artscope magazine: May/June 2009 Welcome Statement: Brian Goslow, managing editor Letters to the Editor ARTSWorcester's BIENNIAL 2009 GRIDWORK: Further explorations into the urban landscape featuring new work by Robert Maloney and Sean Thomas BEN ARONSON - LIGHT AND GEOMETRY: The Urban Signature RADKA DONNELL: THE WORK OF TOUCH DOROTHY SIMPSON KRAUSE: LOSING GROUND NATURAL WORLD: A BRICKBOTTOM ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION MEMBERS' EXHIBITION JOE FIG: IN THE PAINTER'S STUDIO POINT OF VIEW: OUTDOOR SCULPTURE GALLERY-BY-THE-FALLS THE SIXTH SENSE: CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY FROM KOREA Featured Artist: Dominique Boutaud FéLIX DE LA CONCHA: PRIVATE PORTRAITS/PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS 2009 PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART BIENNIAL SCULPTURES IN LOVE WITH ARCHITECTURE JESSICA GONACHA at YES Gallery and Studio THE BRIGHT & SHINING LIGHT OF IRREVERENCE: RICHARD SAJA AND THE HISTORICALLY INACCURATE SCHOOL WHERE HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY MEET BRATTLEBORO-WEST ARTS PREMIER GROUP EXHIBITION SCOTT PRIOR (ongoing) and LARRY PRESTON / GREG GILLESPIE and LEONEL GóNGORA ANDIAMO! Art on the Hill Destination: Federal Hill, Providence’s Little Italy THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF ENCAUSTIC PAINTING AXIOM CENTER FOR NEW AND EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA CAPSULE PREVIEWS

ANDIAMO! Art on the Hill Destination: Federal Hill, Providence’s Little Italy Meredith Cutler Atwells Avenue Providence, Rhode Island;/br> After a long, harsh New England winter, I’m feeling the need for escape. With travel budgets modest, our annual summer visit to the in-laws in Rome is an unlikely dream. Wistful for Mediterranean UV overload, serious pizza and the artistic legacy of Western civilization, I’m not entirely out of options — even here in Rhode Island, our nation’s smallest state. Wearing my New England pallor under oversized sunglasses, I hop in my jalopy for a journey across the highway. A mere 10 minutes later, I’m stirring espresso with a little spoon at Costantino’s Venda Ravioli, which holds up its ample end at DePasquale Plaza, a cobblestoned public square crowned by an enormous fountain. The line at “Venda” snakes around cases of fresh pasta. Pure, unadulterated consumption is on the mind of these shoppers, but I’m tempering my share with a little gallery hopping. Refreshed after my caffé, I’m greeted streetside not with the high whine of Italy’s darting motorini (mopeds), but with a roaring motorcade of the Rhode Island Hell’s Angels as they cruise impressively up Atwells Avenue. Welcome to Federal Hill, Providence’s “Little Italy.” Painting a colorful, Americanized picture of Italy in miniature, DePasquale Plaza is at the heart of Federal Hill, framed by the eclectic offerings of Atwells Avenue. Personified by an influx of Italian immigrants who developed the neighborhood from the late 19th through the first half of the 20th century, today’s Federal Hill retains a hearty culture of welcome and celebration of the finer things in life: food, drink, community and art. Here, five independent galleries form a loose collective known as Art on the Hill, boasting a special sales-tax-free status bestowed by the state. Falling within a few blocks of one another, “The Hill” makes for a leisurely gallery crawl destination with plenty of pit stops along the way. Andiamo! My first stop, gallery Z at 259 Atwells Ave., is Art on the Hill’s “oldest” member, having opened in 2001. Their private collection features fine art by Armenian, European and American artists from the early 20th Read the entire article in our magazine pages...