Near the end of the 19th century, Rhode Island was a hub of the Industrial Revolution, known especially for innovations in textile, jewelry and machine manufacturing. Against this backdrop, a small group of community-minded women called the Rhode Island Women’s Centennial Commission decided to start a school and museum for art and design in the city of Providence. Established by women decades before any woman had the right to vote in America, Rhode Island School of Design has illustrated the power of art and design to challenge the status quo from its beginning.
In the years that followed, RISD continued to be guided by a visionary spirit. From the addition of new majors to the creation of the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab in the 1930s to Andy Warhol’s curation of an exhibition using only the museum’s archives (called Raid the Icebox), RISD has grown to become one of the most influential art and design institutions in the world.
Today RISD’s undergraduate students come from all over the world and across the US. They’re from small towns and big cities. Some went to high schools with strong art and design programs, and others are just discovering their talents and interests. All are hoping to pursue a creative path in life.
They enroll in a curriculum that features an interdisciplinary liberal arts program and 16 majors in fine art and design: Apparel Design, Architecture, Ceramics, Film/Animation/Video, Furniture Design, Glass, Graphic Design, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture, Jewelry + Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture and Textiles. Courses are taught by over 600 full- and part-time faculty members. Beyond their teaching, they maintain studio practices, pursue new research in their fields, run design firms, develop innovative technologies and manage their own businesses.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
2,080
STUDENT-TO-FACULTY RATIO
8:1
FULL- AND PART-TIME FACULTY 600+
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
34%
15 STUDENTS OF COLOR*
AVERAGE CLASS SIZE
43%
*Students of color includes domestic students identifying as American Indian or Alaskan Native (.05%), Asian (23%), Black or African American (5%), Hispanic (9%), Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (0%), or having two or more races (6%). This information is based on projected enrollment for the 2023–24 academic year. Visit risd.edu/about for the most current data.
What are RISD students like? They’re from big cities and small towns; some have studied art from a young age and others are new to it. They are athletes, musicians, volunteers and activists; they have hobbies and interests of all sorts. They’re multilingual, international, BIPOC, Queer, Indigenous... and the community they form in the studio is driven by their shared creativity and curiosity about one another.
RISD’s community of 30,000+ alumni includes medium-bending winners of the MacArthur “Genius” Award like Nicole Eisenman, Kara Walker, Shahzia Sikander and Julie Mehretu and industry rearrangers like Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky of Airbnb. Pioneers of new wave music, Talking Heads, got their start at RISD. Graduates have worked in presidential administrations and started NGOs to aid refugees in conflict zones. They are collaborating on urgent issues related to climate change, social equity and emerging technologies.
They’ve been honored with Caldecotts, Oscars, Emmys, Guggenheim Fellowships, Palmes d’Or and Pulitzers. They’re equally at home on teams at highly visible companies like The New York Times and Pixar and when starting something entirely new and self-directed. They generate and challenge the ideas that shape our future, and the range and impact of their work is evidence of the ways that art and design can contribute to making a better, more equitable world.
In
Kids play in RGBubble, an inflatable by Rhode Island-based collective Pneuhaus, co-founded by August Lehrecke BFA 14 Furniture Design and Matt Muller BFA 14 Furniture Design (above). Sea Ice Stories, a photo essay featured in National Geographic, Acacia Johnson BFA 14 Photography captures residents of Baffin Island, Canada striving to keep their culture alive (top right). An installation by multidisciplinary artist Tavares Strachan BFA 03 Glass traveled down the Mississippi River via a barge as part of the Prospect.3 biennial (at right).
The path to making a creative impact begins with how you learn. The studio and the classroom are immersive, cross-disciplinary environments where we place as much emphasis on thinking, curiosity and context as we do on making. A rigorous liberal arts program and an art and design foundation year are the core aspects of a RISD education.
The studio portion of the first-year program is called Experimental and Foundation Studies (EFS). In three core studios—Drawing, Design and Spatial Dynamics—you’ll be pushed beyond your comfort zone by faculty with radically different ways of teaching. You might end up in a Design class taught entirely in Spanish. Or in a Spatial Dynamics studio where you make a working musical instrument from scratch. These classes require you to take creative leaps and use materials and processes that are new to you (in other words, you’ll experiment). You’ll question a lot, think hard about why you want to be an artist or designer and become an active participant in your own education. By the end of the year, you’ll have developed a critical and creative toolbox that will support you throughout your studies and into your career (you’ll lay a foundation).
In her EFS Design studio, Se Habla Español, Professor Paula Gaetano Adi asks students to approach the world and their work in a language other than English.
Each semester of your first year you’ll take three core studios that meet one full day per week.
In this studio, students explore how to organize visual and other sensory elements in order to understand perceptual attributes and convey meaningful messages through objects, spaces and experiences.
Students pursue drawing as both a powerful way to investigate the world and an essential activity intrinsic to an art and design practice. The studio becomes a laboratory of varied and challenging activities in which to investigate materiality, imagined situations, idea generation and the translation of the observable world.
