NORTH PROVIDENCE - Even at age 94, her makeup is perfect, as are her surroundings.

Pretty little boxes are everywhere. Mirrors and glass objects reflect sparkling light. Everything, including her outfit, is artistically arranged, a clear indicator of Alberta Porter's lifetime pursuit of beauty.

Be it decorating a room for a fund-raiser, designing an outfit for an entertainer, or filling a room with her own original artwork, Alberta Cunha Galleshaw Porter of North Providence is a much loved Nana, and just recently, a nonagenarian who has come out of retirement.

Her original artwork is on display at Providence's Royal Gallery, 298 Atwells Ave., where a reception in her honor will be held Thursday, Jan. 26, from 5 to 9 p.m. (Snow date is Feb. 2.)

Her home and her scrapbook tell a story of a woman who loves decorative and beautiful things, and as such, she spent her early years designing showrooms, costumes, even ballrooms for fund-raisers and political rallies. It is a scrapbook filled with photos of her at charity dinners, and includes snapshots of the celebrities she met while touring as a designer for Liberace.

She tells her own bright story with clarity and charm, recalling a childhood fascination with dance, and with sewing, which evolved to an adult interest in creating watercolors and oils, which then evolved to her own personal style of sculpture on clear pieces of Lucite.

"I like to explore everything," she says.

She and her late husband opened the Robert Eddy Porter Art Gallery in Cranston in the 1970s and she continued to fill her scrapbook with photos of them at various events. She also set up shop in The Arcade at one point, she said, and a kiosk at Warwick Mall where she sold her art work.

As she aged, and after her second husband died, her artwork fell into quiet retirement until last year when her granddaughter took her to an art opening and the gallery owner recognized her and asked her to show her work there.

She would have to carve out new pieces to do so, because her tools were obsolete. But she took on the challenge.

"It sparked a flame," said granddaughter, Debbie Tucciarone of North Providence.

"She had something to look forward to."

With the help of her family, they searched around for the right tools for her to resume her etching, carving and engraving on Lucite. She set up a workshop on her sun porch, and produced more than a dozen pieces for the gallery.

As if that wasn't enough, she also started making jewelry and "I also play with paper sculpture," she said.

"I thought I might have a website for my beadwork," she said, demonstrating how at age 94, she accepts computer technology as a way of life she is willing to adopt though she was born in 1917.

Saying her eyesight is still good, ("Thank God!" she says) she wears jewel-studded glasses and a necklace of her own creation as she tells how she spent three months preparing for the show. Her work was supposed to remain on exhibit only until Jan. 7, she said, but Porter said gallery organizers asked her to continue on.

According to gallery spokesperson Ale Garcia, "Her works have enchanted and inspired audiences that come through and view her works and love to hear her talk about her artistic journey."

"It feels good. I still love doing it," Porter says of returning to producing original art work which she describes as "carving and etching on Lucite and internal sculpture." In all of her creative endeavors, she said, she is mostly self-taught.

She demonstrates her sculpture by showing a three-month long project in her dining room, a room designer-sized piece, one of four of this size she recalled completing in her younger days.

She pulls out stacks of self-designed jewelry made from beads she buys at jewelry shows, she says, pieces which are being shown at the Royal Gallery, too, she said.

"They have some beautiful pieces. I did take a jewelry class at Rhode Island School of Design, evening courses, but at that time I had no idea I was going to do this," she said of this recent creative endeavor in jewelry.

Yes, she agrees, she does keep busy.

"I can't be still."

She tells of plans for a spring show; it won't be as large as the last one, she says, but that could change. She pulls out a photo album from her recent art opening which depicts her surrounded by family, wearing a coral-colored outfit and furry stole of the same hue.

"I love color," she said, describing her outfit on that particular day as being a "chatreusy green."

Her granddaughter Debbie Tucciarone describes her as being the type of person who isn't afraid "to step out and take risks. Everyone has gifts and when we make the most of them we have a sense of fulfillment and purpose."

Tucciarone continues by saying her grandmother is the type of person who takes out the best China and cloth napkins, and "turns an ordinary day into something special."

Porter raised three children and played a big part in the lives of her numerous grandchildren.

"My grandchildren think I'm still 50 and they think I can do anything because I always did everything with them and I used to teach them crafts. They don't think I'm old," Porter said.

But she admits to wishing, during this past year that she had as much energy as she did during the days when she auditioned for and got a bit part in the movie "The Great Gatsby," or when she organized the decorations for a Ted Kennedy dinner at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet.

"I've slowed down a little bit," she said, but a short time later says she is up at 6 a.m. each morning and rarely naps. Family members are in and out each day visiting with her or taking her to dinner because she still enjoys getting dressed up and going out, despite the pain of arthritis.

"I'm blessed with a wonderful family. They are like mother hens," she said, and she hopes to continue to be the centerpiece of their gatherings.

Said Porter: "You have to keep moving."

For information about her work, call 401-832-8831 or check www.royalgalleryri.com .