraviscarving.com

Meet Providence artist Alex Jacques of Alex Jacques Razors! My focus as a craftsman is to create the finest handmade straight razors available today. All steps in making a razor are performed by myself–from initial design to final honing. Through detailed study and practice I have come to pride myself on my design, artistic approach, and functionality in terms of developing blades for daily use: an Alex Jacques hand made straight razor is a piece of functional art that will last a lifetime. I first got into straight razors as a method of shaving, and from that point onward, it became my primary focus. After becoming well-known on Internet shaving forums for rescaling (scales is the technical name for the two sides of a knife’s handle) and restoring antique straights, I progressed into an interest in the custom knife realm. This opened me up to possibilities that had yet to be tapped for handmade razors and I got to work looking for any information I could absorb to be able to teach myself the craft. It became clear in little time that making razors would be a big part of my life. I continuously challenge myself, trying to push my own envelope and concentrate on the small details that make a quality product into an exceptional one. Most recently, I've developed an interest in wax sculpting and casting jewelry and other metal objects. My dedication to my craft has brought me to the belief that superb craftsmanship is immortal, and I try to pass that on through my work. Learn more about Alex and his work here: www.customrazors.com www.instagram.com/alexjacquesrazors

Arthur Hash, Assistant Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence earned his MFA in metalsmithing and jewelry design from Indiana University in 2005 and his BFA in Crafts/Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. Recent exhibitions include: Jewelers/Jewelry at the Ahwon Gallery in Seoul, South Korea, Beyond Bling at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, and The Susan Grant Lewin Collection at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. Arthur’s work is included in the permanent collections at Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas and the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin. Arthur’s research is guided by material exploration, new technology and visual culture. His recent work incorporates digital fabrication technologies such as microcontrollers, parametric CAD modeling, rapid prototyping and laser engraving/marking to make limited production and one-off wearable work. You can learn more about Arthur and his work by visiting his website at www.arthurhash.com or his blog www.theartescapeplan.com.

The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture is a people-powered department—a grassroots action network inciting creativity and social imagination to shape a culture of empathy, equity, and belonging. This association of artists and culture workers organizes locally and nationally to imagine the future of the arts, to create large participatory art events and advocacy, and learn and write about cultural democracy.

The RI State Council On the Arts is excited to report that 3 RI public artists, Deborah Baronas, Allison Newsome and Nick Paciorek have just finished installing their art commissions at the new Veterans Home in Bristol. The ribbon cutting is on Saturday, Nov 11 at 12:30. The public is invited. Come see!

John Fazzino, a Connecticut native, who now calls the Mt. Pleasant section of Providence, RI home, received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1986 and an MFA from Swain School of Design, University of Massachu-setts at S. Dartmouth in 1989. John has shown his work extensively during his art career and has received awards and fellowships from the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts. In 1996, John received third place for “Tall Bud Vase” in Earthworks. At Earthworks 2001, John Received First Award, for his piece, “Cepheisd”; a work consisting of 3 separate concave platters color-fully glazed and hung on the wall. In Earthworks 2009 John received second place for Fluted Vase. In 2013 John was honored with an award of Best Sculpture in a members show at the South County Art Association. In 2014 John took First Place again at the annual Earthworks show and the Juror bought the piece as well. He explains that his larger outdoor work nests itself in the garden, creating a nice counterpoint to the flowers, shrubs, and trees surrounding it, while the smaller pieces may use the flowers and stems from the garden in the home. Larger works can be nicely placed in the home as well. John has recently begun to incorporate old found rusted metal objects into his work as a way of reaching back and further connecting to our history and world. The reason he makes this work is to be able to learn and grow more and more as a human being, while offering people an alternative view of the world in their everyday lives. For a taste of the possible visit his web site at: http://www.johnfazzino.com.

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is the nation's leading nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field. In this capacity, NALAC stimulates and facilitates intergenerational dialogues among disciplines, languages, and traditional and contemporary expressions. They do this through grants, a leadership institute, and regional trainings.

Paul Myoda (b. 1967, United States) is a Japanese-American sculptor based in Rhode Island. Myoda is inspired by the underlying logic and mathematical principles of the natural world and applies them to his work with new media, technology and industrial materials. The results are compositions of light, motion, and form that find a balance and a beauty between the organic and built. His sculptures and installations are regularly exhibited both nationally and internationally. Myoda holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Yale University. Based in NYC from 1990-2006, Myoda was represented by the Friedrich Petzel Gallery, and was co-founder of Big Room, an art production and design collective in New York City. He was also a contributor to Art in America, Flash Art and Frieze. He is a recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Warhol Foundation and Howard Foundation, among others. In 2001 he participated in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s World Views Program and had a studio on the 91st floor of WTC I. In March of 2002 he cocreated the Tribute in Light in memory of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, which has since become an annual installation. Over the past decade, Myoda has been developing an extended series of interactive illuminating sculptures and sculptural installations that respond to the presence of viewers. Their design is informed by a wide range of forms, such as bioluminescent fauna, crystal morphology and religious nimbuses. An example of hybrid arts practice and cybernetic sculpture, the series bridges the disconnections and eases the anxieties of the post-industrial world through affect, presence and responsive gesture. His works are part of the collections of the Queens Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami and the Library of Congress, among others. He has had solo exhibitions of this series of works at the Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL; the Project 4 Gallery, Washington DC; the Yellow Peril Gallery, Providence, RI; the Maine Museum at the University of Maine; the Peligro Amarillo Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the Plug-In Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey, in addition to numerous group exhibitions. He is represented by the Yellow Peril Gallery (Providence, RI, and San Juan, Puerto Rico) and Piero Atchugarry (Pueblo Garzón, Uruguay; Miami, FL; Bologna, Italy). He will have a solo exhibition at the Yellow Peril Gallery, Providence, RI, in October of 2017. He is an Associate Professor in Brown University's Visual Art Department, where he has been teaching since 2006. For more information please visit: www.paulmyoda.co