This studio-based inquiry into physical, spatial and temporal phenomena considers force—the consequence of energy—and its effect on structure. Students explore spatial dynamics through a range of analogue and digital processes.
A third of your coursework will be in Liberal Arts, a division that includes three departments. In addition to providing a strong general education, Liberal Arts offers possibilities for focused study and opportunities to enrich your art and design practice. During your first year, you’ll take introductory classes, after which you’ll choose those most interesting to you or pursue a related concentration (similar to a minor at other colleges).
The HPSS department offers a wide variety of courses on the nature of human life—past and present—in its psychological, social, political, intellectual, philosophical and cultural contexts and manifestations. Courses in world history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, political science, sociology, religion and American and cultural studies are designed to help students broaden their knowledge while developing stronger critical thinking, reading and writing skills.
the core aspects of a RISD education.
After foundation year, there are many cross-disciplinary, futurefocused opportunities to explore. Through partnered studios and collaborations with companies and organizations like the Hyundai Motor Group (below), NASA (at left) and Microsoft, students and faculty apply creative thinking to today’s most complex challenges.
Research projects are led by faculty too. The Virtual Textiles Research Group (formed by Textiles Professor Brooks Hagan) created an open-source design tool that allowed them to 3D-weave entire shoes (far left).
LAS provides students with a broad and synthetic understanding of a particular period, genre, movement or issue in literary study. It reinforces the development of keen critical thinking and reading skills, an effective and individual writing voice and a nuanced understanding of the role of literature in different cultures and historical periods. Students gain a solid foundation from which to engage in contemporary culture in an informed and responsible way—as critics, creative writers, performers, artists and designers.
THAD offers thought-provoking courses focused on a wide range of media, spanning time periods from ancient to contemporary and embracing diverse critical perspectives. Generally based on reading, close examination of actual works and small group discussions, courses emphasize critical thinking and analysis, clarity of written and verbal communication and an understanding of the value of artistic expression across cultures and throughout time.
Foundation year is a time to try new ways of working before you declare a major. Beyond asking yourself why you want to be an artist or designer, you’ll also start to look into what you want to focus on while at RISD. The five-week term between the fall and spring semesters, known as Wintersession, offers a chance to explore new disciplines and the connections between them.
Maybe you’ve never considered the ways technology and art intersect in the textile industry or you’re curious about how interior architecture relates to sustainability and the reimagined use of existing buildings. Wintersession is a great time to take a class in a new discipline and be inspired by the research and broader questions being asked across campus.
Even after you decide on your major, you’ll continue to experiment with new processes and follow your curiosity about the world around you. And the further you get in your studies, the better your skills will match your imagination and intentions. Your creative explorations will begin to take shape, connect you to others and contribute to the larger conversation.
The further you get in your studies, the better your skills will match your imagination and intentions.
Your creative explorations will begin to take shape, connect you to others and contribute to the larger conversation. This is how...
Hills next to rivers, labs within libraries, studios upon studios—campus has a lot of layers to explore as you learn.
RISD is well known for the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab and Natural History Collection. Beyond observing living organisms and drawing specimens, you’ll take classes and workshops in this center for the growing field of biodesign.
In addition to dedicated departmental making spaces, Co-Works is a hub for interdisciplinary making, research and collaboration centered on emerging technologies (like digital fabrication and VR).
You’ll also find soundstages, hot and cold shops, foundries, darkrooms, green screens, kiln rooms and other spaces and tools for making all over campus. Here’s the Jacquard loom at work.
In galleries across campus, you’ll see the latest work from each department and even get the chance to curate your own shows. Openings take place weekly—bands play, performances happen. RISD is all energy.
North Hall is the newest first-year residence. Designed by alumnus architect Nader Tehrani and his team at the Boston-based firm NADAAA, it’s energy efficient and designed with art students in mind: workspaces are everywhere (there’s even a spray booth).
No matter the time of day (or night), students can be found in the studio. You’ll appreciate the feedback and support you get from classmates as you work through projects.
Crit happens... and you learn a lot in the process. Critique sessions at the end of a project are a moment to pause and talk through your work with your classmates and instructors. You’ll see things from a fresh perspective and get ideas for what’s next.
Beyond the over 100,000 books and countless periodicals and databases available in the Fleet Library, students also have access to a hands-on material collection and fascinating archives. In both its physical and digital holdings, this resource is built to inspire creative thinkers.
But at RISD, traditional modes of learning are always mixed with bursts of creativity.
Visiting artists, guest critics and speakers are invited to campus over the course of the year. (Here MacArthur Fellow and alumna Shahzia Sikander talks with a Painting student.) RISD Careers also hosts events large and small that let students connect with industry professionals.
Getting out of the studio is recommended, whether it’s through field studies (like a Wintersession course at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, above) or a trip to Tillinghast Place, RISD’s site on Narragansett Bay where classes, coastal conservation research and relaxation are in frequent rotation.
Providence is a perfect little city—with a thriving arts scene, great restaurants, cool architecture and plenty of green space. A relaxed pace and walkable scale make it easy to get to know and get to work. Plus, its location about halfway between New York and Boston means weekend trips are very doable.
