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2011-2012 Artist Mentors

Aneudy Alba is a Providence native who graduated from Classical High School and Roger Williams Middle School. He has taught various art media after school to middle school students from Paul Cuffee and Highlander Charter Schools and served as a CityYear Senior Corps Member 2009-2010. Aneudy also served as an AmeriCorps EDTAP (Expanded Day Teaching Artist Project) Teaching Artist at Providence City Arts. He has been an active member of New Urban Arts for close to a decade. He began as a high school student, and in 2006 as an alum, became a member of the Student Recruitment Team and served on the pilot year of New Urban Arts youth leadership council, the Studio Team Advisory Board, which he Chaired the following year in 2008-2009. This is his first year as an artist mentor.

Caitlin Cali is in her fourth year as an artist mentor at New Urban Arts. She received her BFA in Printmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and completed a year of graduate courses in Art Education at the University of Massachusetts. She has taught art at the Nantucket Island School of Design and Art, Pyramid Atlantic, Zea Mays, and lived/worked at the Edward Gorey House Museum. She feels most at home while simmering in the juices of places like New Urban Arts, where people are genuinely working together to find some kind of truth and do the wild thing.

Paul Carbone is a senior in the biology program at Rhode Island College. He has always been interested in art, especially drawing. He is that student who has more doodles in his notebooks than actual notes. He has been drawing since he was a child, but has only been serious about it recently, and has started experimenting with painting recently. His primary focus is biology and he enjoys applying creative thinking to the scientific process. He is a new studio study buddy at New Urban Arts.

Priscilla Carrion was born and raised in Providence. She is an alumni student of New Urban Arts, where she graduated in 2003. Since then, she has been propelled into many textile related directions from quilting and wallpaper design to weaving bicycle tubes. She received a B.A. in Textiles from RISD in 2007. She likes textile craftsmanship and slow processes like quilting knitting, weaving, and stitching. She is a RISCA Educational Teaching Artist, and has been a lead organizer for multiple years in the Urban Pond Procession, a community arts initiative aimed at drawing attention to pollution in urban fresh water bodies in Providence. She also spent a summer working with hand weavers in Guatemala to learn traditional back strap weaving and to understand the positive affects art can have within a community. Despite location changes and the passage of time, Providence’s natural heritage and industrial past still inspires her. If you have any stories about RI’s history, she’ll definitely sit and listen to you. Priscilla has previously worked at New Urban Arts, managing the Summer 2010 Open Studio, and as the 2010-11 Studio Manager. This is her first year as an artist mentor.

Saulo Castillo was born and raised in South Providence, RI. Saulo is an alum of New Urban Arts, where he endeavored in many art media, from screenprinting and photography to websites and mail art. He once attempted to mail himself at the post office. He wants to change the world through hip hop awareness. He is actively involved in the underground bboying movement present in Rhode Island right now. He trains daily, performs regularly and has been in three battles. He is currently attending LTI for massage therapy, which he plans to use in combination with sports massage for the greater good of the bboys. This year is his first year as an artist mentor, teaching breakdancing, or as he likes to call it, bboying.

Katrina Silander Clark is from, in and around Providence, Rhode Island and its surrounding toxic rivers, scenic beaches, pastoral suburbia, chaotic collective endeavors, late night and early morning bicycle rides, intriguing architectures, extended families, public libraries, bottomless cups of coffee and before that, school cafeteria coffee milk cartons, and exciting and generative mental landscapes. Katrina draws a monthly comic strip called RAT RADIO and works on a solo and semi-regular comic zine called ROT. She also prints posters for shows, builds intuitive structures out of trash, screams in a very loud and crunchy band and plays great-grandparent era music on accordion in another. Katrina has apprenticed with Farmacy Herbal Education center in Providence and at the Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont, and currently sporadically learns Spanish, offset lithography, and tries to sit in on queer ecology conversations, at ONA, AS220, and RISD, respectively. Katrina has toured extensively with homemade bizarre youth-fueled circuses, and has run around all over the country with a heavy backpack full of too many books and interesting rocks and things like that, but is now extremely psyched to live and work on one million things "in the city where I'm from."

