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PVDFest is thrilled to present temporary works of art in downtown Providence from four public artists, all locally based. They were chosen through a competitive selection process to create temporary installations for this year’s festival. The works are designed to animate the festival footprint, engage audiences, and create conversation at PVDFest.

(photo: sculpture by Kristina Brown)


Providence based artist May Babcock

MAY BABCOCK is an interdisciplinary artist. Her studio techniques combine hand papermaking, printmaking, sculpture, alternative process photography, and book arts. She creates artwork that addresses contemporary landscapes by gathering sketches and materials from a site to create innovative installations and works of paper. Babcock exhibits nationally and internationally, and most recently has shown at The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, Brown University’s Granoff Center for the Arts, and The Center for Book Arts.


kristina brown providence public artist

Multimedia visual artist and designer KRISTINA BROWN moved to Providence in 2008 to join feminist art collective The Dirt Palace. Since then she has worked as a production tech for professional and fringe theater in set design and construction, as a props master and fabricator, and in costumes. In addition to working as designer and fabricator in the Steel Yard’s Public Art Department. Brown’s public work has been installed at Mashapaug Pond, Four Corners Arts Center, Burnside Park, Empire Street, Riverside, and the Rhode Island Hospital. She is inspired by salvaged or found materials, historical maps, navigation, philosophical diagrams, geometric concepts, and architectural drawings.


Nick Carter and Kyle, Providence based public artists

NICK CARTER is an artist, educator, and community organizer. He is currently the Apparel Design Coordinator at AS220 Youth where he has worked since 2011. Carter’s studio practice is based in painting but involves printmaking, sculpture, installation, wearable art, performance, video, and photography. His most recent work is inspired by quilting motifs, natural and artificial camouflage, and urban architecture. Carter’s collaborator KYLE is an artist and archivist who works in vocal performance, sculpture, video, and printmaking.


Sam White, Providence based public artist

SAM WHITE is an artist and an active member of the Nicholson File artist community, situated in the Valley Arts District. His artwork has appeared in illustrated books and newspapers, in animated films, on ceramic cups and tiles, and painted in murals over the walls of businesses and private homes. He is the founder and director of Wooly Fair, a summer art carnival which will be rebooted at the Steel Yard in 2019.

PVDFest Public Art Projects are commissioned for the duration of PVDFest each year. These temporary public art installations work to enhance interactions between visitors at the festival and make the streetscape more vibrant, playful, surprising, or beautiful.

Art lovers will be excited to learn that the city is taking public art very seriously. Mayor Jorge O. Elorza recently unveiled the Art in City Life Plan: A Public Art Initiative for the City of Providence. The Plan establishes a vision for public art, details why public art is important in Providence, and puts in place a roadmap for the City to commission and support public art projects and residencies.

“The arts are our city’s life force, and I believe public art should play a major role in Providence,” Mayor Elorza said when unveiling the plan. Click here to learn more about the Art in City Life Plan: A Public Art Initiative for the City of Providence.

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