ART & CULTURE
Fi e l d T r i p | By Robert Isenberg
Industrious Revolution As the Nicholson File Art Studios prepare to host visitors again, one creative reflects on how vital this post-industrial workspace is
Suppose you’re graduating from RISD. You’ve studied hard. You have mastered your art; now it’s time to go professional. You could zip off to New York, but it’s expensive, and you don’t know anyone there. You could create new works in your apartment, but it’s cramped, and your roommate hates the way you leave your stuff lying around. Then you hear about this magical place: the Nicholson File Art Studios, a former factory located in the Valley district. You’re astonished. You’ve visited the nearby Steel Yard. You’ve frequented the WaterFire Arts Center. You shop at the Farm Fresh RI hub every
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weekend. And now there’s this huge industrial space, packed with studios and fellow working artists, just around the corner from these hotspots? Is such a dream even possible? “What this is,” says Asher Schofield, co-owner of the gift shop Frog & Toad, “is a space for a kid right out of college with mountains of student debt. They can still afford to rent a spot here.” The Nicholson File building is a big brick box with two stories and 9,000 square feet of floor space. The roof is topped with a dormant smokestack, which is how you know you’re in the right place. A century
ago, the factory pumped out 120,000 metal files per day, making the Nicholsons one of the wealthiest families in Providence. The factory closed in the late 1950s, but like many old mills, the building was resuscitated as a space for artists and craftspeople. Nicholson File was one of several projects spearheaded by art supporters Rachel Rafaelian and Erik Bright; the complex opened its doors in 2009. On a recent weekday, Schofield gave us a tour of the facility. Open studios were once a common event at Nicholson File, and now that COVID cases have dropped,
Photos by Robert Isenberg
Multimedia artist and RISD instructor Jessica Brown manages her creative career from the comfort of her Nicholson File studio