Cassie Clarke is currently in an open relationship with Providence and Boston, because she’s honestly got too much love invested to leave either. She is a life-long martial artist, teacher, writer, and listener. In Boston, she works as a youth literacy activist, organizing community events for MASSLEAP—a nonprofit aiming to bring the spoken word to the Boston-based youth. She is a fingernail away from graduating from Suffolk University with a BA in Creative Writing, where she’s also been employed as a writing/ESL tutor for the past three years. During her free time she teaches poetry to 6th graders, writes poems, and plasters her wall with portrait photography. She’s a firm believer in the power of the written/verbal voice as a life-line and education as an ongoing dialogue... also toe-socks, saving the white
lion, and the necessity of owning a bo-staff at all times. She’s excited to join the New Urban Arts team as a poetry-mentor, and cannot wait to share and learn from each others' histories together! She hopes to ignite some voices, or at least some giggles.

David Colannino is a writer, illustrator and filmmaker from Providence, RI. He received a BA in Philosophy and English from the University of Rhode Island. His work deals almost exclusively with creating fictional places and populating them with histories, geographies, flora and fauna, which usually means he is drawing pictorial maps or describing the origin of the Birch Wizard. David has recently returned to New Urban Arts after a two-year hiatus in Spain, and will be leading a yearlong workshop on creating science fiction and fantasy.

Alice Costas hails from Chicago, Illinois, where she wrote her fingers off at Young Chicago Authors and holed up in her high-school's homemade dark-school, located in the men's theatre locker room. She is a printer, photographer, writer, performer, biker, and baker. She has very expensive pieces of paper from Brown University and RISD, where she was a guinea pig for the Brown/RISD dual degree program. She works at the RISD museum, researching and observing beautiful things. She also spends a good chunk of time observing even more beautiful things as the Coordinator of Toddlery for a 13 month old. After 24 years living in cities, she spent last summer teaching art and writing, and learning to use "brights" on "back roads" to get to "swimming holes" in the Pioneer Valley at the Deerfield Academy Summer Arts Camp. She is very very happy to be back at NUA for a third year of mentoring.

Maria Katherine DiFranco is a painter and printmaker in Providence, Rhode Island. She polished her drawing steeze in her home town of Cleveland, Ohio until the fateful day when she packed up those pencils, and what some claimed to be a cardigan collection that rivaled Mr. Rogers himself, and drove twelve speed abiding hours to Rhode Island School of Design. Fast forward four years later and Maria exploded out of RISD with her printmaking chops and a back pack full of sleep debt. Now well rested, you can find Maria drawing with a few of those same pencils on her couch, or neck deep in intaglio ink at the AS220 printshop. Maria is a pencil nub specialist at The Met School in Providence, where she teaches portfolio. This is her second year as an artist mentor at New Urban Arts. Maria's future plans include picking up a second degree in printmaking, and subsequently wearing down her cherished diamond tip etching tool.

Ben Ellcome is a visual artist and community organizer giving voice to young artist though public art and studio arts. Ben has been teaching for 10 years, with the focused on the community and what role an image maker has in it. Ben has shown throughout Newport County and is currently residing in Exeter with his partner of 3 years and his daughter of 7 years.

Jess Fields is an explorer of the unknown with a passion for art, jokes and bad television. She came from sunny California to the rusted city of Pittsburgh, PA to study film and learn about crippling winters. After five long years she moved to the charming city of Providence to work with little kids and animals. She enjoys brutal sumi ink projects, whirlwind collaborations and talking to people about their art. She has held many interesting job titles including security guard for Cirque du Soleil, AmeriCorps worker for the Providence Children's Museum, cupcake slinger in a bakery, and shelter worker for Providence Animal Rescue League, but right now she sorts papers in an office. She calls it "zen." She also acts in plays written by elementary aged beast writers through the Manton Avenue Project. Jess first fell in love with NUA when she participated in the 2010 Providence Zine fair, and hung around throughout the year at such events as the All Night Art Lock-in and the end of year Art Party. As creator of the new tradition, NUA Karaoke night, Jess has a soft spot for passionate off-key singing. She loves avocados, gummy bears and her dog, Scout. Jess Fields is a ghost enthusiast.

