As part of the residency, each visiting artist gives a presentation to all three divisions of the school. These presentations are open, so that parents, alumni and the general public can share the Gordon students’ experience.

The Britt Nelson Fund was established in 1996 in memory of Britt Nelson, the mother of three Gordon students and wife of a Gordon graduate. Income from this fund provides for an annual visiting artist, giving Gordon students an opportunity to immerse themselves in one of Britt’s quiet passions: the creative world of self-expression. The fund also provides for two annual faculty travel grants.

In the winter and spring of 2023, Gordon students will work with sculptor Rena X Rong on a collaborative project to be permanently installed at Gordon. Rong’s visit is coordinated in partnership with the Steel Yard, a public-access industrial arts center in the Valley neighborhood of Providence. 

Rong works in metal, ceramics and furniture, with a vision that is rooted deep in two-dimensional drawing. More on her work at www.renaxrong.com. Her visit will include hands-on demonstrations of the Steel Yard’s plasma cutter and their portable blacksmith set.

The residency will produce work that will include designs from first to eighth graders, each remixed in an iterative process that will include every student’s ideas while allowing those ideas to evolve in parallel to the entire project.