Brown University is RISD’s neighbor, and our communities often collaborate (most notably on the five-year Dual Degree Program). From crossregistration to lecture series to a shared lawn party to welcome spring, you’ll appreciate the perks that come with the proximity of the two campuses.
The world is also close at hand. Through its programs, RISD Global offers the opportunity to be immersed in new places and new ways of thinking, seeing and relating through art and design. Here students convene at a site during a recent craft-focused trip across Morocco.
We have a bunch of dining options, like Café Pearl in the museum (a quiet place to grab coffee and read) and The Met (the popular, two-story main dining hall). And we’re crazy about food: ours is award-winning, locally sourced and organic, with plenty of variety whatever your dietary needs.
Students connect in community-oriented extracurricular groups like Black Artists and Designers, Mango Street (for Latinx students), the South Asian Student Association and the Queer Student Association, among many others. You can also join or start a club around a shared interest: from beekeeping to basketball to anime to rock climbing to a cappella singing to Japanese drumming to plein air painting to entrepreneurship to...
Space Design! RISD has a club that collaborates with NASA and generates design-driven solutions to real-life challenges faced by astronauts and engineers.
In Apparel Design, students prepare to be conscious leaders in the field who approach fashion as a platform for cultural dialogue. Through immersive, studio-based practice, they establish unique design languages and clearly articulated creative processes. Makers of thoughtful and thoughtprovoking garments, they generate both fashion and knowledge, continually reimagining what apparel and the systems for producing it can be.
With an intense focus on craft, Apparel Design majors develop diverse creative practices rooted in an awareness of clothing as an emotional medium as well as a material and visual one. Emphasizing ethical sourcing and production, the program encourages students to challenge industry conventions and work toward positive, sustainable change.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Fashion: A Global Context
Headed for the Moon
Identity/Identities
Machine Knitwear Studio
Wearable Furniture
BArch/5-year risd.edu/architecture
@risdarch
As an integral part of a fine arts school, Architecture at RISD emphasizes process, artistic sensibilities and social and ethical responsibility. Students hone the ability to think and communicate through drawing, making, writing and discussing ideas with others as they define and articulate a personal approach to the discipline.
Architecture majors inspire each other as they get direct experience building with materials and learning to understand the technical demands of architecture through a process of inquiry, reflection and invention.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
BFA/4-year risd.edu/ceramics
@risd_ceramics
A major in Ceramics offers a rigorous, hands-on investigation of clay as a multifaceted medium with great expressive possibilities. Students explore the rich multicultural history of ceramic objects and through interaction with professors, peers and visiting artists, are able to grasp the full range of contemporary practices and ideas.
Ceramics majors experiment with throwing, building, molding, glazing, firing and developing new techniques using specialized tools and equipment, including workstations for handling digital images, glaze formulation and remote kiln firing.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Ceramic Sculpture
Ceramics and Print
Digital Ceramics
Drawing Takes Form Object as Idea in Clay
BFA/4-year risd.edu/FAV @risd.fav
In Film/Animation/Video (FAV) students explore the art of the moving image, learning to master the tools needed to articulate a creative vision, whether using film, animation, installations, interactive media or a combination of mediums. FAV professors support the investigation of the technical, aesthetic and conceptual questions central to creating strong content with a unique voice.
In the studio, FAV majors bounce ideas off each other while focusing on making documentary, experimental and narrative films or animated work using a wide range of techniques, from CGI to hand-drawn to stop-motion animation and more.
BFA/4-year risd.edu/furniture
@risd_furnituredesign
Furniture Design at RISD offers an intensive immersion in materials research and exploration in the process of making furniture and objects. Students investigate some of the most important questions facing designers today—from how to take advantage of changing technologies and new materials to how to respond to variable economic conditions and evolving lifestyles.
Furniture Design majors are encouraged to experiment with a wide range of materials and approaches while focusing on human factors and sustainable, responsible design.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Big Box Vernacular
Exploring Upholstery Form in Metal Sustainability Thinking Witness Tree Project
BFA/4-year risd.edu/glass
@risdglass
Students approach glass as both an artist’s material with remarkable expressive range and a studio discipline imbued with limitless potential, incorporating sculpture, architecture, design, craft and decorative art. They discover an open, flexible and expansive studio discipline built on a unique history that dovetails with rapidly expanding dialogues defining innovation and creative practice.
Students have full access to a hot shop, cold shop and kiln and casting rooms. In addition, all students are given studio spaces and access to refined installation spaces both within the department and elsewhere on campus.
Body, Movement and Glass
Glass Sculpture
Hot Casting
Light, Shadow, Transparency
The Molten Window
BFA/4-year risd.edu/graphic-design @risd_gd
Graphic Design provides a comprehensive education that pushes the boundaries of the discipline. Students learn how to communicate ideas visually, play with the tools of the field, frame points of view and messages, build community and embrace a fluid, networked culture. Faculty support these explorations and encourage ambitious ideas along with a mastery of traditional practices.