Emmett Starr FitzGerald grew up in a very old house on a snowy hill in Montpelier, Vermont. In between trips to the woodpile, Emmett spent his time reading Tintin comics, playing the clarinet, and hoping to grow taller. He came to Providence in 2006 to attend Brown University where he studied history and creative writing. For his thesis, he wrote the first half of a young adult novel about a colony of talking lobsters, a mysterious buoy, and the lobster fishing industry. He hasn’t yet gotten around to writing the second half, but he’s going to any day now. Emmett works at a non-profit organization in Providence writing high school history books on topics like the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. He is fascinated by the powerful potential of stories and motivated by the desire to create new possibilities with words. Emmett is incredibly excited to join the NUA community where he hopes to write with students, help with homework of the non-math variety, and have conversations about bats houses, boreal forests, the future, or whatever else anyone wants to talk about.

Kevin Gonsalves is from Providence, Rhode Island. He is an alumni of New Urban Arts, where he learned traditional black and white photography as a high school student. He also participated in the arts programs at As220 Broad Street Studio and Providence City Arts. A percussionist for more than seven years, Kevin has enjoyed opportunities to travel and perform. At the age of 15, Kevin was one of two high school students from the US selected to play in a musical ensemble in Portugal, sponsored by Child Reach and Plan. He currently works at a nursing home and plans to be a teacher for students with special needs. Kevin is an independent film junkie, has a small Chihuahua named Yaya and dances salsa whenever he can. Kevin is still fascinated by the darkroom and continues to create new works, mostly fashion and portraiture photography. This is his third year as an artist mentor.

Julia Gualtieri took her first printmaking class over a decade ago at the University of California, Santa Cruz and has been in love with the medium ever since. Relief printing, intaglio, lithography, letterpress, screenprinting---you name it, she's into it! She is thrilled to return to New Urban Arts for a third year of mentoring and is especially excited to use the new silkscreen studio with students. Over the years, Julia has worked with many local organizations such as New Urban Arts, City Arts, RISD Project Open Door and the RISD Museum teaching programs or collaborating on projects. Last year she traveled to South Africa with a grant from the InterExchange Foundation where she was a visiting artist in residence at the Indigo Skate Camp in Isithumba Village, Kwa-Zulu Natal. She lead the young skateboarders in printmaking and artmaking activities and was excited to discover an afternoon at the skatecamp felt a lot like an afternoon at New Urban Arts. Julia is continually inspired by the creative people of Providence and is happy to call this strange city home. You can see her work online at www.jtgualtieri.com

Karen Lee traveled great distances from the sunny warmth of home in Los Angeles, to be in Providence, Rhode Island, where she currently is a Junior majoring in Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is not unfamiliar to the Providence non-profit circuit: she has previously made cardboard rockets and marshmallow domes with kids from the William D’Abate Elementary school in Olneyville for English for Action, drew posters and manned the doors for AS220, and even helped spread awareness at a Buddhist temple about Mashapaug Pond for the Urban Pond Procession. Karen’s passion for community involvement and helping others see their artistic potential has ultimately led her to New Urban Arts where she had previously been a Studio Assistant, but is now thrilled to be returning as a Painting Mentor. When she’s not tied up in studio work, she’s either traveling the world (wrangling koalas in Western Australia, weaving with a master weaver in a little Mexican village, or just circumambulating temples in India), obsessing over jellyfishes (her favorite animal next to the sea cucumber), or just cooking and volunteering at the Pawtucket Farmer’s market for Farm Fresh RI.

Louis Martinez is a RISD graduate with a focus in sculpture. He hails from a small town in the middle of Massachusetts that most people have never heard of and if he didn't tell them about it, probably never would. He comes from a pretty big, very close family. His art focuses on portraying the weakness of the strong. Utilizing mostly steel, wood, concrete and other industrious materials, he creates work that is very precarious in nature. The work, though built out of such strong materials, never lasts long and is often the source of its own demise. His work is an antithesis to itself. When he is not creating and destroying things, he spends a lot of time letting his mind wander off into other worlds, through books, comics, video games and the like. He also enjoys sports, board games and pretty much any kind of activity that can be considered competitive. He came to New Urban Arts January of 2011 and grew to love the enthusiasm and comfort of the space and people. He is now the sculpture mentor and is proud to be a member of the New Urban Arts team.

