Art League Rhode Island will hold its 2018 Annual Meeting which will feature Guest Speakers Michael Townsend & Leah Smith from The Tape Art Crew, inventors of the public art movement Tape Art. The artists use tape as a primary medium for creating large-scale drawings and installations. Originating in Providence, RI, where the Tape Art Crew installed its first tape art, The Great Roller Coaster Crash, this evolving group of artists has created over 500 muralsand thousands of smaller drawings on walls around the globe.

The Tape Art Crew designs murals using Drawing Tape, a low-adhesive paper tape specifically manufactured to be removed from almost any surface without damaging such surfaces or leaving a residue behind. They work on diverse material such as wood, cement, brick, metal, glass, stucco and plaster. 

The Tape Art Crew’s 2015 mural for Art Prize is featured in the award-winning documentary More Art Upstairs, which explores the question of who should determine what is good art, in an art competition, when the public has the opportunity to vote for the winner. The documentary had screenings in 2017 at the Hot Docs Film Festival, the Nantucket Film Festival, and Naples International Film Festival. 

Seeking excellence in the arts, Art League Rhode Island fosters participation in and appreciation of the arts by providing opportunities for growth and encouragement of artists. In furtherance of their mission, ALRI has partnered with local art museums, RISD, Rhode Island College, The VETS Foundation, Providence Art Club, New England Foundation for the Arts, and many other artistic, educational, and philanthropic organizations.