The Art Buyer’s Guide to Rhode Island

Word Association with RISCA’s Mollie Flannigan

We challenged Flannigan, who heads up Rhode Island State Council on the Arts’ Individual Artist programs, to name the first local artist who comes to mind with each prompt. arts.ri.gov.

Organic: “Natasha Harrison. She’s a glass artist who makes nature-inspired works that often include flower pollen and other plant products in her work. The pieces she makes are light and beautiful and deceptively simple.” natashaharrison.com

Avant-garde: “Thinking about the literal meaning of the word, I immediately jump to two artists who work at RISD: glass artist Chris Taylor (above) and printmaker Johnny Adimando. Both of them are pushing their form into the future, stretching the boundaries of what their disciplines look like.” craftadvisory.com; johnnyadimando.com

Industrial: “Paul Myoda. He’s a sculptor that incorporates light and motion into his pieces, who has been working on a series that responds to the presence of the viewer. They feel cold and machine-like, while reflecting nature and humanity.” paulmyoda.com

Courtesy of May Babcock.

Tactile: “May Babcock. She’s a paper artist that uses local and invasive plants to create paper, and then uses her handmade paper to create small sculptures and installations.” maybabcock.com

Meticulous: “Tayo Heuser. She does these beautiful, complex, incredibly precise, ink drawings on paper that she makes and burnishes herself. Many of her pieces are bigger in person than you expect, and you can spend a long time looking at them.” tayoheuser.com

Whimsical: “Keri King. I love her imaginative, large pieces that surprise you in public places around Providence and Pawtucket.” kerikingstudio.com

Enigmatic: “Masha Ryskin. Her work, in a variety of media, uses everyday items and materials to imagine these abstract landscapes that feel like pieces of a bunch of different memories.” masharyskin.com

Static: “Annu [Palakunnathu] Matthew. While she has a huge, very diverse body of work, she has a few photography series about memories that feel like moments and places frozen in time.” annumatthew.com

Artwork from left: COURTESY OF THE RISD MUSEUM (EXCEPT LANDFIELD PAINTING, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST) MAGIC LANTERN, 1947, JACKSON POLLOCK; MOUNTAINEERS ATTACKED BY BEARS, 1910-1912, HENRI LE FAUCONNIER; WOMAN WITH A WHEELBARROW, CA. 1882, CAMILLE PISSARRO; INVISIBLE WIND, 1990, RONNIE LANDFIELD; THE LEI, 1972, SALVADOR DALI.