Meet Rachel
Rachel Armentano is an artist, educator, designer, parent, and founder of Harbor Creative Arts. With more than 20 years of experience in art education, she has taught in public, private, and charter schools, museums, community programs, and independent studio settings.
Her career has included teaching elementary art across three Framingham public schools, serving as the founding art teacher at Edward Brooke Charter School in Mattapan, five years with the Family Programs team at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and teaching middle school art and serving as Service Learning Coordinator at Rocky Hill Country Day School. In 2015, Rachel was named the Rhode Island Middle School Art Educator of the Year.
Rachel founded Harbor Creative Arts in 2020, bringing together her experience in art, education, design, family programming, and community engagement. HCA’s Little Artists program was recognized by Rhode Island Monthly’s Best of Rhode Island as Best Local Event in the West Bay in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, Rachel was named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Rhode Island and New England Microenterprise of the Year.
Rachel’s work extends beyond HCA through community service and leadership. She has served on the board of Amenity Aid and continues to support the organization in an advisory capacity; is a founding member and advisor to TANK (Transformative Action North Kingstown); serves on the planning committee for We Are ALL Readers; and was invited to join the founding board of the Post Road Business Alliance. As an active Hamilton Elementary PTO member, she also founded and leads Handmade at Hamilton, an annual holiday and children’s entrepreneurial market.
In 2024, Rachel founded the Sun & Sea Summit, which has brought together more than 30 owners and leaders of independent art studios and creative children’s businesses to connect, collaborate, and learn from one another.
Originally from Massachusetts, Rachel has called Rhode Island home for more than two decades and is raising two children here. Her experiences as an artist, educator, business owner, community member, and parent all inform the welcoming, thoughtful, and creative environment she continues to build at Harbor Creative Arts.
B . S . Skidmore College // M . A . T . Tufts University + School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The HCA Studio Story
– Established 2020 –
– 100+ children each week –
– Year-round art education –
– Intentionally small classes –
Harbor Creative Arts opened its doors in December 2020, but the idea had been taking shape for years.
After more than 15 years working in schools, museums, community arts, curriculum development, and family programming, founder Rachel Armentano began imagining a place where she could bring those experiences together: a welcoming neighborhood studio grounded in thoughtful art education, creativity, and community.
After years of planning and testing the idea through pop-up programs, Rachel planned to leave classroom teaching and open HCA in the summer of 2020. She gave notice on March 5. One week later, the world shut down.
The plan changed, but the idea didn’t. That summer, HCA began outside with small groups of children making art in backyards, parks, garages, and wherever there was room to create safely. By December, HCA had its first tiny, 600-square-foot studio in North Kingstown. Six months later, it moved into its current 1,500-square-foot home on Post Road.
Today, HCA welcomes more than 100 children each week through classes and programs for toddlers through tweens, while keeping individual groups intentionally small. What began as a one-woman operation has grown into a team of artists and educators offering year-round classes, camps, workshops, family programs, community projects, art shows, and special events.
Along the way, HCA has grown outdoors, expanded into—and ultimately back from—a second location, earned local and regional recognition, and developed partnerships and projects throughout the community.
As HCA heads into its sixth anniversary this fall, the original idea remains remarkably consistent: know the children and families who come through the doors, take art education seriously without taking all the fun out of it, and create a place where kids have room to experiment, problem-solve, make a mess, and grow as artists and people.
Our Teaching Philosophy
At Harbor Creative Arts, we believe children learn best when they are given strong foundations and room to make their own choices. Our classes introduce young artists to a wide range of materials, techniques, artists, and ideas while encouraging experimentation, problem-solving, and individual expression. The goal isn’t a room full of identical artwork—it’s giving children the skills, confidence, and space to develop their own creative voices.
HCA programs are designed to:
- Build skills in drawing, painting, collage, design, construction, and mixed-media art.
- Introduce children to a wide range of artists, cultures, ideas, materials, and techniques.
- Encourage observation, curiosity, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.
- Give children opportunities for personal choice, experimentation, and individual expression.
- Build confidence, independence, collaboration, and empathy.
- Help children see creativity as something they can carry with them beyond the art studio.
There is a lot of intention behind the fun.
HCA curriculum is designed with child development, art education, and the individual needs of each group in mind. Projects are often layered, both literally and figuratively, with skills and techniques introduced and revisited over time. A single project might incorporate drawing, painting, collage, construction, design, or unexpected materials, giving children opportunities to practice new skills while making their own creative decisions.
We also believe the experience of making art together matters. Small class sizes allow our teachers to know their students, adapt instruction, encourage individual ideas, and create an environment where children can practice collaboration, flexibility, empathy, and creative problem-solving.
Children come to HCA with different strengths, personalities, experiences, learning styles, and levels of confidence- and that’s exactly how we like it. ❤️ Above all, we want children to leave HCA excited about what they made, curious about what they might try next, and confident that their ideas are worth exploring.
“The facility is lovely and engaging. The class, itself, is well-organized and executed. The projects are beautiful and each allows for so much exploration of both new & familiar materials. I love, too, how things from the kids’ every-day “stuff” are used in new & creative ways, ex: market cap for paint circles, Magna-tiles to build & trace windows, cardboard & mini-post-its to construct a stamp, etc. So much is packed into a short age-appropriate time period!”
-Nana of a Little Artist
