UPP Arts Collection

This collection documents the artistic, administrative, and educational activities of UPP Arts.The materials in this collection reflect a decade of interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, educators, students, and community members who used place-based art to celebrate and build awareness for Providence’s urban ponds. Their work focused particularly on Mashapaug Pond and its environs, which include the site of the Gorham Manufacturing Company and the former West Elmwood neighborhood.
This collection is part of Providence Public Library Digital Collections, hosted by Providence Public Library.

Items in this collection

Holly Ewald reflections on oral history

Notes by Holly Ewald from UPP Arts related to her approach to oral history, especially as it related to interviewing West Elmwood and Mashapaug Pond residents and creating the course outline for her work with students at Brown University.

Holly Ewald of UPP Arts and Mayor Jorge Elorza

Holly Ewald, organizer of UPP Arts, and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza in front of the Mashapaug Pond mural at Alvarez High School during the Urban Pond Procession in 2017.

Graphic timeline of Mashapaug Pond

Graphic timeline of Mashapaug Pond

Providence Public Library

Graphic timeline of Mashapaug Pond used in the educational packet on the theme of "Industrial Culture" by UPP Arts in 2012.

Gorham Documentation Project, pages 116-addendums

Documentation about the the Gorham Manufacturing Company complex on Adelaide Avenue in Providence created for the City of Providence Department of Planning and Development and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission.

Gorham Documentation Project, pages 1-115

Documentation about the the Gorham Manufacturing Company complex on Adelaide Avenue in Providence created for the City of Providence Department of Planning and Development and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission.

Gladstone Street Elementary School indigenous arts workshop

Wanda Hopkins, a UPP Arts teaching artist and member of the Narragansett tribe, works with students at Gladstone Street Elementary School during a UPP Arts' indigenous arts workshop. Craft supplies are visible on a table in the foreground as students sit on the floor listening to Wanda.

Girls at Wat Thorikaram

Girls at Wat Thorikaram

Providence Public Library

A group of young girls displaying their decorations made during a public workshops at Wat Thorikaram Buddhist Temple at 177 Hanover Street, Providence as part of UPP Arts public workshop.

Full Circle film series press release

Full Circle film series press release

Providence Public Library

UPP Arts press release announcing the film "Silvered: Tracing Gorham at Mashapaug Pond" as part of the Full Circle Film Series in 2016 and describing the work of artists Erik Carlson, Erik Gould, Holly Ewald and Tim Ferland.

Eastern Medicine Singers at Urban Pond Procession, 2017

Eastern Medicine Singers, an Algonquin drum group, drum and sing during the start of the Urban Pond Procession to Mashapaug Pond in 2017. Bending over the drum is Chief Darius Two Bears Ross (Ani-Tsalagi, Onaselagi North Eastern Band of Cherokee Lenape Indians). Sitting around the drum is Michael Spirit Wolf Ras (Caquetios Arawak) - seated with legs visible behind Chief Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson, Chief Raymond Two Hawks Watson (Mashapaug Narragansett), Chief Tureygua Taino Cay (Cibuco Bayamon Taino) and Chief Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson (Pocasset Pokanoket).

Eastern Medicine Singers at Urban Pond Procession, 2017

Eastern Medicine Singers, an Algonquin drum group, drum and sing during the start of the Urban Pond Procession to Mashapaug Pond in 2017. Sitting around the drum is Michael Spirit Wolf Ras (Caquetios Arawak), Chief Raymond Two Hawks Watson (Mashapaug Narragansett), Chief Tureygua Taino Cay (Cibuco Bayamon Taino) and Chief Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson (Pocasset Pokanoket). Standing watching the drum is Chief Darius Two Bears Ross (Ani-Tsalagi, Onaselagi North Eastern Band of Cherokee Lenape Indians).

Dust Bowl at Reservoir Elementary School

Image of the "dust bowl", an empty dirt pactch, in the playground of the Reservoir Elementary school before construction of the Oasis project in 2014.