In the studio, students learn the fundamental value of typography, imagery, grids, systems and more in the course of creating everything from traditional books, posters, logos and websites to apps, interactive texts and other digital media.
BFA/4-year risd.edu/illustration
@risdillustration
As a creative discipline, Illustration at RISD is broadly defined—by purpose, not media. While illustrators employ the same tools used in painting, photography, film, graphic design and other disciplines, they make imagery with the intent of conveying specific meaning and messages.
Whether painting at the easel, drawing on a computer screen or making 3D characters, Illustration majors learn to master the skills and techniques needed for effective visual storytelling.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Animalia
Intro to Game Engines
Play at Work
The Collaged Image
VR for Palliative Care
BFA/4-year risd.edu/industrial-design @risdid
Drawing on its historic contribution to responsible, human-centered design, Industrial Design teaches students to use critical thinking and the design process itself to bring new value to companies, communities and citizens. Professors with expertise across many areas guide students in researching user experiences to create well-conceived and wellexecuted objects, products and systems that make everyday tasks easier.
In responding to assigned projects, ID majors work with a wide range of materials in the process of designing objects, products, systems and experiences. Students develop ideas by starting with sketches and drawings and moving on to models and working prototypes.
BFA/4-year risd.edu/interior-architecture
@risdintar
At the intersection of architecture, conservation and design, Interior Architecture takes an innovative approach to the reuse and transformation of existing buildings. Advanced design studios focused on adaptive reuse are central to the program. And unlike the fields of interior design and decoration, Interior Architecture looks less at the application of surface materials than at understanding the design of buildings from inside out.
In the studio, students use digital and manual means to research and recommend design alterations and renovations that give existing buildings new life. Studios focus on a wide range of approaches, from domestic, retail and theater production design to issues of preservation and conservation.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
BFA/4-year risd.edu/jewelry
@risd_jewelrymetalsmithing
Spanning the gamut from traditional goldsmithing to experimental processes and materials, Jewelry + Metalsmithing offers a tight-knit community of students and faculty fully engaged with the discipline. Critical analysis and an open exchange of ideas support each individual’s exploration of the relationship of jewelry to the body.
Students bounce ideas off each other and work in close proximity as they hone technical skills and become adept at working with a wide range of metals and other materials.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Body and the Extended Beyond
Electroforming Metal Forming and Casting
Publishing Jewelry Stones and Gold
BFA/4-year risd.edu/painting
@risdpaint
Painting prepares students to engage in an individual search for meaning and cultural representation through the development of strong visual skills, keen critical reasoning abilities and an understanding of broad historical and social contexts. Professors encourage both the freedom and discipline essential to this process by embracing a wide range of aesthetic attitudes and offering flexible programs, along with a place where ideas rooted in the tradition of painting are openly examined and exchanged, challenged and refined.
Throughout the program, the conceptual and expressive aspects of painting remain central as students build on their skills through intense technical training and concentrated hands-on effort.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Acrylics Ablaze!
Alter Ego: Theater of the Self
Foreground/Background
Illuminating the Ocean Painting without Paint
Photography
BFA/4-year risd.edu/photography @risdphto
RISD approaches photography as an ever-changing set of technical, conceptual and aesthetic conditions that exist within a broad social and cultural context. Students delve into the making, presentation and interpretation of photographic images, exploring photography as both a language and a craft. Ultimately, they learn how to use cultural signifiers, symbols and metaphors in the content and structure of image making.
After learning the fundamentals of film processing and darkroom printing, students move on to experiment with digital capture, high-end printing at medium and large scales, video, installation work and other approaches of their choice.
Antique and Alternate Processes
Film and Video Installation
Intro to Darkroom Photography
Power, Pastness and Performance
Queer Sculptural Phototopias
BFA/4-year risd.edu/printmaking
@printmakingrisd
Printmaking supports the creative development of artists dedicated to visual exploration and expression using intaglio, lithography, screenprint, relief and related print processes. Majors explore a focused personal direction through the mastery of traditional and contemporary techniques, including digital and alternative print methods.
Printmaking majors work in a well-equipped facility with state-of-the-art equipment and separate floors allocated to lithography, intaglio and screenprint studios. Visits to the RISD Museum along with off-campus museums, galleries and symposiums underscore the rich historical context of contemporary printmaking.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Introduction to Intaglio
Light to Ink
Prints for Protest
BFA/4-year
risd.edu/sculpture
@risdsculpturestudents
At RISD, Sculpture is about the growth of the individual as part of a larger community. The department emphasizes visual and critical literacy and intensive skill acquisition in support of conceptually strong creative practices. Encouraged to experiment and push beyond obvious solutions, students learn to think holistically and understand the importance of the work they make as it relates to the world. Ultimately, they’re able to produce meaningful work through a fluent command of process and the informed use of materials.
