The Wickford Art Association brings its tremendously popular Fall Art Fair back to Gooseneck Vineyards on Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event takes place at 1340 Tower Hill Road in North Kingstown and is free and open to visitors of all ages.
The fair began last year as a one-day event, born out of the association’s search for a way to partner with a local business while staying lower-key than the Wickford Art Festival. That first event drew 43 artists and a strong turnout, and both the vineyard and association were pleased with the result. Gooseneck asked to bring the event back for a second year, and both parties agreed that extending to two days made sense. Beyond the fair, the Wickford Art Association runs a gallery with exhibits that rotate every four to five weeks and supports scholarship programs for local student artists.
This year’s fair features 75 invited artists. Most of the exhibitors are juried members who show at the Wickford Art Festival, though the association also invited a handful of artists whose work would fit well with this event’s relaxed format. Heather Schold, the association’s new Director, who came on in March, said the goal is a manageable afternoon of art shopping.
“I think this is something that really has legs to continue,” Schold said.
Artists will set up outdoors across two tented areas, a marquee tent already used by the vineyard and a second tent recently added in the field behind the tasting barn. Erin McManus, Gooseneck’s hospitality manager, said the vineyard made a few changes this year based on last year’s turnout, including expanded parking and the addition of that second tent.
“A secondary tent has been put in our field so that guests can enjoy walking around the vendors, seeing their artwork, and then go in for some shade and some drinks,” McManus said. “Obviously at Gooseneck, we really want to showcase our wine.”
Gooseneck will offer its usual wine tastings and food trucks, including Vetrano’s Pizza and Artisan Bites, as well as music, throughout the weekend. Schold said guests will be free to roam about the property. This year, the fair falls on URI’s Family Weekend, which organizers expect will bring additional foot traffic.
Gooseneck is also introducing a new pour made specifically for the occasion, an “Artisan Series” Cabernet featuring a label designed by Wickford Art Festival artist Cate Brown, depicting what McManus believes is Second Beach in Newport. The vineyard’s sangria, made with its Wickford White, a nod to the winery’s original location, remains a house favorite.
Among the artists exhibiting is Ian Mohon of West Greenwich, a juried Wickford Art Association member who works in acrylic on canvas and wood panels. Mohon joined WAA last year and was recently juried in. This is his first year participating in the Gooseneck fair, though he has shown at the main festival for five years, at the Providence Art Club, and in the traveling veterans’ art exhibit Journey Onwards at the Salmagundi Art Club in New York.
Mohon’s work includes pet and animal portraits, garden scenes, and abstracted landscapes. He hand-paints Victorian-era wallpaper patterns into many of his backgrounds and, on wood panel pieces, skips sealing the wood so the paint soaks in, highlighting the wood’s natural grain. He uses other tricks to create or enhance texture in many of his pieces.
Also exhibiting is Larisa Martino of Cranston, a member of the Wickford Art Association’s Board of Directors and a contemporary mixed media artist working in abstract and figurative styles. Martino has been an exhibiting festival artist since 2019 and has served on the board for nearly six years. She was a volunteer helping mark out the vineyard fields for last year’s fair but was unable to attend as an exhibitor due to a prior commitment.
Martino trained in textiles, and her skill is spotlighted in her layered work, which incorporates lace, glazes, inks, crystals, and construction tape and glue on canvas, glass, and metal.
“I like to play around with different textures,” Martino said.
She is creating new, smaller pieces on wood specifically for this year’s fair and will also bring existing inventory, including pieces from her figurative angel collection and a larger abstract tapestry, to demonstrate her range. Given the URI Family Weekend crowd, Martino plans to emphasize smaller, easily transportable work, including hand-drawn, signed original cards starting at $10, alongside pieces priced up to $3,800.
Martino also takes commissions and runs an open studio and gallery space in Cranston, where she hosts an annual open house and sends a quarterly newsletter to collectors.
The event is free and family-friendly, and both organizers hope it will become a fall tradition.