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Updated 10/16/2023

Tape Art

  • R

    RI

Institution/Business Type: Artist / Creative (Individual)

We make large-scale, temporary murals on walls of any size using low-adhesive tape and work with communities, schools, and hospitals to make collaborative artworks on the walls around them. Since 1989 we have made hundreds of public mural installations and introduced tape drawing to over 50,000 first-time tapers of all ages.

As community artists we use tape to temporarily transform public buildings and spaces, and love to collaborate with community partners to design big projects that reach the audiences you serve.

As educators we work with a wide range of populations, including K-12, college, adults, and people with emotional, learning, and physical disabilities. We run tape art workshops in-school on school walls as well as bring student groups to make artwork out in their community anywhere from libraries to soup kitchens to senior centers.

We also run programs in hospitals, psychiatric facilities, and group homes to provide relief and a creative outlet for individuals and families.

We want to art brainstorm with you! Take a peek at www.tapeart.com/what-we-do to see a more comprehensive list of our services and some videos of tape art in action!

Find Me

Michael Townsend (he/him)
Job Title: Owner
Phone: 800-827-3278
Address:
Providence, RI 02909

Additional Content:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1989

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1989

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Visual/Crafts - Installation

Additional Disciplines:

  • Visual/Crafts - General

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Arts for Social Change / Creative Activism
  • Arts and Health
  • Creation of a Work of Art (Including Commissions)
  • Public Art Projects (In Free, Public Spaces)
  • Curriculum Development
  • Residency - In School
  • Workshops / Demonstrations / Master Class
  • Professional Development / Training
  • Residency - Community
  • Community Arts

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • Businesses
  • Elders
  • Families
  • General Public
  • Immigrant Populations
  • Incarcerated (or Formerly Incarcerated) individuals
  • LGBTQ Populations
  • Native American Tribes
  • Nonprofits
  • People with Disabilities
  • School Groups
  • Teens
  • Veteran/Active Duty Military Personnel
  • Youth-At-Risk
  • Houseless/Housing Insecure Individuals

Languages Available:

  • English

Geographic Reach:

  • International
  • Town / City
  • State
  • National

Accessibility of Services

Accessibility of Services:

We have worked with a wide range of populations and are excited to work with you to find an art-making solution no matter what your community needs.

Media Gallery

I Have Worked With

The Citadellle Art Foundation

Museum - Art

Date: 09/2017-09/2019

Working with The Citadelle Art Foundation in Canadian, TX, we designed 3 month-long residencies over the course of 3 years. These included public art campaigns of mini-murals throughout the town, teaching workshops in schools regionally including community service projects that brought high school students to draw in local nursing homes, and an installation in the museum's traveling exhibits gallery.

Brooks Art Museum

Museum - Art

Date: 04/2017-10/2017

The Brooks Art Museum commissioned a tape mural to celebrate their centennial. The installation took 20 days and 500 people showed up (in the rain) on the 21st day to remove the work from the walls of the museum. We returned that fall for a residency that connected The Brooks to their donors and the surrounding communities. Donors at the annual fundraising auction bought blocks of our residency time and pointed us to places in the community they wanted to gift a mini tape art project.

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-DARTMOUTH - COLLEGE OF VISUAL / PERFORMING ARTS

School (Higher Ed Arts Program / Department)

Date: 05/2015-05/2018

In 2015 the Art Allstate program moved from the Worcester Art Museum campus to its current home at UMASS Dartmouth. We have continued our annual mural and artist talk as part of that program and will continue to do so in the years to come. In March of 2018 we partnered with Art Allstate to run a day-long teacher training PD workshop that introduced art teachers from across the state to Tape Art as a medium and method and how Tape Art can serve in their classrooms and communities.

CITY OF PROVIDENCE - DEPARTMENT OF ART, CULTURE + TOURISM

Government Department

Date: 07/2010-06/2015

We have done several projects in collaboration with the city of Providence (both the Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism as well as the Planning Department). These have included massive murals on the downtown skating rink to celebrate Roger Williams' 275th birthday, a large tape installation that sprawled across 5 buildings of the Providence skyline (including City Hall), and a series of smaller installations made in every neighborhood of the city.

Affiliations and Accomplishments

Awards

Awards:

  • Rhode Island Arts and Business Council, Artist of the Year
  • Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship
  • RISD Art Education Fellowship
  • Priber Travel Grant from ACC Gallery, Weimar, Germany

Awards

Awards:

  • Rhode Island Arts and Business Council, Artist of the Year
  • Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship
  • RISD Art Education Fellowship
  • Priber Travel Grant from ACC Gallery, Weimar, Germany

Education

Education:

  • RISD, Masters in Art Education

Artist Info

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Afterschool Program
  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Community Site / Center
  • Corporate Business
  • Healthcare Facility
  • School / University

Ages Served:

  • Pre-Kindergarten-age
  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults
  • Seniors

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - Communications
  • Arts Integration - English Language / Literacy
  • Arts Integration - English as a Second Language
  • Arts Integration - Foreign Languages
  • Arts Integration - Health
  • Arts Integration - History and Social Science
  • Arts Integration - Mathematics
  • Arts Integration - Physical Education
  • Arts Integration - Science / Technology / Engineering
  • Design
  • Media
  • Visual/Crafts

Certifications and Training:

  • 30+ years of teaching Tape Art (since 1991)
  • Introduced Tape Art to over 50,000 first-time Tape Artists (and counting)
  • MA Art Education (Concentration in Community Art)
  • MS Nonprofit Management

Fee range:

Fees are determined based on the scope of the workshops, residencies, or installations. Please reach out to get a project estimate based on your needs.

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Afterschool Program
  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Community Site / Center
  • Corporate Business
  • Healthcare Facility
  • School / University

Ages Served:

  • Pre-Kindergarten-age
  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults
  • Seniors

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - Communications
  • Arts Integration - English Language / Literacy
  • Arts Integration - English as a Second Language
  • Arts Integration - Foreign Languages
  • Arts Integration - Health
  • Arts Integration - History and Social Science
  • Arts Integration - Mathematics
  • Arts Integration - Physical Education
  • Arts Integration - Science / Technology / Engineering
  • Design
  • Media
  • Visual/Crafts

Certifications and Training:

  • 30+ years of teaching Tape Art (since 1991)
  • Introduced Tape Art to over 50,000 first-time Tape Artists (and counting)
  • MA Art Education (Concentration in Community Art)
  • MS Nonprofit Management

Fee range:

Fees are determined based on the scope of the workshops, residencies, or installations. Please reach out to get a project estimate based on your needs.

State Arts Agency Roster Artist

  • Rhode Island Education Roster