Artist Talk with Mary Beth Meehan

Artist Talk and Public Conversation about Mary Beth Meehan’s Seen/Unseen Providence

Join artist Mary Beth Meehan at the launch of Seen/Unseen: Providence for a conversation about artistic collaboration, place, and community that will challenge predisposed beliefs. Mary Beth Meehan spent a year traveling throughout Providence taking portraits of its residents. The result: a collection of photographs that captures the people of Providence, explores what community means, and asks the viewer to stop and think about how we “see” one another. The artist complements an installation of 8 large-scale prints on downtown buildings for the Providence International Arts Festival, produced by the City of Providence and FirstWorks. The public art installations are continued in an exhibition in the Gallery at City Hall (opening reception June 13, 6-8pm; on view through July 20, 2015).

Meehan will be joined by Anne Valk (a historian and educator with specialties in oral history and public humanities), Donald King (creative professional, festival producer, branding/marketing specialist, educator and socio-musicologist), and Fernando Oliveros (owner of Fernando Auto Repair, featured on the banner on Custom House Street). Jan Howard, RISD Museum’s Chief Curator and Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, will introduce the artist.

Co-sponsored by Rhode Island School of Design and Providence Art Culture Tourism.

Free and open to the public.