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Evolving as a Maker
Thanks to an Internship Award, Jacob Miller spentlast summer working alongside sculptor and furnituredesigner Christopher Kurtz.
“I didn’t think that I would be accepted when I applied to RISD,” recalls Jacob Miller 19 FD. “Although my school’s curriculum intertwined art into every class, including science and math, it was an internship with a product designer in Atlanta that led me to apply.”
Recipient of the Parents’ Council Internship Award
Once accepted, Miller and his parents worried about paying tuition, but a scholarship from RISD “greatly lessens the blow of full tuition,” says Miller.
When he arrived on campus he thought he would major in Industrial Design, but a hands-on making process he experienced during a Wintersession course swayed him to study Furniture Design. In true RISD fashion, his creative direction continues to evolve. “Recently, I have become more interested with sculpture and nonfunctional objects in my work because I enjoy the more deeply engaged intellectual process that this work entails.”
This past summer he interned at the Christopher KurtzStudio in Kingston, New York. “I developed woodensculptures for Kurtz’s upcoming solo exhibition atPatrick Parrish Gallery in New York City and completedcommissions for clients,” recalls Miller. “His practicecaught my eye because of his similar interests in craft,sculpture and design.” A Parents’ Council InternshipAward made his enriching summer experience possible.“It allowed me to pursue an unpaid and out-of-statesummer position that otherwise would not have beenfinancially feasible,” says Miller.
