For more than half a century, the Wickford Art Festival in Rhode Island has become a gathering place for juried artists, collectors and art lovers from across the country, with this year’s lineup of 197 participating artists featuring three from Franklin County.
Presented by the Wickford Art Association, the festival transforms Wilson Park in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, into an outdoor gallery experience, welcoming thousands of visitors each year. When the 63rd annual event is held on Saturday, July 11, and Sunday, July 12, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, it’ll feature artwork by Sue Fontaine of Lake Pleasant, Caroline Christie of Colrain and Mary Walsh-Martel of Conway.
While some artists have been creating since childhood, Fontaine is an artist who stumbled upon her love for art by chance.
“I was going to be a nurse,” Fontaine recounted in her Millers Falls studio. “But then I took a painting class — it was kooky, but here I am, a full-time artist.”
Now, Fontaine is known for textured mixed-media paintings that preserve scenes many people overlook, such as old mills, water towers, bridges and aging structures.
“They’re really just the kind of everyday things that we see,” she said.
The appreciation for overlooked places goes beyond the buildings themselves. Fontaine incorporates antique sewing patterns onto her canvases, allowing faded markings and layers beneath the paint to create a sense of history and withering. She even layers botanical illustrations over urban landscapes, resulting in a contrast between industry and nature that invites viewers to slow down and spend time with each piece.
The inspiration in Walsh-Martel’s work, on the other hand, is less from industrial structures and more from the quiet beauty of New England’s natural landscape. After taking a watercolor course 11 years ago, Walsh-Martel found herself drawn to old barns, stone walls, gardens, animals and skies.
“I’m inspired by the juxtaposition of permanence and decay that you see in old barns, old homes and stone walls,” Walsh-Martel said. “So it’s very New England-y in that regard.”
Even though she has traveled extensively and painted scenes from England, Italy and Portugal, she said western Massachusetts continues to shape both the subjects she chooses and the colors she puts on paper. At this year’s Wickford Art Festival, she plans to exhibit roughly 40 to 50 works, including paintings from her recent “Earth and Sky” series alongside coastal scenes chosen specifically for an oceanfront audience.
Walsh-Martel said she finds that conversations with visitors are a rewarding part of participating in festivals.
“We talk about a sense of calmness,” she said. “I hear that a lot about my work, that it’s very calming.”
It’s the connections that Festival Director Heather Schold hopes visitors experience. Despite this being Schold’s first year at the helm of the Wickford Art Festival, she said the event’s reputation has been built over the decades by carefully selecting artists who work in a wide variety of mediums.
Each year, a jury reviews applications from artists seeking admission to the festival. Those selected earn the opportunity to exhibit alongside returning artists, curating a diverse collection of paintings, photography, ceramics, jewelry and other fine arts.
“I think art is a binding element,” Schold said. “It’s something that brings people together from all walks of life and really brings a sense of community. It’s just finding beauty in all different kinds of things.”
In an age when so much art is viewed through a phone or computer screen, Schold believes there’s still something unique and irreplaceable about seeing a piece in person and speaking directly with the artist who created it.
“You can sit there and look at beautiful things on social media and the computer,” she said. “But when you’re in the midst, and you’re physically having these creations in front of you, there’s nothing like that.”
While Fontaine and Walsh-Martel approach their work from different perspectives, both hope visitors leave the festival with a renewed appreciation for the places around them. Whether it’s the texture of an old mill building, the quiet beauty of a weathered stone wall or the changing light across a summer sky, they hope to encourage people to slow down and notice details that are often overlooked.
