RHODE TRIPS
It’ s back to Bristol on July 30, while Aug. 27 will feature galleries and shops on Warren’ s Water Street. The season ends with a closing party in September at The Guild in Warren, which usually brews a special Art Night Bristol Warren beer as part of the“ Pint for a Purpose” program to raise funds for the organization.
When Rhode Islanders think of art crawls, the popular Gallery Night Providence might come to mind. But the East Bay’ s event is a little different; it’ s a smaller organization running things, for one, with fewer spaces for artists to exhibit. Which means that Kindness and other board members are always looking for local businesses to host an artist for an evening.
Gray’ s Ice Cream, for example, which just opened a location on Bristol’ s Hope Street, was paired with an artist who created Rhode Island-centric pieces. ReMax River’ s Edge in Bristol is always eager to host artists as well, Kindness says, while Alayne White hosted live painting demonstrations in her gorgeous backyard gardens last season.
“ We’ re driving not just foot traffic to the business, but the artists get exposure as well,” Kindness says.“ We’ re deeply committed. A lot of us on the board got our start being artists. And so we want to make sure that artists have an opportunity, because it’ s really hard to get gallery representation.
“ There aren’ t a ton of places in Rhode Island where you can just walk in and say,‘ Hi, can you put my artwork on the
Artist collaborative Hotpoint Emporium in Bristol is a frequent stop during Art Night events.
66 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I MAY 2026