Sam Merritt is honored to be the fashion mentor at New Urban Arts. Since finishing art school, she's worked professionally as a silversmith, bookbinder, assembler of adult novelties, bejeweler of dog clothes, teaching assistant, tailor, bouncer, and vegan baker, and unprofessionally at many other things. She's part of The Dirt Palace Collective of female artists, plays cymbals in What Cheer? Brigade, and fronts punk band The Cavegirls. When making art, Sam only uses materials and tools that have been discarded or found second hand. It's her way of tapping into endless adventure, self-confidence, and her dream to live better on less. She's glad to see that reusing has become media-friendly and popular lately because she'll be doing it either way.

Norlan Olivo was born in the Bronx on December 22nd, which means that every year since then he’s gotten ripped off on December 25th, only receiving a “Birthday/ Christmas present” instead of two gifts. Norlan moved to Providence when he was nine years old and has been here since. He is a photography who has taught photo at many places including AS220’s adult program, AS220’s youth program and the beloved New Urban Arts. He’s also a musician who plays drums for local marching band, The What Cheer Brigade and local punk band, The Downtown Boys.

Anne Reinhardt likes Providence so much she moved here twice. She comes
from Detroit, Michigan (a place she also loves very much) where she taught middle and high school art for incarcerated youth. She earned her teaching certificate and BFA in photography at the College for Creative Studies, and her MA in art education at RISD. Anne has a small collection of string she intends to use someday, and a dog who's lower lip looks like it might be made of rubber. As the video and new media mentor you will find Anne around the studio riding the line between the still and the not-so-still image.

Victoria Ruiz is an alumnus of youth arts program in the Bay Area which inspired her interest and dedication to the urban arts community. She worked for Arts Engine and the Media that Matters Film Festival in New York which engaged educators and learners in short film and education resources around the food and agriculture system in the United States. In Italy, she worked as a set design mentor with cohorts to develop youth street theater and public art installations in the windy streets of Segusino and Trieste. She is passionate about the confluence of knowledge and practice and studied architecture and economics in hope to understand the physical aspects of cities and how to be a part of the tiny moments of people coming together that make our cities churn. She is overzealous to be the front woman of Providence’s punk band the Downtown Boys. This is her second year as an artist mentor. When not at NUA, or singing her lungs out, Victoria rallies for immigration and labor rights.

Kent Stetson is a new artist mentor this year, specializing in integrative digital design. The son of a blacksmith and an equestrian, Kent grew up on a large farm in New Hampshire. Kent graduated from Brown University in 2001 with concentrations in visual art, philosophy, and pre-medical studies. Soon thereafter, he opened a digital print shop in Pawtucket. In 2003, as a framing experiment, Kent made a handbag from one of his prints and has since made bags for retailers throughout the United States and Asia. As an artist, Kent is interested in merging technology with traditional craft techniques. Kent had a large-scale piece featured in an exhibition as part of Art Basel Miami 2011.

Alicia Uth currently works as an advisor at the MET High School and teaches various classes for the RISD Cont. Ed program including Printmaking, Creature Feature and Rebel Art: Voice of the People. Alicia has been a raving, doodling, art fiend since she can remember. As a child, she remembers sitting silently for hours drawing on placemats at the restaurant where her mom was a waitress. When she went to work with her dad at construction sites, she drew in the sand with a stick or on pavement with a rock. After a few years roaming around down South after graduation from HS, Alicia eventually found her way back to RI and received a degree in Art Education from Rhode Island College. When Alicia is not making art, some of her favorite things to do include: searching for cool art online, reading, watching movies with her cats (Bonnie and V for Vendetta), laughing as much as possible, playing sports, hanging with her family and friends, and refusing to grow up.

