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Rhode Island School of Design Announces Recipients of Inaugural Maharam STEAM Fellowships in Applied Art and Design
06/21/2012
Artists and designers will have six funded internships at governmental and non-profit organizations, including NPR Science, Mayo
Clinic, City of Providence, National Defense University and GlobeMed,
revealing the critical role of artists and designers in innovation.
PROVIDENCE, RI – Six students
from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have been awarded the Maharam STEAM Fellowship in Applied Art and
Design. In recognition of RISD’s commitment to revealing the impact that
artists and designers can have on a broad range of fields, the New York-based
textile company Maharam has generously funded
these fellowship opportunities for RISD students for the coming five years,
beginning summer 2012.
The Maharam STEAM Fellowship in Applied Art and Design provides
stipends of up to $5,000 each for select internships with a government agency
or nonprofit organization. The accepted proposals, submitted in early 2012,
were each uniquely designed by students to focus on highlighting and
strengthening the role of visually acute critical thinkers and problem solvers
in helping to improve public policy and tackle large social issues.
Maharam is supporting this new fellowship program
because, like RISD, they believe in the economic progress and breakthrough
innovation that comes from the combination of art and design with STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) – that STEM + Art = STEAM. Both
believe that long-term societal embrace of the arts and design will create a
future that is both culturally and economically vibrant.
The 2012 recipients of the Maharam STEAM Fellowship in Applied
Art and Design are:
- Ayodhya Ouditt,
RISD 2013 Industrial Design: NPR
Science. Ayodhya will focus on the creation of
visual storytelling techniques, which can take complex topics in science
and health and make them understandable, engaging and accessible to the
public.
- Olivia Foss, RISD 2012 Masters’ Industrial
Design: National Defense
University, STAR-TIDES.
Olivia’s project will focus on international and domestic development
efforts, using strategic design thinking to effect sustainable, positive
change in the way we make, produce and consume. STAR-TIDES
(Sharing To Accelerate Research-Transformative Innovation for Development
and Emergency Support) is a research effort that promotes sustainable
support to stressed populations.
- Giles Holt, RISD 2014 Architecture: City of Providence. Giles’ UrbanForm is a proposal to develop a
partnership between Brown, RISD and the City of Providence to research issues
of urban planning and public policy, with a goal to clearly and
graphically convey city policy issues and academic research to determine
synergies.
- Joseph Escobar,
RISD 2013 Industrial Design: City
of Providence. Joe and
his team at RISD’s 2nd Life (an art supply and materials
recycling source) will meet with key leaders in the public and private
sector to determine creative ways that upcycling (the process of
converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products
of better quality / higher environmental value) can be integrated into the community,
including the year-end move-out process, to empower youth and reduce
landfill waste.
- Samantha Dempsey,
RISD 2013 Illustration: Mayo Clinic
Center for Innovation.
Samantha will use this unique opportunity with the world’s only embedded design
group to function within a live clinical setting to participate in a
learning process where designers and doctors work together to create ideas
and products that are neither art nor medicine.
- Andreas Nicholas,
RISD 2013 Film, Animation and Video: GlobeMed. Andreas will collect and communicate the incredible
stories that embody the change that the GlobeMed network promotes, developing
new framework for communicating the GlobeMed work with USAID and Global
Health Fellows Program-II to broader audiences and sharing more effectively
with government funding agencies. GlobeMed is a network of
university students that partner with grassroots organizations around the
world to improve the health of people living in poverty. Through their
involvement today, students commit to a life of leadership in global
health and social justice.
These students are entering arenas rarely seen by art
and design students, and have the opportunity to effect real change in policy
and practice in local and global organizations and communities. As part of the program, fellows will blog about
their experiences throughout the summer and will make a final report to Maharam
about the value of their internships and learned outcomes.
“Maharam believes that
creativity demonstrated through the arts and design will play an increasingly
critical role in America’s ongoing efforts to remain a dominant global force
through both culture and commerce, and that, given the realities of available
funding and the politics associated with it, private sector participation in
fostering this infusion is vital,” says Michael
Maharam, the company’s CEO.
“This is a fantastic and
rare opportunity for art and design students to bring their creative talents to
problem-solving on a broader scale as critical thinkers and makers, thanks to
Maharam,” notes Greg Victory,
director of RISD’s Career
Center. “By designing their own internships, students will be able to pursue
the areas that interest them most as they explore the ways art and design
thinking can impact real-world problems.”
The RISD/Maharam
partnership supports the college’s broader STEM
to STEAM initiative, which emphasizes the importance of adding Art to a
national agenda focused on STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Math). Under the leadership of President John
Maeda, RISD has launched a series of partnerships and
collaborations designed to champion the role of artists and designers in global
innovation.
“This Fellowship program
provides students an opportunity to make an impact where our country needs it
the most. Michael Maharam is a visionary of textiles but also of the
transformation of our culture. His unusual ability to not just spot trends but
create them is exemplified by his support of this program,” says Maeda.
Follow the students on
their Maharam STEAM Fellowships in
Applied Art and Design on the blog: risd.edu/maharamsteamfellows
About RISD
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has earned
an international reputation as the leading college of art and design in the
United States. Approximately 2,400 students from around the world study at
RISD, pursuing full-time bachelor’s or master’s degree programs in a choice of
19 studio majors. RISD is known for its phenomenal
faculty of artists and designers, the breadth of its specialized facilities and
its hands-on, studio-based approach to learning – one in which critical
thinking informs making works by hand. Required courses in the liberal arts
provide an essential complement to studio work, enabling graduates to become
critical and informed individuals eager to engage with the world. Through the
accomplishments of its 26,000 alumni, the college champions the vital
role artists and designers play in satisfying the global demand for innovation. Founded in 1877,
RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) and the RISD Museum of Art help make Providence, RI among
the most culturally active and creative cities in the region. For more
information, visit www.risd.edu or
our.risd.edu.
About Maharam
Maharam is a fourth-generation
family business and the leading textiles resource for architects and interior
designers. The Maharam Design Studio, where six RISD alumni work as designers,
takes an in-depth approach to the exploration of pattern, material and
technique. In addition, long-term collaborations with creative leaders such as
Dutch industrial designer Hella
Jongerius, British fashion designer Paul Smith and
illustrator Maira Kalman introduce
fresh perspectives to the world of textile design. Maharam embraces a
rigorous and holistic commitment to design, and is the recipient of the
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Design Patron Award (2007) for its
longstanding support of educational and cultural initiatives in the world of
design. For more, visit www.maharam.com.
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