Students work together and individually with every material imaginable. The curriculum supports students through a series of courses with the explicit purpose of building skills and literacies that help them understand how to make meaning using boundless materials, methodologies and media.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
3-Dimensional Drawing
Open Hardware
Public Engagement
Speculative Space
The Body Extended
BFA/4-year risd.edu/textiles
@risdtextiles
In Textiles, students experiment with new materials, technologies and techniques to design and create innovative fabric and fine art. Faculty work closely with both undergraduate and graduate students to encourage the development of a personal vision and an understanding of larger artistic, social and cultural contexts.
Students work with the high-end equipment used in the field—multiharness handlooms, computerinterfaced looms and an electronic Jacquard loom— to master advanced weaving techniques, and both hand-operated and electronic knitting machines allow for further exploration of knitted fabrics.
RECENT COURSE TITLES
Digital Embroidery
Digital Materiality
Dobby Weaving Fibers and Dyeing Textiles Takes Shape
risd.edu/undergraduate-study#concentrations
Students have the option of building on their degree programs to concentrate in one of six additional areas of study beyond a studio major. Concentrations at RISD are similar to minors at other colleges and universities.
The Computation, Technology and Culture curriculum integrates instruction in writing programming languages with critical, historical and theoretical frameworks for understanding the software, platforms and other technologies that shape society and culture. Recent course titles: Biointeractive Surfaces; Post-Humanism: Body in Crisis; Seeing Machines
RISD’s concentration in Drawing offers an opportunity for deep engagement with a key aspect of research at RISD: the notion of drawing as speculation. Recent course titles: Drawing and Collage; Drawing as Global Inclusion; Fiber, Paper, Drawing
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
This Liberal Arts concentration is built around nine focused tracks: Belief Systems; Environmental Studies; Gender, Sexuality and Race; Global Processes; Media, Technology and Cultural Studies; Mind, Self and Behavior; Politics and Policy; Regional Studies; and Scientific Inquiry. Recent course titles: Global Supply Chains; Models of Dis/Ability; Race, Justice and Poetics
Drawing on a wide range of literary traditions, genres, periods and theoretical approaches, this concentration enables students to pursue in-depth studies in literature and writing, emphasizing the fundamental relationships between reading, writing and creative processes. Recent course titles: Cookbook Rhetoric; The Literatures of Africa; Theorizing the Anthropocene
This interdisciplinary concentration invites undergraduates to shape individualized courses of study focused on the environmental humanities and the interconnected phenomena of contemporary life. Students pursue issues related to biomimicry, emerging technologies and global warming, among other options, while developing an informed planetary perspective and broad-based critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Recent course titles: Foodways and Sustainable Food; Inventive Political Ecologies; Petrocultures
Embracing a wide range of media and critical perspectives, this Liberal Arts concentration emphasizes critical thinking and analysis, clarity of written and verbal communication and an understanding of the value of artistic expression across cultures and throughout time. Recent course titles: Queer Presence in Art; Soviet Art and Film; Tea, Coffee or Chocolate?
risd.edu/risd-brown
The Brown | RISD Dual Degree Program offers students the opportunity to pursue collaborative and multidisciplinary work at two world-class institutions. RISD offers intensive, specialized education in art and design; Brown offers comprehensive concentrations in the humanities, social sciences, physical and life sciences.
During the five-year program, students develop and integrate diverse spheres of academic and artistic interest. Students choose a concentration at Brown and a major at RISD and receive a Bachelor of Arts degree or, with careful planning, a Bachelor of Science from Brown and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from RISD. Prospective students must apply and be accepted to both institutions and then be approved by a separate Dual Degree admissions committee.
A Generation in Between (Applied Math & Painting) Curious Mind-Bending Exercises in Art-making and World Politics (International Relations & Apparel Design)
Thinking About Coffins! (Development Studies & Furniture Design)
Words So Beautiful to Look At (Computer Science & Graphic Design) Working in Space (American Studies & Interior Architecture)
Because artists and designers draw inspiration from a wide range of sources, you’ll welcome the opportunity to cross-register for courses at Brown at no extra cost (Brown students are able to do the same at RISD). RISD’s dynamic Liberal Arts program is designed to elevate and complement your art and design education, and the scope of Brown’s course offerings—from foreign languages to computer science, math to urban studies—allows you to further engage in subjects of particular interest to you.
