Inspired by the redwood trees of her native California whose upper canopies catch coastal fog and direct it downwards to maintain under-canopy ecosystems, Newsome constructed her first “RainKeep” sculptures at Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum in Bristol, RI in 2014. She was asked to curate a group exhibit incorporating wind, sun and water and came up with three bold sculptural forms that would catch rain water.

She now has a patent pending for “RainKeep” and has built site specific variations for Kennard Park Sculpture Trail in Newton, MA; Mrs. Perry’s Garden at Thomas Park in Bristol and most recently at “Time Space Existence,” a collateral exhibition of the 2018 Venice Biennale of Architecture hosted by the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Italy.

Newsome received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is an instructor with Harvard University’s Office for the Arts Ceramics Program. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at RISD Museum and Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island, Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama, Beatrice Wood Museum in California, Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts and Federal Museum Ben Franklin Biblioteca in Mexico. She has also been part of group exhibitions in Jingdezhen, China; Paris, France; and Budapest, Hungary.