Taylor Johnston, a Little Compton-based gardener, also runs Gamine, a Tiverton clothing company featuring her own line of durable denim and sustainable knitwear Legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham was doing what he did best when he fired the shutter of his 35mm camera to capture a candid shot of Taylor Johnston at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum almost a decade ago. She wasn’t donning a designer gown or perusing the exhibits with perfect coiffed hair, but rather, the horticulturist had dirt lodged under her fingernails and her outfit was chosen not for fashi ..read more

With “Games, Gamblers & Cartomancers,” Art&Newport brings contemporary art to The Vernon House this summer and fall, plus a new Nick Benson exhibit at Belmont Chapel Images courtesy of Art&Newport Above, Rob Pruitt’s, Pandas Playing Poker (after Cassius Marcellus Coolidge), 2023 (Courtesy of  303 Gallery). At top, Tina Barney’s, Card Players Newport #4, 2023 (© Tina Barney. Courtesy of the artist and Kasmin, New York) The Vernon House sits quietly on he corner of Clarke and Mary streets in Newport. A historic home with several plaques, it’s perhaps not an obvious choice for ..read more

Viewers invited to consider ‘Book as Muse’ this summer at Jamestown Arts Center There are a thousand silent ways to tell a story: Words on a page, color on a canvas, the shape of a sculpture. This summer, the Jamestown Art Center will host an exhibition which asks the viewer to consider what happens when representation and description co-mingle. Titled “Book as Muse,” this revolutionary exposition sheds new light on a dynamic and provocative intersection, one that explores the rich tapestry of connections between literature and visual art. Danielle Ogden and Jeff Foyle, co-curators, have se ..read more

An artist re-immerses herself in the local art scene — and shares what she learned People gather at the opening of OVERALP art space in Newport. | Cate Brown Photography Lately, I’ve been contemplating what happens when you were forced to hit pause on your community — and are not sure how to get back in. In 2019, I finished a graduate degree in fine arts and felt deeply immersed in the arts culture of Newport County. But then, as it did for many, the pandemic took the plans I had laid out for myself and placed them on hold. As we all re-emerge, the maddening truth is that I am finding it quit ..read more

At Art Talk in Newport, the process of making art is also a form of healing and therapy In a cozy and sunlit studio on the corner of Spring and Prospect Hill streets, Angela Gallo is assembling a space that will be part therapy office, part meeting place for group workshops — and a gallery. The thread connecting these various interests is art, specifically using art as a tool to help people heal — and as a means of fostering community. Fittingly, this new space is called Art Talk. Gallo is especially looking forward to using the space for group art therapy sessions. She launched a six-week pr ..read more

Latest exhibit at the Newport Art Museum features collected works of Joseph Norman Joseph Norman, pictured in the main gallery of the Newport Art Museum, where his work is on display through April. | Dave Hansen photo To know a lithographer is to know analchemist. And Joseph Norman, a uniquely influential artist, is one of the most important lithographers of his generation. As an artistic medium, lithography exists in the realm of the improbable: Oil and water assert their locations on the level surface of a stone to give way to an image that can be repeatedly transferred on paper for as long ..read more

Four local women and their businesses use keen designs and luxe signatures to make a yacht feel as comfortable and elegant as a home “When you think you’ve seen the biggest one in the harbor,” says Ally Maloney, “you turn your head — and there’s another.” Ally Maloney of Maloney Interiors in Newport | Elaine Fredrick photo Maloney, a yacht-oriented interior designer who founded Maloney Interiors in downtown Newport in 2014, is referring to the bumper crop of superyachts that line up along Newport’s waterfront during the summer months — like thoroughbreds at the gate. When it comes to luxe yach ..read more

The Jamestown Arts Center’s Biennial showcases works that explore the passing of time Getting to Jamestown from Newport can sometimes feel like more of a journey than a 10-minute drive might otherwise be. It could be the island mentality, which, especially on beautiful days, makes leaving Aquidneck Island’s landmass for anywhere else seem tricky no matter how wonderful the destination. It could also be the sheer grandeur of the actual passage between the two communities, as the Pell Bridge soars over Narragansett Bay far below, where land and sea are crocheted together by links both delicate ..read more

Rebecca Kelly gives a fashion talk at the Audrain Automobile Museum. | NLM Staff photo If Rebecca Kelly could cruise around town in a classic “land yacht,” it would be a 1955 Packard Caribbean. “I think it’s my favorite car in the exhibition,” she said of the cream convertible with red accents that’s currently on display at the Audrain Automobile Museum. The car is wide and stately and packed with deluxe features. This particular Packard is part of the “Land Yachts: Cruising the Interstate Highways” exhibit, which was the inspiration for a talk Kelly gave Wednesday evening at the museum, which ..read more

Harry Benson, the iconic photojournalist, and his images are the subject of a new exhibit at the Redwood Library & Athenaeum I would never call my work art, that sounds so pretentious,” said Harry Benson, the iconic photojournalist whose images are the subject of a new exhibit at the Redwood Library & Athenaeum. He was speaking at the opening reception Wednesday afternoon, where a crowd of about 175 people had gathered to see him and his photographs. “I’m just a boring old fellow from Glasgow,” Benson said, his voice soft, his Scottish accent faint and his sense of humor wry. He was we ..read more