Rhode Island

Rhode Island-based tattoo artist Mark Wade on his watercolor-like work – The Boston Globe

Published

2 years ago

August 12, 2024

Rhode Island-based tattoo artist Mark Wade on his watercolor-like work – The Boston Globe

It took two years to complete, but now when she thinks about the piece, she gets chills.

“I have a bouquet of flowers on rainy days and in the middle of hurricanes,” Vance said. “I have this apple that says ‘you’re golden.’”

The Rhode Island-based tattoo artist has built his career — and a platform of over 100,000 Instagram followers — based on his ability to ink hyper-realistic florals. In June, he and his wife, Maia, opened a shop in East Greenwich, R.I., Body Florist, where people like Vance fly in from all over the country to get his work on their skin.

One of Wade’s tattoosMaia Wade

“It feels surreal,” Wade said. “I’ve traveled to other countries to get tattooed. I know how much energy it takes, so I’m incredibly grateful that people would do that.”

The shop is inside an old mill near Greenwich Bay, with exposed brick walls and a “peaceful” interior designed by Maia. The pair decided to put down roots in Rhode Island, where Maia is originally from. The move was largely due to Maia’s challenges with epilepsy and her desire to feel “more grounded,” she explained.

Wade, who is originally from Lubbock, Texas, hadn’t spent more than two years in any one place in over a decade. He moved throughout the country, honing his craft, and gaining a reputation in the tattoo community for his impressive designs and work ethic.

“He was always very persistent, as far as wanting to put in time, staying late, and going to conventions,” said Rember Orellana, owner of Texas’s Dark Age Tattoo and one of Wade’s mentors. “He would always be a friend, in a good way every every show we went to, so it was just fun to see him making that progress.”

One of Wade's rose tattoos — One of Wade’s rose tattoosMaia Wade

Wade’s interest in floral tattoos came from a desire to become “the best” at something. Early in his career, clients continued to compliment his color tattoos, and Wade continued working from there. He looked up to Phil Garcia Lee, a tattoo artist who also specializes in floral designs.

While he does not have formal art training, he put in countless hours toward mastering his craft. During his first tattoo apprenticeship, Wade remembers not sleeping for the first six months — running on 20-minute naps every four or five hours so he could tattoo more.

“The further I’ve gone with [the style], the more I get into it,” Wade said. “It feels like something I’ve never really mastered. It’s always changing, and I’m always making it better.”

Each tattoo, Wade said, is ultimately a collaboration. He finds that working one-on-one with the clients to hone the design not only makes the process more “real” and keeps him in check artistically, but it creates a more intimate space.

The process isn’t short: Tattooing one 5-inch by 5-inch area takes an entire day.

One appointment with Wade takes 12 hours, Vance said. She called the process “a beast,” where she will sit and get tattooed for 58 minutes, take a two-minute break, and Wade will start again.

“When he tattoos — good God — he doesn’t even know the time, because he’s just diving into it so much,” Maia said.

Carmen Vanderheiden Brodie, another of Wade’s clients, has a full sleeve of flowers from Wade. The sleeve doesn’t represent anything; Vanderheiden Brodie was simply in awe of Wade’s art. They met at a tattoo convention in New Jersey in 2016, and she had been following his work ever since.

“I feel like I have the most fantastic jewelry on all the time,” Vanderheiden Brodie said. “People will wear a necklace or earrings or whatever. My tattoo is my adornment.”

Emily Wyrwa can be reached at emily.wyrwa@globe.com. Follow her @emilywyrwa.

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Rhode Island

Moses Brown showed up late, but it was still ready to win a title.

Published

6 hours ago

June 7, 2026

Press Room

Moses Brown showed up late, but it was still ready to win a title.

PROVIDENCE – They made the short walk from campus, crossing the threshold at Brown University with 17 minutes to go until the RIIL Girls State Championship game was set to begin.

Moses Brown wasn’t running late. The Quakers were ready – and then they went out and proved it.

The Quakers didn’t just win Sunday’s state title matchup with East Greenwich. They put on a display of utter dominance, winning every facet of the game in extraordinary fashion. MB put up eight goals in the first quarter, triggered a running clock before halftime and rolled to a 20-4 win over the Avengers, winning the program’s fourth straight state crown.

“It feels amazing. We’ve worked for this all season,” Moses Brown’s Avery Butler said. “We’ve had our ups and our downs and it’s great to know all our hard work paid off.”

“It definitely feels great and feels like all our hard work, all year all 365 days of this year really paid off,” Moses Brown’s Goose Brousseau said. “We really did it all together.”

East Greenwich’s afternoon didn’t get off to a good start – Brown University failed to unlock the entrance gate, forcing the Avengers to take a lap around the stadium to get in – and quickly found out what happens when Moses Brown does.

The Quakers owned the draw circle with Jane Belsito, Samantha Mocco and Sophia Mocco winning all but one in the first quarter. When MB had the ball, it did something with it. Butler did most of the damage in the opening 12 minutes, scoring four goals, but it wasn’t by design.

“If I’m taking it or [the Moccos) are taking it, we’re all together,” Belsito said. “If I have them on the circle and I mess up, they have my back. They just calm me down.”

“It’s just what happens. Everyone in our offense is so good, we all take turns having our own moment. It can be anyone at any time and my teammates did a great job finding me and we just worked so well together.”

With the ball on Moses Brown sticks for the large majority of the game, any chance at an East Greenwich comeback was null and void. The Avengers had the best offensive player on the field in Tessa Charello-Ingegneri, but she couldn’t put her skills to use because MB never let it happen.

In the second quarter, the Mocco sisters – Sophia Mocco and Sam Mocco – popped goals 33 seconds apart and Butler’s fifth of the day made it 11-2. With 3:46 left before halftime,Lola Baill scored to bring the running clock into play and Butler added her sixth to make it 13-2 at halftime.