Jorge Vargas was born and raised in Downtown Los Angeles, CA. He is the son of immigrant parents from Michoacán, Mexico. After high school, he worked as a production intern and actor in theater companies Will Power to Youth, Shakespeare Festival Los Angeles, and Plaza de la Raza. Jorge credits his experience in youth arts for his exposure to human relation and facilitation work which ultimately inspired him to pursue a career in social services and counseling. He then went on to major in Psychology at Pasadena City College and UC Berkeley. While in college, he discovered a talent and passion for poetry, which lead him into spoken word poetry. He won a spot on the Berkeley Cal Slam Team, competed at the national collegiate level, and has performed at many social justice events. After graduating in 2008, he had the privilege of working for non-profit organizations Homeboy Industries and Guardian Scholars before transplanting to Providence, RI to work for the National College Advising Corps at Brown. Last year he served as one of NUA’s poetry mentors, and this past summer facilitated a men’s group for the Untitlement Project. This year he returns to NUA as the “Senior-Life-Coach”, helping students define their post-high school plans, guide students through the application process, and help them apply to financial aid. He hopes to continue the tradition of passing on an appreciation for art in all of its manifestations just like his many wonderful mentors have done for him.

Amanda Zoref is originally from Connecticut, went to school in Boston, lived in Brooklyn for six years, and somehow landed in Providence this fall. In between she has lived in Italy, Colorado, Maine, and in a tent on Martha’s Vineyard. Her undergraduate degree was in Fine Arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She also has a Masters in Social Work, but still doesn’t know if there is an apostrophe in Masters. Amanda’s work has mostly been centered on black and white photography and its history, but until recently she has been opening herself up to mixed media. Amanda loves all things pop culture, food, Brooklyn, and spending money like she was born in the depression era (circa 1929). She is thrilled to be a part of NUA this year!

 

Arts Mentoring Fellows

Kedrin Frias was born and raised in Providence, RI. He first arrived at New Urban Arts as a student, while attending Central High School. He later returned to New Urban Arts ready to volunteer as an Artist Mentor during his sophomore year at Rhode Island College and remained an artist mentor for the next seven years. He graduated RIC with a degree in studio art and an art teaching certification for grades K-12. He has worked with various youth organizations including the Steel Yard, Providence CityArts, Youth in Action, and the Paul Cuffee Charter School. He has led many community mural projects, including teaching the Mu Crew at New Urban Arts in 2009, a six week summer program in which high school students painted an outdoor mural for the John Hope Settlement House through the funding from the President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on behalf of the Providence Arts Culture and Tourism Department and the Workforce Solutions of Providence/Cranston. He makes it his business to meet each of his students on their own personal level, while corralling all of their talents into a group effort. Kedrin believes that everyone can draw, it’s just that some people have forgotten they can. He currently serves as a substitute art teacher for the city of Providence. He hopes to earn a full time Art teaching position in a Providence High School.

Emmy Bright’s work has traversed the fields: arts administrator, teaching artist, board member, art teacher, professor, researcher. In addition to working at New Urban Arts in Providence, Emmy currently teaches Art Education graduate students at City College New York. She also was recently a volunteer trainer for Girls Rock Rhode Island and a consultant for the Cloud Foundation in Boston MA. She holds a B.A. in Art History from University of Chicago and an M.Ed from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In other studies, including at Penland School of Crafts and School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has worked and trained in community radio, papermaking, fiber and material studies, clown/performance, and printmaking. Her creative practice has multiple foci: one eye is in her studio, where she makes prints, drawings, and illuminated paper forms about ideas of loss, language, socialness. She is glad to be a member of Providence's community of print makers, educators, garden diggers, experience curators, question askers, teenagers, co-learners, and other kin-type folk.

2010-2011 Artist Mentors

Abel Hernandez
Alice Costas
Andrew Migliori
Andrew Oesch
Caitlin Cali
Carole Ann Penney
Christina Lawrence
Dylan Block-Harley
Evan Monteiro
Jadrian Miles
Jamie Fagant
Jamila Woods
Jess Fields
Jorge Vargas
Jori Ketten
Kevin Gonsalves
Lois Harada
Maria DiFranco
Melissa Mendes
Morgan Fagant
Rob MacInnis
Sam Merritt
Sophie Tintori
Victoria Ruiz

2009-2010 ARTIST MENTORS

Adrienne Benz 
Dylan Block-Harley
Caitlin Cali
Alice Costas
Morgan Fagant
Kevin Gonsalves
Erik Gould
Sarah Greenfield
Julia Gualtieri
Osmery Guerra
Abel Hernandez
Lynn Kiang
Rob MacInnis
Jadrian Miles
Dionte Noble
Carole Ann Penney
Filomena Riganti
Caitlin Saharek
Dan Schleifer
Emily Ustach
Mary Wilson

