Providence Public Library (PPL) is presenting multiple exhibitions on view during the Library’s open hours this fall! See below for details on those currently on display. We welcome you to PPL for these exhibitions and associated programs and events.
Everywhere I Go: Sketchbooks from Cyrus Highsmith
October 1 - December 31, 2025
The exhibition will be on view during regular library hours in the Joan T. Boghossian Gallery on the 3rd floor.
From the 1990s to the present, artist and type designer Cyrus Highsmith has been sketching out ideas that have made their way eventually into award-winning artwork and typefaces. This exhibition offers the rare opportunity to see those ideas develop from their first moments in the sketchbooks that Cyrus has carried with him daily.
October 4 – Updike Award Ceremony and Cyrus Highsmith Lecture
Since 2014 PPL has awarded its Updike Prize to a student type designer who has used the library’s collections in the creation of an original typeface. This year we’re also celebrating Providence educator and type designer Cyrus Highsmith. Over the course of the past three decades Highsmith has filled sketchbooks with designs, artwork, text and more, and this year he has donated the collection of hundreds of sketchbooks to PPL Special Collections. The sketchbooks are on display in the Library’s Boghossian Gallery, and Cyrus will be our featured speaker at this year’s award ceremony.
Join us on Saturday, October 4, at 1:30 pm to view the exhibition, meet the student designers and see their work, and hear from Cyrus about his sketchbook practice. The event is free, and open to the public. Registration appreciated.
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“Turn the Page” -- Artwork by Andre Lee Bassuet, Iris Wright, Kevin Veronneau, Lara Henderson, Michael Ezzell and Xiao Guo
Artwork by Andre Lee Bassuet, Iris Wright, Kevin Veronneau, Lara Henderson, Michael Ezzell and Xiao Guo
October 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026
On view during regular library hours in the Updike Room, 3rd Floor.
A group exhibition showcasing artworks repurposed from deaccessioned books of the Providence Public Library. These new works of art, sculptures and collages inspire the idea of transformation and turning the page in our own lives. It also invites dialogue about taking on the challenge of recycling materials.
Andre Lee Bassuet (she/her/hers) is a Korean American artist, designer and educator based in Rhode Island. She reuses materials that have been discarded or forgotten to explore themes of ancestral trauma, feminine identity and belonging. She completed her MFA at Osaka University of Arts on a Monbusho scholarship and a bachelor’s from New York University. Her bookarts are in the Columbia University Libraries, Harvard Fine Art Library, John Hay Library, MassArt Libraries, RISD Fleet Library collection, SMFA Tufts Library, Western Michigan University’s Special Collections, as well as private collections. She is currently teaching the Art of the Book at Brown University.
Iris Wright (xe/xem/xyr) is a transdisciplinary artist. Xe grew up in northern Illinois and trained as an artistic writer before pursuing a degree in Visual Art and Literary Arts at Brown University in Providence, RI, where xe graduated with honors and was awarded the Ann Belsky Moranis Award for exceptional skill in visual art. Xyr artist’s books and zines are housed in the special collections of the Rhode Island School of Design, the Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender Zine Library, and the Savannah College for Art and Design. Xe is a founding member of the artist collective abcpvd (Art Book Collective, Providence), where xe collaboratively organizes group art shows that prioritize interactive art. Xe makes art that is worn, spoken, and touched to demonstrate communication’s futility, especially where it attempts to capture queer and othered being.
Kevin Veronneau enjoys utilizing a variety of materials to ground his conceptual art. He specifically finds crossing art genres with modern construction materials, signage, and other nontraditional art practices, the most fun. A playfulness in skewering norms and fondness for art history usually are the nexus and drive into his creative process. Veronneau lives in Providence and works as a librarian in North Providence.
Lara Henderson is a book artist, printmaker, and designer based in Providence, RI. She is a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She prints her work out of AS220, a community printshop located in Providence, RI. Henderson received a BFA in Graphic Design from UMass Dartmouth and an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts.
Michael Ezzell uses a range of media to create his illustrations. In the stories he tells with his printmaking and painting he explores esoteric symbolism and mysticism, weaving characters and icons reminiscent of Greek and Roman myths into new narratives and worlds. Ezzell’s work presents a window through time and reality; an escape into realms of fantasy and wonder that mix and merge into one another, inviting us to question what is real and what is make-believe. Ezzell works and lives in Providence, RI. He holds a BFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art & Design.
Xiao Guo is a printmaker and teacher currently based in Providence, RI. Born and raised in China, she moved to the United States to attend Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she received a BFA in Textiles and an MA in community- based art education. Her current practice includes printmaking, independent publishing and teaching. She makes prints and books that merge textiles with printmaking, working at the intersection of slowness and urgency. In her practice, the care given to handcrafted textiles and the distributive potential of printed multiples are both celebrated.
Programming
Wednesday, October 8, 4:30 to 7:00 pm: Opening Reception and Artist Talk for exhibition “Turn the Page”
This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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“Echoes of the Andes”: Exhibit of Ancient Peruvian Ceramics
Facilitated by The Andean Cultural Center of Rhode Island (ACC) & Consulate General of Peru in Hartford.
July 23, 2025 – July 24, 2026
On view during regular library hours in the Rhode Island Room, 1st Floor.
The Andean Cultural Center of Rhode Island, in collaboration with the Peruvian Consulate in Hartford, proudly presents Echoes of the Andes: Peru’s Ancient Heritage, an exhibit showcasing a collection of pre-Hispanic Peruvian artifacts, including Chancay, Nasca, and Huaura ceramics. The Andean Cultural Center of Rhode Island is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of the Andean countries. We bring together people of Andean descent, support recent immigrants, and foster community through cultural, social, intellectual, and civic activities. Special focus is given to preserving the Quechua and Aymara cultures and educating the broader public about Andean traditions.