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All times are local to the venue · America/New York
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Curated by Judith Tolnick Champa, the WaterFire Arts Center exhibition connects distinct personal and cultural histories through work in pastel, stoneware, ceramic, mixed media and layered silkscreen.
All times are local to the venue · America/New York
In Go, Figure!, the human form becomes a meeting point for different histories and ways of seeing. Six contemporary artists use it to consider identity, memory and unease, with no single interpretation meant to settle the conversation.
Curator Judith Tolnick Champa brings together Gabrielle Barzaghi, Leslie Fry, Claudia Olds Goldie, Zhexing Huang, Jazzmen Lee-Johnson and Entang Wiharso. The exhibition spans pastel, stoneware, ceramic, mixed media and layered silkscreen. That range matters: the figure is not just something to depict here, but a way for each artist to pose different questions about experience.
Rather than resolving those questions into a shared conclusion, the show places its varied ideas of embodiment side by side. Visitors can follow how form, material and personal perspective shape each artist’s treatment of identity and memory.
Further reading: Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · Go, Figure! Featured Artist Statements - WaterFire Providence ↗
Jazzmen Lee-Johnson considers the African diaspora’s layered history and its continuing relevance to Black communities. Entang Wiharso’s figures move between Java and Rhode Island—places he regards as homelands—in a mythic mode. Gabrielle Barzaghi creates fictional characters shaped by her family’s White Russian heritage. These contexts give the exhibition’s broad subject distinct historical and personal dimensions.
Other works focus on bodily strain and vulnerability. Leslie Fry uses separated ceramic body parts to consider how a body holds together; Claudia Olds Goldie’s delicate forms draw attention to the possibility of fracture. Zhexing Huang’s seated figures take up resistance and defeat. The contrasts offer visitors several ways to think about pressure, whether it comes from nature, society or other forces.
Further reading: Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗
Go, Figure! is the first part of a two-exhibition project. The same six artists are slated to show an entirely different body of work in The Body Politic: Defiant Figuration Today, curated by Champa at Nancy Devine Gallery in Warren, Rhode Island, from November 21, 2026, through January 3, 2027. It is a separate exhibition at another venue, not an extension of the WaterFire Arts Center presentation.
The Warren show’s November 21 opening reception is listed for 4–7 p.m. The listing also schedules A Speculative Jurisdiction (Part II), a performance-lecture, for 6 p.m., but does not identify a performer. Go, Figure!’s own October 15 opening reception ran from 6–9 p.m.; its 8 p.m. program was A Speculative Jurisdiction (Part I).
Further reading: Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗
The exhibition description gives an October 15–November 8, 2026 run. However, the event-series schedule and WaterFire Arts Center calendar also list Go, Figure! dates from November 11 through 15. Confirm with the venue before planning a visit after November 8.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · WaterFire Arts Center - WaterFire Providence ↗
The listed weekly hours are Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; and Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. No Monday or Tuesday hours are listed.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · WaterFire Arts Center - WaterFire Providence ↗
The exhibition is in the Gallery of the WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02908.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · WaterFire Arts Center - WaterFire Providence ↗
Admission terms are not stated in the event listing. WaterFire Arts Center’s listed phone number is (401) 273-1155.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · WaterFire Arts Center - WaterFire Providence ↗
WaterFire’s access information describes its downtown riverfront events and access boat, not this exhibition gallery. Contact the Arts Center to ask about arrangements for a visit.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · Accessibility at WaterFire Events - WaterFire Providence ↗
The event listing identifies the Gallery of the WaterFire Arts Center at 475 Valley Street, Providence. Its map links can calculate directions from your starting point. WaterFire’s parking and directions page covers the downtown riverfront events, not this gallery; it does not provide gallery-specific transit or parking instructions.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · Parking and Directions - WaterFire Providence ↗
The event description says October 15–November 8, 2026, but the series schedule and venue calendar also list Go, Figure! dates through November 15. Confirm with the Arts Center before visiting after November 8.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · WaterFire Arts Center - WaterFire Providence ↗
The listed performance-lecture was part of the October 15 opening. The October 31 event listing gives gallery hours, not a separate live program.
The event listing does not state whether admission is free or paid. Call WaterFire Arts Center at (401) 273-1155 to confirm.
Go, Figure! - WaterFire Providence ↗ · WaterFire Arts Center - WaterFire Providence ↗
The Body Politic: Defiant Figuration Today is scheduled at Nancy Devine Gallery in Warren from November 21, 2026, through January 3, 2027, with a different body of work by the same six artists.
475 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02908
Map search by venue and address. Check the organiser’s entrance details before travelling.
Images from the linked sources. Each caption identifies the context of the image.
Event, planning and background information checked 2026-10-31 against the linked sources.