Dance Composition
Henry James Goes to the Movies
Intermediate Modern Greek
Introduction to Engineering
Old-Time String Band
Postcolonial Horror
Art of Communicating Science
Botany in the Kitchen
Critical Curating
Designing the Cosmos
Paleography
Performance on the Internet
Urgency Lab
Cutting Out For Good Olivia Springberg
Painting
Peace Relic #86
Mason Hunt
Sculpture
Beetle Bag
Benjamin Garbus Industrial Design
Soul of a Black boy Barbershop Chronicles
Jevon Brown
Textiles
Two Ends
Janice Shengyan Gu
Jewelry + Metalsmithing
Manifesto of Poor Images Mengning He
Office Files Not To Be Removed, Dowsing for Water in New York City
Hannah Nigro
Photography
Poodles at Sunset with Tennis Court and Car
Hale Jones Painting
Museum Unleash—Decentrailization of the Museum
Alice Zhang
Interior Architecture
Beat me, Pin me, Bend me, Shoot me, “Shoot me,”
Hold me, “Hold me Down,” (Repeat)
Njari AndersonLonghorn Steering Wheel
Luke Ringo Atkins
Jewelry + Metalsmithing
I Think We’re Seeing Eye to Eye: A Polemic on Penis Envy
Brady Mathisen
Sculpture
BiH Color Festival
Anmol Govinda Rao
Graphic Design
El Moto Elsa Barrientos Printmaking
Disobedience and Pleasure on Mumbai Streets
Shreya Kaipa
The Malleable Recapitulation
Meiyi Zhou
Film/Animation/Video
Mockup of the HoloLens at Johnson Space Center
Simulated Lunar Environment
RISD SUITS Team
led by Bowen Zhou and Selena Yang
Industrial Design
Urban Ecology Project: Infrastructure and Life
Ruyue Qi, Chae Yeon Woo, Haomin Wu
New Fac(ad)es
Eason Bai
Interior Architecture
As a visual artist and writer, Francesca makes large-scale woven pieces and artist books that can be found in the libraries of MoMA and The Met. She also holds the position of materials design director at Nike. She was part of a team that created the Space Hippie 04 sneaker (made of 25% recycled materials) and the Nike Plant Color Collection (which used natural dyes from madder, pomegranate and mango in designs). @franny_capone
When she started a fine jewelry collection after graduating, Simone found herself fielding requests from clients to rework heirloom jewelry. She then launched a new company— Spur—in 2019 with her childhood friend, Sophie Fader. Spur is a continuation of their interests in historical jewelry, sustainability and meaningful connections between generations. @spurjewelry
In her design practice, LikeMindedObjects, and its offshoot pillow company, CRCL Earth, Elise is dedicated to working within sustainable, circular systems. Her philosophy is founded on the idea that “each object [holds] a story of social and material culture from extraction to disposal.” She is partnering with the Kokrobitey Institute in Ghana to develop a sustainable design education program. @likemindedobjects
Using paper pulp and gypsum to push the possibilities of sustainable furniture fabrication, Mike has caught the attention of The New York Times since graduating. His work’s organic shapes and subtle, variable coloration highlights the wisdom he recently shared with Sight Unseen: “sustainable production is much more attainable if we stop embracing modern standards of refinement.” @serrastuff
Desiree graduated in the midst of the pandemic with a senior collection that was written up in Vogue. Inspired by “dreams, over-exaggerations of situations I’ve been in, stories from my family members about their childhoods and the people from [her] home city of Brooklyn,” Desiree has partnered with Fab Scrap, a textile recycling project to source materials for run of custommade clothing. @desireescarborough
BFA 17 FAV & Graphic Design
Maria captures abstractions of nature: imagery from the US Geological Survey’s database and chemical crystallography, and her experimental films have been screened in Times Square. She was recently artist in residence at the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology and maintains a partnership with the Kahr Group at NYU. mariacf.com
BRDD 16 Graphic Design
Elizabeth is a designer and art director based in Providence and New York. She has worked with the Whitney Museum and Google, among others, and writes a weekly archive-focused newsletter that curates found imagery and ephemera. She is obsessed with spotting patterns and passionate about design history, and she loves finding opportunities to fold unexpected references or imagery into a project. @elizabeth_goodspeed
BFA 13 Interior Architecture
What began as a hobby for Yuki (a multidisciplinary artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area) took on greater meaning during the pandemic. Videos he shared on Instagram of his smallscale zen garden seemed to counter the anxiety of the moment with a spirit of calm and care. @yukikawae
BFA 20 Ceramics
A recent graduate of the MFA program at Alfred University, Jolie uses digital fabrication techniques like laser and 3D-printing to create colorful ceramic vessels that speak to both tradition and technology, her memories and her present. “I acknowledge the past as
foundational while smiling towards the future,” she explains. @jolienope
BFA 18 Sculpture
A recent tech resident at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, Brian is an interdisciplinary sculptor invested in “technocraft such as open source agendas, DIY materiality, satellites, nuclear culture, piracy and globalpolitical transparencies in outer space.” He teaches physical computing workshops on Twitch and Instagram Live. @broakes
CHELSEA ALEXANDER
BFA 18 Graphic Design
Chelsea is a New York-based designer and artist. In 2019 she founded Sqwigl, a studio and design shop filled with “original art... meant to challenge what we wear, and see.” Chelsea’s clients include brands like Baggu and Instagram, and political campaigns including Beto for America and the Biden Presidential Campaign.
@chelsmells
MAX FRIEDER
BFA 12 Painting
Max is the co-founder and executive director of Artolution, an organization that supports local leaders in the arts by using collaborative art-making as a storytelling tool for communities across the world. The organization has been featured in The New York Times for its work with refugees in Myanmar and Syria. @artolution
JON KEY
BFA 13 Graphic Design
JARRETT KEY
MFA 20 Painting
Twin brothers Jon and Jarrett are co-founders of Codify Art, a Brooklynbased multidisciplinary collective with a mission to showcase work by artists of color, particularly women, queer and trans artists. The group “champions a practice that accurately reflects the breadth, depth and richness of our communities, in all their intersections.”
