This intergenerational project merging art from the children and families of Smith Hill Library with the seniors at Hattie Ide Chaffee Home, was made possible through support from the RI State Council on The Arts and the RI Foundation, 2025

Circle of Light was a project created in two parts. The objective with each piece was to produce art that enhanced the environment and brightened spirits. Sunset was the first collaborative to begin.

As we collected the paintings from week to week, the sunset grew into an arc of deepening colors and fantastical images.

As the seniors worked on the Sunset, the Sunrise was just beginning to set the horizon aglow with new morning light and the emergence of animals.

and hearts follow both of them wherever they would go

through the clouds and into the sky

memory and dreams dance, we move round like a circle, like a circle on a string, moving through life like a circle thing…

We invite you to share in this experience.

Imagination Takes Flight was a community collaborative project which took place in four of the Community Libraries of Providence branches. Rochambeau was the last to be completed.

We found nearly everything we needed in the garbage.

We recycled old construction paper and painted it using multiple spatter, stencil and print techniques.

The recycled cardboaed boxes were cut into leaf shapes, then covered with the colorful art.

The tree is too large to build from a single box, so it is spliced together from multiple pieces of cardboard, then reinforced, covered with bark, and finished with many coats of varnish.

When The Tree of Imagination was transplanted from ArtHouse Studios to the front entry hall of Rochambeau Library, it began to grow. Its colors have been thriving ever since.

Imagination Takes Flight was a community collaborative project which took place in four of the Community Libraries of Providence branches. Wanskuck was the first completed. These birds are now flying across a 12 ft. wall in the children’s room.

We recycled old construction paper and painted it using multiple spatter, stencil and print techniques.

Everyone helps to decide which paintings we will use for each bird.

We add words to the paintings, putting our thoughts and our dreams into them to help the birds fly.

After the backing forms were cut out from recycled cardboard boxes, the birds were assembled at ArtHouseRI studio using acrylic polymer to collage the paintings together, and jewlery tools for a precision fit.

And our birds are ready to fly!

Come visit Wanskuck Library in Providence, RI where you can see for yourself – if imagination takes flight, there is a world of possibilities, just waiting to be discovered.

This activity was made possible in part by a grant from the RI State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the RI General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts;
and by a project fund for the arts from Providence Art, Culture, and Tourism.

The Wall of Hope began with an idea: we can create a piece of art that brings the power of Hope to life in Smith Hill Library.

We learned new techniques…and invented a few of our own.

We didn’t know what we were going to do before we started – but colors seem to have a mind of their own. Row, by row, a rainbow grew.

We had artists of all ages…the whole family could create together, whatever their age.

Cathren Housley and Alan Gunther, director of Smith Hill Library, Community Libraries of Providence, discuss the project with host Mario Hilario.

The Wall of Hope is up and installed in its permanent home at 31 Candace Street, Providence.

We sincerely Hope you will visit and experience the magic for yourself.

During the pandemic, Fox Point Library needed a project their kids could do at home. A recycled sculpture was the answer. The leaves and parts were cut out of plastic water jugs. Kids took them home , colored them, then brought them back.

Carla Rennick and Cathren Housley build the tree while a virtual audience watches and continues to create colorful pictures on the pieces they took home.

Art grows from the inside out, colors and images growing as if they were the bark on a tree…

the leaves begin to sprout, transparent fronds of green that flutter about the tree…

The finished tree now lives at Fox Point Community library. No watering necessary! In the summer, The Recycled Sculpture tree will enjoy the sun in the outdoor courtyard. In the winter, it will fill the huddled library with color, a reminder of what creative minds can do when they work together.

Game cards from The World of Doom

Smith Hill Library collaborated on a fantasy game of the future, where travelers must make a perilous journey to find the Magic Stones and re-plant the Forests before they are lost forever.

South Providence Library is where this neighborhood was built – just in time for Trick or Treat! But watch out for the One-Eyed Monster and the Forest of Fear – or you’ll lose all your candy before you get home.

The kids at Wanskuck Library had so many ideas, we had to include them all! In this trivia fact-filled collection of Rooms we learn about The Arctic Biome, kitchen lore, Community, and random unusual facts to surprise your friends.

An architectural wonder that would become the home for Monsters, Maze Runners and treasures galore.

This 3D game board is a place of hidden doors and wrong turns – the kids at Washington Park Library built it for their epic adventure of treasures and traps.

A simple circle on a screen
can become a mysterious orb in a solar sky.

Photograph by Gabriel

Make your paintings stand out in the crowd!
Presentation is an important part of your package.

Painting by Maia

You never know what new ideas will spring to life!

make a rainbow wreath with Sculpy
and build a collection around it.

Sculpture by Bharvi

Have an idea for a product line?
Let the world know!
button are fun to wear…and free advertising.

And we’re here to help.

This workshop series was made possible by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.