UPDATE: This event has been rescheduled to Monday, Feb. 13, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Hardge Forum. as space is limited.
KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� Feb. 3, 2023 鈥� On Monday, Feb. 6, artist and alum Angela Gonzalez 鈥�16, also known as AGonza, will return to the 溏心vlog免费B站 Kingston Campus to lead a small group paint workshop at the Multicultural Student Services Center. The Culture and Canvas event is presented in collaboration with the Black Student Union.
A 鈥渞evolutionist鈥檚 artist,鈥� Gonzalez believes in the power of art鈥攁nd of artists鈥攖o spark conversation, bring people together, and inspire change. Gonzalez grew up in Providence鈥檚 Manton Heights but spent her teen years in the Dominican Republic. She entered 溏心vlog免费B站 through the and found a home in the Department of Art and Art History, and mentors in TD academic advisor Edward Shear and art professor Bob Dilworth. She graduated with a B.A in art, and a minor in theater.
Gonzalez sees art as therapeutic and says it has helped her in her own mental health. She believes the conversation that art can spur and the healing it can bring is good for the community as much as for the individual.
Perhaps no example of this is better than her actions a few years ago when vandalism on Providence鈥檚 Westminster Street forced many shop owners to board up their storefront windows. Gonzalez and other muralists offered to cover the plywood sheets in art. She painted a portrait of her friend Miss Rhode Island USA Jon茅t Nichelle.
鈥淚 came down to Westminster Street and saw what was going on and wanted to do something about it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n my art, I鈥檝e always focused on what connects us. I鈥檓 doing what we should be doing: uniting and supporting each other.鈥�
Her subjects are most often neighborhood residents 鈥� local heroes 鈥� and represent those who often go unnoticed, while simultaneously uplifting the community.
溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 assistant director of the Multicultural Student Services Center, Robert Britto-Oliveira, has a personal connection to Gonzalez and her work. 鈥淎Gonza’s story is so compelling and the passion behind her work resonates with so many people from my community,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen the City of Providence contracted her to complete a mural featuring my on the Fox Point Boys & Girls Club, it was a piece that lived with me and my family.鈥�
On why he wanted to invite Gonzalez back to campus and hold this event for the community during the month of February, he says, 鈥淎 part of my role is alumni engagement and every chance I get, I call out to our village to return and give back to the scholars we serve at the University. I wanted the students of 溏心vlog免费B站 to have that same feeling that my family experienced illustrated through their own work 鈥� and to have that work live in the MSSC.鈥�
Most recently Gonzalez was on campus attending the University鈥檚 Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Luncheon, which featured 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus, artist, poet and scholar Wilson Kwamogi Okello, who is now an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University. During the luncheon she painted a portrait of King, which will be displayed in the Multicultural Student Services Center.
Britto says Monday鈥檚 workshop will present an opportunity for the community to come together and collectively express creativity while embracing and appreciating African American culture. In that vein, attendees will be paired with someone they do not know to produce a large canvas painting.
Culture and Canvas will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Hardge Forum of the Multicultural Student Services Center, 74 Lower College Road. Supplies will be provided.
Please note that as space is extremely limited. Registration will close once capacity is reached.