@codifyart
ENRIQUE LOMNITZ
BFA 06 Industrial Design
RENATA FENTON
BFA 06 Industrial Design
Enrique and Renata serve as the general director and design director of Isla Urbana, an organization dedicated
to contributing to water sustainability in Mexico through rainwater harvesting. They install their systems in rural and urban communities as well as schools and educate about the impact of a positive water culture. @isla_urbana
BFA 14 Painting
Jordan’s monumental collage-style paintings tap into the experience of his ancestors and millions of other African Americans who fled the South in the early 20th century. This shared history informed his work as director of public policy and advocacy at the Nonviolence Institute. He is now co-director of the US Department of Arts and Culture, a people-powered nonprofit agency and teaches in the EFS department at RISD. @jordanseaberry
BFA 20 Painting
Sasha’s paintings explore notions of identity and, specifically, “accepting [herself] as an east Asian body and how much beauty we hold,” she explained in an interview with It’s Nice That. Featured in group shows at Patrick Parrish and Thierry Goldberg galleries, her work has gained quick recognition for its hyperreal style. Sasha recently had her first solo show at Matthew Brown Los Angeles. @sashaagordon
BFA 12 Printmaking
Martine’s work takes shape across a wide range of media—from performance to documentary to the creation of conceptual high-gloss magazines. “Acting as subject, artist and muse, documenting her personal metamorphosis into various imagined roles,” Martine has exhibited in the Venice Biennale and at MoMA and is currently represented by Ryan Lee Gallery.
BFA 16 Painting
Since graduating, Cheyenne’s work has been exhibited at White Cube, Smart Objects and many other galleries. In an interview with Cultured, she describes race as “inherent in all of [her] painting, but some works represent it more overtly than others [...] there is power in clarity [but also] in nuance.” She is currently represented by Chapter NY. @cheyennejulien
maximalist furniture and sculpture has been heralded as an “anomaly in contemporary design” by Wallpaper. His work has been exhibited at institutions like the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Dallas Museum of Art. @mishakahn
LEE PIVNIK
BFA 18 Sculpture
Founder of the Institute of Queer Ecology, Lee is an artist “rewiring our understanding of how we relate to other species and how we relate to each other.” Lee worked on a project with the Guggenheim called H.O.R.I.Z.O.N., a multiplayer gathering space that launched in February 2021. @eelpicnic
BFA 11 Furniture Design
Misha’s use of uncommon materials and found objects—pool noodles to mohair, aluminum to cement—to create
BFA 04 Painting
Will is an artist and designer creating theme park rides and environments for Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. He earned his Master’s of Industrial Design from Central Saint Martins after graduating from RISD in Painting and “designs to implement play, celebration and creativity to create a positive impact on humanity, children and nature.” wgurley.com
BFA 16 Illustration
Yelitsa began developing her brand Healthy Roots Dolls while she was still a student at RISD, redesigning the omnipresent blond princess doll as a Black girl with curly, natural hair. The Detroit-based designer launched her company in 2015 after raising $50,000 on Kickstarter and has since landed her line at Target. @healthyrootsdolls
BFA 16 Illustration
“As a picture book maker, I am all about finding the magic present in everyday life,” says Oge. Her authorillustrator debut Thank You, Omu!, won a Caldecott Honor in 2019, and she has since completed three other celebrated books published through Penguin Random House and HarperCollins Children’s. @oge_mora
BFA 15 Graphic Design
A designer and educator, Yea-Hyun is currently teaching visual arts at the K-12 Chadwick International School in Songdo, South Korea. Finding her passion in education, she has also worked at Providence ¡CityArts! for Youth and Mission Hill School near
Boston. She shares her current curriculum and student projects on her website. @lifeisyea
BFA 16 Industrial Design
Andrew is a senior designer at IDEO’s Play Lab developing and inventing toys, games and otherwise playful experiences and products. He also spends most weekends creating creature taxidermy or working as a senior producer in the art collective Foldhaus, where he helps to build giant kinetic sculptures that have been displayed in shows around the world. whatsandrewdoing.com
BFA 02 FAV
Producer, director and co-owner of NYC-based post-production studio
Running Man, Ryan is an Emmy and Peabody Award winner who specializes in TV comedies, including Broad City and Search Party. She has directed and produced Expecting Amy Schumer for HBO Max and an Ilana Glazer comedy special for Amazon.
runningmanpost.com
BFA 16 Graphic Design
A Brooklyn-based artist and director, Saad has worked with musicians (like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Mitski) and major platforms and publications (like The New York Times and Google) to create multidisciplinary work that draws on his background in animation, design and visual effects.