Moses Brown coach Brian Williams didn’t need to make many adjustments for the second half and his players knew exactly what to do over the final two quarters.

“We like to play our best every game, but today was really special,” Butler said. “We spent a lot of time preparing. Every practice we were really focused and we had a lot of time to do film and think about what we can do best.

“Today really meant a lot for us that it all worked out well.”

It was a tough end to an incredible season for East Greenwich. The lacrosse community is strong within the town and an annual trip to Brown should be a part of the Avengers’ expectations. They’ll return a strong core of young players – including All-Stater Charello-Ingegneri – and Sunday’s loss should serve as an education experience in what work will need to be done if they want to win a title.

“I’m just happy we got to be here and play our game,” Charello-Ingegneri said. “We knew it was going to be a challenge but I’m happy with our team and all of our success this season. We’re going to come back even stronger next year and this is a learning opportunity for us and we’ll do everything we can do take it next year.

For Moses Brown, it’s the end of an era for a core group of seniors who started as freshmen following a season where the team didn’t win a crown – a 10-8 loss to Barrington in 2022 – and did nothing but win throughout their careers.

The Quakers didn’t do it on just talent. They did it with the things people don’t see.

Like going through a full warmup on your home field prior to the biggest game of the season.

“We have our rituals that we do before we come and that walk from MB to Brown, we are just so centered with ourselves,” Butler said. “When come we do our normal warmup and we feel all right.

“It’s just about channeling nerves and if we warm up calm and relaxed, we don’t have things to worry about in the games. We know who we are.”

“Every single person is doing something for the person next to them,” Brousseau said. “Getting to warm up on our home field and do everything together and really feel at home with everyone was just really important to us.

We came over late because we were just together for longer and that was important to us.”

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Rhode Island

How did La Salle win another state title? Having an ace up its sleeve.

Published

16 hours ago

June 7, 2026

Press Room

How did La Salle win another state title? Having an ace up its sleeve.

PROVIDENCE – The result was so obvious, everyone should have seen it coming.

That’s because Hailey Vigneau doesn’t lose big games.

The La Salle softball team might have been hammered by Chariho during their regular season matchups, but none of that mattered in the postseason. The state’s seen plenty of big-time pitchers, but none that have won like Vigneau. Saturday’s championship game against Chariho only added to her legacy, as she took care of things in the circle, Nikki Pallotta led the offense and the 5-2 win gave the Rams their fourth straight state title.

“We just know how hard we work,” Vigneau said. “We know we have each other. We know how supportive of each other we are. We just know that our team, in the end, will come out on top.”

Softball pitchers are supposed to strike fear with fastballs and sit batters down faster than they can get up to plate. You won’t find many teams that say they’re afraid of Vigneau, but you also won’t find any teams that have beaten her in a game that matters most.

The La Salle senior – who will pitch at Marist next spring – didn’t look bothered by the magnitude of the game she was pitching. If Chariho beat the Rams – which it had done twice this season – that meant an if-game where momentum would be on the Chargers side.

It seemed like a possibility, provided you ignored the fact that Vigneau has never lost a playoff game and wasn’t about to start in her senior season.

Vigneau made one mistake pitch that Adriana Jeannenot hit to outer space, a two-run blast that tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. She took the ball from the umpire, then retired the next batter to end the inning and get her offense on the field.

“I just have to focus on the next one. I can’t dwell on it,” said Vigneau, who gave up four hits and walked two while striking out eight. “Now I can reflect on it, fix what I know I messed up on.

“I didn’t even look. I didn’t turn my head.”

The bats went out and supported their ace. Pallotta had the go-ahead hit, a two-run double that scored Izzy Dong and Samantha Sell. While Pallotta and the Rams struggled to hit Jeannenot in clutch moments in the regular season, it was clear they figured something out.

“Their pitcher is really good and she shut us down in the first game,” said Pallotta, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs Saturday. “In the second game we started to pick up some hits, we started to learn a lot.

“We were lucky enough to play them twice, we got a lot of data off of that and so when we came into RIC … we had a lot of information and we used it.”

Armed with a 5-2 lead, Vigneau took care of things. The home run was a distant memory and when Alaina Valuk led off the fifth with a single, Vigneau barely noticed. She was in control and remained calm, right up until the final out was recorded, ending her career with a fourth straight title celebration.

“I just pitch one pitch at a time, no matter what the situation is in the game,” Vigneau said. “I can’t focus too much on the big win ahead, just one pitch at a time.”

Chariho was emotional after the loss and why wouldn’t it be? The Chargers entered the season with so much promise, finally got over the hump of beating La Salle and then did it twice in this spring.

But the two playoff losses – Saturday as well as the winners’ bracket final – showed that Chariho still has some work to do to in order to get that title the program wants. The loss will only help inspire the Chargers to keep chasing it next season.

“We had a phenomenal season. I’ve never been more proud of this team,” Jeannenot said. “… It definitely pushes us to go for even bigger things. This year our main thing was to beat La Salle, now I feel like we can have even bigger goals and we can have more success.”

This was supposed to be the year La Salle lost. The Rams graduated all that offensive talent, there’s no way they can overpower teams anymore.

Turns out La Salle didn’t need to. It had a secret weapon who shouldn’t have been so secret and closes her career as the most clutch pitcher Rhode Island has ever seen.

“Without her we probably wouldn’t be here at all,” Pallotta said. “She’s been the ace for the last four years and she always comes up when we need her and she shuts them down.”

“I just enjoyed my time with the girls. Whatever happens, happens, but we just work hard and have fun,” Vigneau said. “I couldn’t have imagined this whatsoever.”

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