The Art Buyer’s Guide to Rhode Island

Mike Bryce at the Virtu Art Festival. Courtesy of Virtu art Festival.

7 Can’t-Miss Art Festivals

ELEVATE YOUR ARTSY SIDE AT THESE FREE DAYLONG EVENTS ACROSS RHODE ISLAND.

Gaspee Days Arts and Crafts Festival
May 26–28: The main thoroughfare in Pawtuxet Village is closed to traffic for this annual festival, which features arts and crafts by more than 100 exhibitors, plus a food court, live music and carnival amusements. Narragansett Parkway, Warwick, 781-1772, gaspee.com.

Virtu Art Festival
May 26–27: Browse paintings, drawings, pottery, glassworks, jewelry and more handmade art, plus live music, a creation station for kids and a “yarn bombing” exhibit where fabric artisans weave designs on park trees. Wilcox Park, 45 Broad St., Westerly, 596-7761, oceanchamber.org.

Wickford Art Festival
July 7–8: Since 1962, the Wickford Art Association has invited artists from across the country to show their work in lovely Wickford Village. This year’s juried festival promises more than 200 masters of their media, from oil paint and sculpture to mixed media and fiber art. Main and Brown sts., Wickford, wickfordart.org.

Cultural Survival Bazaar
July 28–29: This annual festival features art and crafts — plus music and food — by indigenous groups from around the world. Tiverton Four Corners, Main Road, Tiverton, 617-441-5400, culturalsurvival.org.

The Looff: East Providence Art Festival
Aug. 11: Fine art gets a whimsical treatment at this family-friendly event, which features work by painters, sculptors, fiber artists and more. Kids will love the onsite carousel. Crescent Park, 700 Bullocks Point Ave., Riverside, eastprovidence arts.org.

RISD Craft
Oct. 6: A portion of Benefit Street is closed to traffic for this annual juried sale, which features handmade fine art and design work by more than 100 Rhode Island School of Design students and alumni. Benefit Street, Providence, risdcraft.com.

Scituate Art Festival
Oct. 6–8: North Scituate’s village green in the fall is a work of art unto itself — think: white-steeple church, trees aflame, crisp autumn air. This heralded festival, which is juried, has welcomed 100,000 visitors to Rhode Island’s quiet corner since 1967. Browse art, crafts and antiques, then stick around for live music and lunch at a local eatery or at the festival food court. 554 West Greenville Rd., North Scituate, scituateartfestival.org. –C.N.

Tales from the Trade

Courtesy of the artist.

William Schaff, multimedia artist
First buy: It’s funny, since I am a working visual artist, I really don’t make enough money to purchase original art (I barely make enough each month to pay bills on time), so the original art I own is acquired through trade of my own work.

There is one piece I can think of — a small oil painting done by a local Warren artist, Christopher Roe. When he is not painting scenes of his beloved Ireland, he is doing images of people and places in my favorite town in Rhode Island.
The piece I bought from him was a painting of two people playing backgammon in a bar setting. The painting is based off of two people I know. The setting: Jack’s Bar, a local watering hole I love dearly, and have spent many hours playing backgammon there myself. This is one of the very few pieces I can recall having paid money for (his work is priced ridiculously low).

First sell: I imagine you are speaking of a work of mine that fits into what is recognized as my “body of work,” as opposed to when I was designing Christmas figurines for a company in Hong Kong. If that is
the case, one of the earliest I can remember was a piece I created in the early ’90s called “The Family.”

It was from a series I had started while in college, and I sold it to a family friend in Italy. I was excited to 1. have sold it, and 2. have it be my first real piece to go outside of the country. I still quite like that piece
as well, and as there are not a lot of pieces from that specific body of work in private collections, I am happy it was given a home to breathe. flickr.com/samsa1973