@saadmoosajee
BFA 18 Photography
A multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker, Zenzele makes award-winning films that have screened at SXSW and Sundance (she is a Sundance Ignite Fellow). She is adapting her short, The South Is My Sister’s Skin, into a feature-length film and and recently completed her graduate studies at NYU. zenojore.com
BFA 06 Glass
As one of 10 contestants on Blown Away, the Netflix glass-blowing competition that first aired in 2019, Alex found himself part of an overnight hit. A Philadelphiabased educator and glass artist, he received his Master’s of Science in Visual Studies from MIT and
places research in science, tech and history at the forefront of his work.
@rosenbergalexander
KATY STRUTZ
BFA 15 Illustration
“I’m fascinated by the aesthetics of stop motion in the age of CGI and endlessly enjoy investigating how best to capture tactile characters in photography,” says Katy, who works as a character sculptor, designing puppets for films like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. Based in Portland, OR, she has worked for studios including Laika, ShadowMachine and Hornet, Inc. @katystrutz
Adam Charlap Hyman BFA 11 Furniture Design and Andre Herrero BArch 12 founded their eponymous architecture and design firm in 2014. Their work earned honors from Forbes and Architectural Digest as well as the 2020 AIA Los Angeles Emerging Practice Award. Whether creating buildings, set designs, stores or houses, the team aims “to create spaces that become worlds unto themselves.” @ch_herrero
Sean Dilanni BFA 07 Sculpture and Caity Kennedy BFA 07 Painting are two of the six co-founders of Meow Wolf, a Santa Fe-based art and entertainment company. Started in 2008 as a small art collective, Meow Wolf has since grown to 200+ full-time employees (including many fellow RISD alums) who create psychedelic immersive experiences that “transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration.” @meow_wolf
This Brookyn-based animation studio produces whimsical, affecting stopmotion campaigns for some of the most recognizable brands in the world, including HBO, Nick Jr., Netflix and (RISD alum-founded) Airbnb. Mighty Oak (including co-founders Emily Collins BFA 08 FAV and Michaela Olsen BFA 09 FAV) describes itself as “a bunch of nerds who are obsessed with telling stories in powerful, accessible and extremely sharable ways.” @mightyoaksgrows
Rhode Island-based art and design collective that focuses on creating experiential inflatable environments. Their “spaces for social joy and collaboration” are colorful, opticsbending installations that have been featured at festivals and event sites throughout the country. @pneuhaus
Aiala Ricard BFA 17 Apparel Design and Isabel Sicat BRDD 16 Illustration are co-founders of TOQA, a sustainable high-fashion brand made in the tropics. Drawing on their childhoods in Hawaii and Manila, TOQA aims to “work outside the current infrastructure and create a new one,” by focusing their roving studio on production practices that foreground their values and locales beyond Western fashion capitals. @toqa.tv
In 2014, August Lehrecke BFA 14
Furniture Design and Matt Muller BFA
14 Furniture Design and their friend
Levi Bedall started Pneuhaus—a
1990 and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
Principal photography by George Gray
CE, David O’Connor and Jo Sittenfeld
MFA 08 PH
Additional images by Bruce Damonte p4; Joyce Ho 24 GD p4; Alexander
Kern BArch 21 p6; Pneuhaus p10;
Acacia Johnson BFA 14 PH p11; Tavares Strachan BFA 03 GL/Joe Vincent Grey p11; RISD Museum p12–13; Brooks
Hagan MFA 02 TX p18; Meredith
Binnette 20 FAV, Yimei Hu 20 ID/JM,
Danlei Huang MID 21, Georgina Nolan
MFA 20 GD p19; ArTwerk/ Avenue
Concept p46; MPdL Studio and
NADAAA/John Horner p50; Kendra Xu
BFA 18 GD p66–67; Matt Watson BFA 09 FAV p71; NASA p72–73.
View full-length student videos by Julia
Chien 23 FAV, To Be a Pacific Salmon p126–127 (vimeo.com/654662538);
Meiyi Zhou The Malleable Recapitulation p131 (meiyizhou.art/link); Kolya
Kishinsky 23 IL & Geneva Huffman 23 IL, Red Thumb p140–141 (vimeo. com/835207684).
Inside cover artwork by Gracey Zhang
BFA 16 IL. Alumni section illustrations by Suerynn Lee BFA 12 PR.
RISD Sans and RISD Serif by Ryan
Bugden 14 GD
Printed by Meridian, East Greenwich, RI
POLICIES & DISCLOSURES
RISD adheres to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, the Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act of
Visit risd.edu/safety-report for the annual report and risd.edu/policies for general student policies.
RISD does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, national origin, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law in admission to, participation in or administration of its educational programs and activities; in employment; or in its other programs and activities.
RISD provides a broad range of accommodations so that its classes, programs, events and services are accessible to everyone. Reasonable accommodations are made for people with disabilities or special needs who request assistance on a case by case basis.
This publication presents a general overview and summary of academic, cultural and social life at RISD. It is not intended to be definitive or allinclusive, and all portions are subject to change without notice. More specific information regarding the curriculum, credit requirements and other matters appears in the college’s annual course announcement, available on risd. edu. The names of student artists are included wherever possible.
© 2023 Rhode Island School of Design risd.edu
