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We’re now in the season of all things whaling here at PPL. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in to see “From Hold to Horizon,” which is not just an exhibition but also an opportunity for interaction with the curators, Becci Davis and Kei Soares Cobb. Kei and Becci have created a beautiful space in our exhibition gallery, and you can register for one or more of the activation days, on which they…
Two men and a woman at the bar, 1983https://provlibdigital.org/islandora/object/109-03-0301-01p We are excited to announce that the Kim Deacon Collection photographs are now digitized and available to the public on provlibdigital.org! Kim donated materials in 2021 to the RI LGBTQ+ Community Archives at Providence Public Library. Her collection documents the Kings & Queen Bar in Woonsocket,…
From a 1917 Gossard Corsets advertising brochure.
PPL’s fantastic Makerspace staff and users have put together a really fun exhibition in the 3rd floor Joan T. Boghossian Gallery. Not only can you come in and see some amazing locally-made artwork, you can get inspiration for your own projects that you can bring to life in our workshop. (You can even make a short stop-motion film while you’re in the gallery itself.)
Katie in front of the poster in the Trinity Rep. Theater window We had an absolutely fantastic keynote lecture by Katie Garth last week as part of our 2023 Updike Prize ceremony. If you ever get a chance to hear Katie discuss her art and her process don’t miss it. We celebrated our three excellent finalists–Emily Bluedorn, Clara Cayosa, and Tina Zhou and announced that Clara Cayosa is this…
We’ve noticed an increasing number of researchers interested in a very specific collection over the past year – specifically, a set of recordings of TV220 – a cable-access television show that aired from the late 1990s-mid 2000s produced by AS220. Maybe it’s curiosity and nostalgia for the analog VHS format, an appreciation for the grainy aesthetics inherent to the production or a sense of…
From O.I. Leman (Moscow) type specimen book, 1914
We’re excited to announce that we have open calls for two fellowships at the moment. This is your chance to work with our materials to create something new. First, our long-running creative fellowship is now accepting applications. Each year we select a fellow to spend time researching in our collections and create new artwork in response to the theme of our annual exhibition and programming…
Guest post by our Reading Room Attendant, Audrey Buhain. This new year we processed something that is the first of its kind into our Special Collections: a palm leaf manuscript! The production of palm leaf manuscripts was most common before mass printing methods were adopted throughout South and Southeast Asia, but their production continues to this day. They consist of literary, folkloric,…
Announcing PPL’s 2023 Creative Fellow
We’re so excited to announce the Library’s 2023 Creative Fellow, J.R. Uretsky. J.R. will be doing extensive Special Collections research and making new work about grief and mourning, in conversation with our spring 2023 exhibit Picturing the Pandemic. Photo of J.R. Uretsky by Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez J.R. Uretsky (she|they) is a Providence-based artist who weaves performance, video, puppetry,…
Now Accepting Applications for 2023 Creative Fellowship
We’re happy to announce that we’ve released the call for proposals for PPL’s 2023 Creative Fellowship, an eight-month fellowship for an artist to do research in our Special Collections and create new work related to the theme of our spring exhibition. This year, we’re looking for an artist working in the field of performance to create work about grief and mourning, in conversation with our…
Creative Fellowship Digital Reading Room
As we reshelve and return Tomboy exhibition items and wrap up the 2021-2022 Creative Fellowship, we want to take a moment to highlight Carmen Ribaudo‘s final (stunning!) fellowship creation: a digital reading room called Shape Becomes Story. The digital reading room features historic and contemporary materials from PPL’s Special Collections and from Queer.Archive.Work that served as part of…
Creative Fellow Artist’s Talk – May 14, 2022
We’re pleased to announce that our 2021-2022 Creative Fellow, Carmen Ribaudo, is presenting an Animated Art Talk and Digital Reading Room Release at Providence Public Library on Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 3 pm. Poster advertising Carmen Ribaudo’s artist’s talk, printed in red ink on pale yellow paper. You can read details about the event in the calendar listing here. Capacity is limited, so…
Creative Fellow Carmen Ribaudo’s work on display
After many months of Special Collections research, PPL’s 2021-2022 Creative Fellow, Carmen Ribaudo, has created incredible new work as part of our current Tomboy exhibit. We’re so excited to tell you about it and invite you to view it in person at PPL! First, you can visit PPL’s 3rd floor exhibition gallery to see Carmen’s projected collage movie, We Are Full – the colorful, cut-paper animation…
New exhibit: Tomboy on view April 1 – June 30, 2022
Today! April 1st! It’s a big day: It’s opening day for Tomboy, the first Special Collections exhibit on display in our post-renovation, now-fully-open-to-the-public, maximum-elegance 3rd floor exhibit gallery. (No thanks to COVID for thwarting the ability of the public to visit The King is Dead, our 2020 exhibition and program series, in person.) Tomboy was expertly co-curated by PPL Curator of…
Happy Halloween from Special Collections and from our spooky friends! First, this very cheerful cloaked skeleton who hopes they’re invited to your Halloween party: Evans, Henry Ridgely. The spirit world unmasked: illustrated investigations into the phenomena of spiritualism. Chicago: Laird & Lee, 1897. Next, from the characters in “Little Wee Pumpkin’s Thanksgiving,” none of whom are at all…