2008-2009 ARTIST MENTORS

Jane Androski
Adrienne Benz
McKenzie Burrus-Granger
Caitlin Cali
Zachary Clark
David Colannino
Morgan Fagant
Ben Fino-Radin
Erik Gould
Julia Gualtieri
Abel Hernandez
David Karoff
Dionte Noble
Erica Palmiter
Jen Rice
Melissa Small
Lane Taplin
Emily Ustach
Isaac Wingfield
Meredith Younger

2007-2008 ARTIST MENTORS

Adrienne Benz
Jason Brockert
McKenzie Burrus-Granger
Carrie Cannon
Lauren Carter
Jean Cozzens
Bremen Donovan
Ben Fino-Radin
Kedrin Frias
Erik Gould
Christine Hochkeppel
Jeff Hutchison
Gretta Johnson
David Karoff
Stacy Magner
Melissa Mendes
Michael Moretti
Carrie Sandman
Kian Shenfield
Andrew Oesch, Fellow
Peter Hocking, Fellow

2006-2007 ARTIST MENTORS
Jesse Banks III
Heidi Born
Megan Billman
Jason Brockert
Lauren Carter
Jessica Chermayeff
Bremen Donovan
Richard Edouard-Denor
Kedrin Frias
John Tabor Jacobson (JJ)
Melissa Mendes
Charlotte O’Donnell
Andrew Oesch
Kate Sanders-Fleming
Carrie Sandman
Emmie Thelander

2005-06 ARTIST MENTORS
Jesse Banks III
Sara Berg
Erica Carpenter
Jeanie Chu
Jean Cozzens
Kedrin Frias
Eva Glieberman
John Jacobson
Anne McMahon
Charlotte O’Donnell
Adenike Omisore
Jennifer Rice
Arthi Sundaresh

2004-05 ARTIST MENTORS
Jesse Banks III
Sara Berg
Esther Chak
Grace Durnford
Kedrin Frias
John (JJ) Jacobson
Morolake Odeleye
Charlotte O’Donnell
Benjamin David Sault
Arthi Sundaresh
Nicky Tavares
Ellen Twaddell
Lynne Yarne
Tanisha Wallace

2003-04 ARTIST MENTORS
Sara Berg
Liz Luna
Jesse Banks III
Kedrin Frias
Erica Dennis
Curtis Evans
Rukmini Giridharadas
Erik Gould
Simon Moore
Antonio Peters
Tanisha Wallace

2002-03 ARTIST MENTORS
Jesse Banks
Lacey Browne
Faith Cannon
Vincent Chong
Kedrin Frias
Michael Friemuth
Flexie Giddings
Owen Muir
Kagnaone Som
Sheena Sood
Anissa Weinraub

2001-02 ARTIST MENTORS
Jesse Banks
Lacey Browne
Ilana Cohen
Shelley Povarnik
Kedrin Frias
Julia Grob
Melissa Koh
Marly Louis
Owen Muir
Roderigo Vega
Japhet Weeks

2000-01 ARTIST MENTORS
Kat Ball
Dominika Bednarska
Elizabeth Hoover
Karla Gallardo
Soyeon Lucy Kim
Marly Louis
Sara Schedler
Jason Yoon

1999-00 ARTIST MENTORS
Aixa Almonte
Natalia Almada
Elizabeth Hoover
Karla Gallardo
Luisa Guigliano
Natalie Lewis, Spontaneous Combustin'
Natalie Markward
Ning Sengsouvanh
Bobbie Watkins
Adam Weinstock, Spontaneous Combustin'
Windsor Williams

1998-99 ARTIST MENTORS
Justin Bernstein, The Theatre Project
Ana Fox Chaney, The Theatre Project
Helen Cymrot, The Photography Workshop
Elizabeth Hoover
Sarah Leddy
Fay Ryu

1997-98 ARTIST MENTORS
Marcus Civin
Tyler Denmead
Julia Kim
Malaika Thorne