10/25/2026
Happy International Artist Day🖼️
At the Newport Historical Society we are fortunate to have been able to work with many artists over the 172 years since our founding in 1854. Most recently, we have worked with artists who have expanded and deepened our understanding of Black and Indigenous history through their work in our award-winning exhibition "A Name, A Voice, A Life: The Black Newporters of the 17th-19th Centuries" and at the newly opened Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History.
Artists Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, Cat Laine, Eric Telfort, and Toby Sisson contributed art works to the "A Name, A Voice, A Life" exhibition that helped the NHS to interpret the lives of the enslaved men and women whose names and stories were recovered from the archives. Through different art mediums, the artists celebrated the lives of Mereah Brenton, Robert Wainwood, Obour Collins, Yallah, Morandah, Mowoorie, Simboh, Burrah, and Yearie, all of whom were enslaved peoples who lived and labored in Newport, RI between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Within the Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History artists Robin Spears, Jayna Dias, Nick Benson, Sika Foyer, Bob Dilworth, Jazzmen-Lee Johnson, Kristine Mays, and Cassie Kokenos have contributed art works that interpret the experiences of Black and Indigenous peoples enslaved and free. With art mediums ranging from metallurgy and acrylic paint on canvas to natural textiles like deerskin and cedar, these pieces of art express the stories and lived experiences of Black and Indigenous people.
This International Artist Day we are celebrating these amazing artists and their artworks that help us to share Newport's Black and Indigenous history!
