22 to Watch in RI in 2022: Katie Commodore

22 to Watch in RI in 2022: Katie Commodore

It’s not every day that an artist who has left Rhode Island for New York City decides to return. 

But Katie Commodore did just that — and she is firmly settling back in Providence. 

Commodore, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, had moved to New York to pursue her career 15 years ago. Now, she is back in Rhode Island and is reinventing her art business. 

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She said she originally thought she was going to look on the East Side, where she had lived while at RISD, but she is now the owner of a mixed-use Victorian on Broadway in the West End, where she lives with her husband, Rhode Island native Russell Pouliot.

“We moved into the third floor in June, and it's amazing,” Commodore told GoLocal. 

And Commodore has hit the ground running. 

Her artistic work is highly creative and sexual. She writes about her work, "Over the past few years, my artwork has concentrated on creating intimate portraits of my friends, often focusing on how they express their sexuality.   Not whether they prefer men or women, but sexuality in the broader sense -- what is it that makes them feel sexy, how do they express that physically, and how has it changed over the years?"

“And at the end of last year, I had artwork featured in the book NSFW, published by Paragon Press, that covered an annual exhibit at Spoke Art over the past 5 years of female artists working with erotic imagery,” Commodore told GoLocal. 

In 2022, Commodore already has a packed spring schedule so far. 

“I’m going to have some work in a show at Kent State next month for an exhibit of contemporary female printmakers, and am also working on some new prints that will be included at a print fair in Baltimore this spring,” she added. 

Much is often said about Providence and Rhode Island’s proximity to both New York and the rest of New England as being an advantage — and Commodore is proving why it’s true. 

“This spring semester I'll be teaching part time at Clark University, so I'll also be included in their faculty show next month,” she said. 

Commodore’s return is Rhode Island’s gain — and we look forward to following her work on the local and national stage.